Offline marketing still has the power to yield big results for your business but only if you know how.
And that means understanding your customer audience enough to offer them what they want. Here are four killer offline marketing tactics that Colour Graphics know work.
#1 Lumpy Mail
Direct mail is an offline marketing tactic that is as old as the invention of the letterbox. Of course, email has come along and trumped direct mail so much so that it is now less of a pleasure to pick the mail up from the mat but knowing that clogging your inbox instead, are a glut of emails from various marketing departments about their products and services.
This doesn’t mean, however, that direct mail has had its day – far from it. For direct mail to be noticed, you need to really invest in it. The days of sending a flat letter and assuming someone opens it – and that someone is a potential customer – are gone.
Lumpy mail – or 3D mail – is a piece of direct mail that isn’t flat or a ‘normal’ rectangular shape. Make it feel like something is in it – how many of us feel the outline of a pen and open the envelope? – and you have already overcome the first hurdle of someone taking a closer look.
What needs to happen now, is the fantastic product, backed by great content and a not-to-missed offer brings customers to your door.
#2 A thank-you gift
Every business will have a hard core of customers who, through loyalty, will only buy from them, they trust their products, they trust the customer service and they know that every time they order, they are not going to be let down or disappointed. And should they ever be, the company will do everything to put it right, including an immediate apology.
These customers are hard-won, and they are powerful. How often do you thank them?
It is possibly one of the easiest offline marketing tactics and yet, so very few businesses do it that should you do so, you will find that as an offline marketing tactic, this has serious longevity.
Order a glut of branded freebies and post them out to the hardcore of customers – you’ll keep data on your customers, no doubt – and so providing they have given you permission to use this data for marketing purposes (see GDPR rules coming in May 2018), why not send them a useful gift?
HINT you could do the same for your staff. Treating your employees well means that they too becoming walking-talking adverts for your business.
#3 Your business card
There are all kinds of online fads and tools that purport to have replaced the business car. But that small rectangular piece of card in your pocket, purse, wallet or bag could be the piece of paper that brings you the interest and custom of a big trade partner.
The chat in the elevator, the chance meeting of the boss of another company, your attendance at a networking event… the list could go on. These meetings are opportunities and your business card is a key tool in making the most of them.
However, the business card alone is not enough to pull in an email or telephone conversation. You need to talk and network with people.
Clearly, what you say and how you interact is the important part of the conversation and when you give out your business card, you want them to remember you and what you do.
Your business card is the tool that supports this. So it needs to be designed with your branding clear and concise, as well as essential contact details and, most important, not forgetting your name and your position (people like to know who they are contacting!).
#4 Network
(we can hear the sucking in of breath through teeth from here!)
Networking is not everyone’s idea of a great time. Awkward and contrived in some cases, the meetups and social networks can be a nightmare to navigate. Everyone seems to know everyone else with you the only one who doesn’t seem to know a single person.
Start with the person next to you at the table, match the people to list of attendees, make the best use of the hosts by asking them to introduce you to some people or to someone specific.
Think about what it is you want the person talking to you about your business and what do you want to know about theirs.
Networking events can be a minefield to negotiate but the more you do, the better they become and the more people you get to know. And don’t forget, it isn’t just about selling, but about expanding contacts too.
