What is the best digital marketing services to offer to offline businesses?

Go talk to the owners of the businesses you know can use your help. Make a relationship with them and see what they want. Find a way to make it happen and give them a reasonable price. Then the most important part into ask for referrals in their warm market.

Hi Kalednet

I think what you need to do is create a business that offers creation of websites and the marketing in return for at least in portion a performance fee.

The reason behind this is that if you are dealing with offline businesses it is very likely that they don't know the online world and might have been screwed in the past entering it.

Your benefit here could be to provide a customized complete service that caters for all the needs of the business owner. Meaning:

1. Offer creation of websites with the aim of it having at least 1% conversion aiming at 5%.
2. Scale out the marketing services into a mix that ensures the client can see both immediate and long term benefits. This usually means a mix of PPC and SEO tactics. Please keep in mind that you need to know the mix, not them.
3. Meet up with the client regularly to check up on what the business needs and try to upsell other services.

Personally, I don't own an offline business, but I know they want customers and cashflow. I want that for my online efforts.

Your opportunity in all this is that most designers are clueless about making sites that sell. Copywriters are at times given offers and strategies that are too weak to fix with writing and most marketing mixes does not hold the provider accountable.

If you are able to provide the strategy, handle the client, and outsource the rest you should have a good business. Check out roi dot com dot au, and webmarketingtherapy dot com for examples of that type of business.

I started doing SEO work back in 2003, and then took the leap to do offline/local online marketing in the area that I live in about a year ago.

I'm sure others would divide their's up differently, but I offer services in the following seven areas:
1. Website/search engine optimization
2. Google+ Local (formerly Google Places)
3. Customer lead generation
4. Video
5. Reputation management
6. Social media
7. Mobile marketing

Mobile is hot, video is hot, reputation management is hot, and social media is hot (though my personal thoughts are, and I tell business owners, social media is not for everyone or every business; it takes a lot of time to keep it going).

If you're just getting started, I would suggest become an expert in Reputation Management and Mobile Marketing. Mobile because mobile and smartphone use and opportunities are growing daily; Reputation Management because business owners/managers are scared of the reviews out there about their business and don't know what to do about it. It's an easier sell, but it takes some strategy.

I wish you the best of luck.

Bjarne,

What a great advice, thank you very much.

Great list... that what i was looking for, thanks

I only have 1 problem with Reputation Mgmt.

If my client have real bad stories about his products or customer service... you'll have hard times managing his reputation. I mean you can't get him good results. Do you pick your clients carefully when you offer "reputation mgmt" services? Is there any criteria?

Great advice specialy for newbies like me.

Digital marketing is a great help for small company it can increase its exposure to consumers who are actively seeking product or service, making it much more effective than other forms of advertising.

Service that you may offer:
· Content Creation & Management

· Strategy & Planning

· Search Marketing Programs

· Social Media

· Technology & App Development

· Creative & Experience Design

· Mobile Marketing

I find most aren't really interested in learning they want it done. It's a tough sell. The main ones who want to buy are mom and pop biz owners and.....they are the tightest. In general. So catch 22. There are easier ways to make money.

Hey,

I'll echo previous statements and would also personally choose mobile marketing.

Mobile is hot right now and in my experience, it's easier to get faster results with a mobile campaign than it is with most online marketing strategies.

The only issue I've had with reputation management are convincing the business owner to actually change the problem area that's generating bad reviews.

Also, reputation management is a pain avoidance strategy and can be tougher to sell to business owners.

While most other marketing strategies are easier to sell as "make more money by getting more customers" strategies.

Hope this helps,

Chris