Today, there are already different forms of media used in marketing:

• Newspapers, magazines, radios, and televisions are now deluged with advertisements.

• Posters, leaflets, flyers, and banners are also used as advertising tools.

• Business cards and brochures are handed personally to people or sent through snail mail.

A Little History Of Marketing

During the industrial age, mass production became very efficient. More products were produced at a lesser cost and with lesser man hours used. This gave rise to more product variants such as several variants of goods like toothpaste and shampoo, as well as more models of machines like automobiles. More luxury products were also developed such as facial wash, nail crème, hair colorant, foot moisturizer, and many others.

To market these non-basic or not-so-essential products, the psychological psyche of the individual was targeted. Specifically targeted was the self esteem of a person, which was identified by Abraham Maslow, a renowned psychologist, as one of the needs of individuals. Very popular celebrities in the field of entertainment and sports were employed as commercial models.

The ads were very costly, although very effective, because the customers liked to be identified with their favorite celebrities, though indirectly, by using the products that they were endorsing. This part in the evolution of offline marketing is responsible for making the products and services very expensive.

Today, some more sensible businessmen use other forms of marketing strategies that are more cost efficient, such as the following:

• Giving product samples, free trials of products and services, price discounts, and product giveaways.

• Hiring staff to promote products through demos in supermarkets, schools, and other places where there are a greater number of potential customers.

• Showing testimonies of satisfied product users on TV, newspapers, and magazines.

• Providing before- and after-sale services like free deliveries and installation, warranties and free spare parts replacement, and toll-free twenty-four hour call center services that accommodate customer inquiries and requests.

All these methods effectively attract buyers, and even discriminating customers. More importantly, they have specific appeal to practical individuals.

In today’s modern time, advertisements are becoming subliminal.  Articles are written by regular columnists in tabloids, newspapers, and magazines discretely, mentioning a particular brand of a product. Photos of popular celebrities wearing a particular product, in which brands are conspicuously shown, are seen in tabloids and magazines. These are effective to customers because many have the tendency to think that the product is really good, believing that the photograph and its publication is just incidental.

The creative evolution of offline marketing strategies provides a great relief to both the customer and the seller. For one, the buyer no longer needs to be directly pressured by persistent salesmen to buy a product or service, no longer wasting time and energy. And more importantly, it liberalizes the marketing process.

Have you ever experienced seeing a brochure or flyer lying snug under your car’s windshield wipers? Or a salesman sneaking inside a restaurant and delivering a spiel while you’re having a pleasant meal? You hate it, don’t you? Well, if you want to maintain your business’s reputation, you’ll have to tread lightly. When worse comes to worst, your business might end up in trouble and lose more money in the form of fines. So one piece of advice: conduct your business with a professional approach.

With that in mind, here are three common mistakes businesses might want to avoid:

A BUSINESS-CENTRIC METHODOLOGY
A business has to be customer-oriented in the process of product promotion. It has to focus on the customer’s needs, and empathy should be injected into the ad campaign. Adding the benefits would be of great help as well because it creates the overall impression that there are no strings attached.

QUANTITY OVER QUALITY
Another mistake that’s common, not to mention costly, is relying too much on the volume of advertisements being rolled out. Having the money to spare is not an excuse. That money you waste could’ve been utilized for other marketing schemes such as business research, advanced training for employees, and expenditures that the future might require as your business grows. Ad placement requires a lot of strategy and research. It involves targeting the right market and constant pooling of statistical data to find out which sectors bring out the best results. To put it in a nutshell, a prolonged cerebral approach to ad placement will save you money, which can give you leverage in investment for more efficient marketing schemes and data gathering that is relevant and functional.

NOT GOING THE EXTRA MILE
After making a sale, don’t just stop there. Keep in mind that advertising is like a human chain project. Once your products have been bought, further advertising can continue through your current customers. So keep your customers happy by making sure that you are selling something of great value. Make substantial efforts to further improve the quality of your product.

Give out promotions to loyal customers in the form of discount packages, or perhaps a free add-on that improves the quality of the product(such as a free router for long time broadband subscribers). If a customer stays happy for a long time, the word about your product and services will spread. And that can only mean more success to your business enterprise.

Not everything is fail proof, but as long as you keep these things in mind and stay on your toes, your business always has the capability of weathering any storm.

ITS A TRIED AND TESTED FORMULA
One good trick is to put ads in places more frequented by people. Handing out flyers and business cards in public places, or putting stickers on public transportation vehicles, creating bookmarks that show your product information and handing them out to your local library are all great ideas to increase your range. Doing freelance work also provides an opportunity to plug into your ad.

If you are a writer, you can write articles for magazine publications and newspapers and use the opportunity to include your website’s information. Using the art of sublimation to promote your URL is also a great trick to increase awareness. Printing your URL on birthday and holiday cards before you send them out is one good way of “sneaking in” your website information via casual correspondence. Overall, the trick is being receptive to avenues that can make the most impact upon marketing your products and services.

MARKET TARGETING IS EASY
Promoting your product to a wrong demographic is a waste of time and resources. It’s like parking your hotdog stand in a vegetarian convention. Your products and services should spark interest to certain clubs and organizations, so know your target market and assimilate yourself into them. A great deal of interaction with these groups can open up a world of opportunities to spread product information like a viral effect SUPPLEMENTING COVERAGE Even with the amount of internet users today, there are still people who would rather do their business in the real world.

That’s where offline marketing plays a major role – to make sure that your information is accessible to everybody. When you make sure that no leaves are unturned, your influence becomes more far reaching, and should spread like wildfire into all types of demographics.

OFFLINE ADS ARE PERPETUAL
The driving tool of what makes offline marketing work is its perpetuity. Your printed ad can be taken home, and rediscovered without the customer’s intent. They don’t have to sit in front of a computer and visit a website to be reminded of your product. An ad sticker will never be ignored when you put them in public bathrooms. Ads are all around you even when you just go through the normal routine of the day, so there’s no shortage of people that will take notice if you roll out ads in frequently visited locations.

IT’S THE REAL THING
Let’s admit it, online marketing is very efficient and has a broader reach in the whole spectrum of the market, but let’s not forget that people still go for things that are more tangible and personalized. After all, what you see on the computer screen are just light particles, and nothing beats the simple pleasure of getting convinced by an advertisement material in its purest form.

PICK THE RIGHT PUBLICATIONS. There are still thousands of newspapers out there that you can choose from. The trick is to choose the ones that publish at a high volume and don’t charge a high fee in exchange for publishing your ad. You can browse the internet and pore over the list of publications and make your choice according to the potential ROI (return of investment) in relation to the rates, volume of circulation and special offers being rolled out by each newspaper publication.

Special offers are not hard to find these days considering the heavy loss the newspaper industry has suffered in the market, so you would do well to take advantage. You can also contact the local newspaper if you want to start small. After all, your local community is the best starting point if you are on a tight budget. Keep in mind that it takes 2-5 days for an ad to be published at the point of transaction, so always remember to plan ahead. Sunday is the day when readership is at its peak, so it’s always wise to have your ad published in the Sunday papers.

KEEP ADS SHORT AND INTERESTING. The preferred way to attract costumers is to come up with a byline that sparks interest. Be concise, but keep the words that can pull the reader in. A catchy but meaningful slogan leaves an impression on the mind of readers. So be creative! If that’s not your suit, you can always brainstorm with friends that have a lot of experience in advertising. It’s also important not to give out all information.

Remember, these ads are only meant to evoke interest and incite costumers to look for more information. So make sure to leave your website address and 800 number. Your 800 number can provide the lead the means to leave their contact information. A transaction is more likely to proceed if both parties have open lines of communication.

PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY. Now don’t expect immediate results in the early stages of your newspaper ad publishing. It’s a process that pays dividends through long exposure, so keep rolling out those ads and keep tabs on which ones lead to success and the ones that lead to failure. Have a keen eye for detail and look for trends that can give you a consensus of what works best. Weed out the ones that fail, and add newspapers that are more or less identical to the ones that produce good results.

If you keep in mind this three pronged formula for your newspaper advertising, I can guarantee that your business is on the right path to success.

Offline Marketing Basics

What is this type of marketing and how does it differ from the ever-popular online marketing? Well, marketing your business offline is done using traditional methods like the following:

• Business promotion in radios and televisions. You can have a commercial about your business created and advertised using these media. To do this, you may have to spend a lot of money, depending on the company or station you are advertising with. Another cheaper alternative is by appearing as guests in television and radio shows. If you are an expert in your field and there’s a particular station that is discussing an issue in your field, you can serve as a guest and speaker. After the event, you can plug your business.

• Advertising in newspapers and magazines. Similar to television and radio business promotion, advertising in newspapers and magazines can be done in two ways. The first is to pay for a certain amount of space in the paper where you can insert an ad promoting your business, and the second is to contribute a write-up and then promote your business at the end of the write-up. The second is cheaper and may not even cost you money.

• Giving out business cards. You can start doing this among friends, and then slowly expand to improve the exposure of your business.

• Posting of flyers, leaflets, and posters. These should contain information about your business—an overview of the service or product you’re offering, rates, business address, and contact number.

• Sending printed newsletter to people through snail mail. Once you have already built a network of customers offline, you can strengthen your business relationship with them by sending out newsletters to keep them updated of your business, as well as possible new products and services.

• Giving out items with your business name, address, logo, and other important information. These giveaways can include simple things like stickers with your company logo to stuff like key chains, pens, and shirts.

All these marketing techniques are contrary to the methods used in online marketing, which is basically marketing using the internet. Practically any marketing method that is not done in the internet can be considered offline marketing. This is marketing the old fashioned way, and many businessmen still employ this type of marketing until this day. If you want increased business exposure, it will be helpful if you use the two types of marketing side by side each other.

Integrating online marketing with the traditional approach – offline marketing – is the most efficient and productive means  in bringing about a more favorable return on your investment. Your advertisements and website have to work together to achieve optimal results. For instance, a newspaper or television ad should have your website’s URL for it to direct the prospective consumers into typing the whole line on their browser’s address bar. It’s very important that the URL is printed out in a recognizable fashion:  big letters, catchy name, recognizable font and a banner that leaves a signature in the mind.

Now that your offline ad has done its job, you have to do justice to it through your website. All the important information should stand out on the homepage, and should be consistent with what you put out in the ad. The combined input of graphical and verbal information should be streamlined and focused on what the visitor has learned from the offline advertisement. Any small bit of information that is inconsistent with both mediums will cause confusion, and worse, convince the visitor that he’s been hoodwinked. So make sure that the two entities coincide with each other or else the visitor won’t even make it past the home page.

Convincing a prospective buyer to visit your website through the use of offline materials is just as important as the other way around. Many consumers decide on which product to buy by looking for information on the internet, and then purchase the product by going directly to the store. So treat your website like an online directory and make sure that all the addresses in the assigned establishment locations are accurate. To put it simply, your website works like a business card too. There’s no possible way to conduct a business if you don’t leave your business address and contact number.

Keep all of these things in mind and make adjustments whenever necessary. Always be on your toes in all areas that involve the running of your business. With the right business model, extensive research, systematic mining of data, and proper allocation of information through several channels, a company can maintain a steady footing in the market and stay head and shoulders above the competition.