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Offline Advertising in an Online Age |
Written by karen grahams
Thursday, 05 June 2008
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The Internet has gotten so big that it's hard to remember what life was like before it. What did we do when we wanted to find a Chinese restaurant in a new neighborhood before we could search the Internet for it? In the same way, with marketers focusing on online revenues and avenues for advertising in the virtual world, it's hard to remember how we used to get advertising messages in the traditional sense. Remember color printing? Newspapers, magazines, flyers, brochures? Oh yeah, those used to work! Well, they still can work for you if you employ the following ideas in your offline campaign: Utilize limited time offers. Expiration dates and limited time offers give potential customers a sense of urgency. Be sure to give an expiration date that gives the potential customer some time to get to your store. Usually a few weeks from the time you print your ad. This gives the ad time to travel to your customer and to lie around the house. It also gives a potential customer time to forward that offer to someone else who might want it or to think it over. Track ‘em. No, not the customers ... at least not directly. Track your ads by having the customer call in or mail their orders. You can track which mode of communication works best for the majority of your customers. You can also use a different promotional code with each campaign. Tracking orders by promotional code can tell you which promotion or sale tactic works best. Offer a sample or a gift for free. One tactic that is sure to get responses is offering something for free. You can also offer a free gift with a purchase. Or, make them mail a response card to you to get their free product. Then, when you send them the free product, include another offer card for a free product to give to a friend. You can also send a free catalog or send a postcard for them to send back requesting a free catalog. Discounts. People respond to discounts, it doesn't matter where the discount is coming from - online or off. You can extend a discount just for the customer for their first purchase. You can discount certain items that you know your target audience wants. Or you can offer a "BOGO" - buy one get one offer. Payless Shoe Source does this all the time. People are even starting to recognize the term "BOGO." Hold a drawing. Set up a booth with entry cards to win a prize of your wonderful products. Use the entry cards to gain new leads by asking them to include their personal information, like name, address and email address. Now you've got leads for your offline and online marketing campaign! For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Color Printing Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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