Customer journeys are changing shaped by offline and online media consumption. Let’s explore how marketers can integrate the two mediums in their marketing strategy to help convey their brand message more effectively and drive action from audiences.
Both online and offline marketing have advantage and disadvantages. The beauty of integrating the two types of marketing is that one’s advantages cancel out the other’s disadvantages so marketers get the best of both worlds.
Alignment Is Key to Success
It’s easy to discount the impact of offline activities on your online operations. With digital transformation being such a major focus for many businesses, it’s understandable that many companies are choosing to focus heavily on online marketing.
However, despite the drive towards digitalization, companies must remember that they are still selling to humans. People care about making a connection with brands and seek out enjoyable experiences. In many cases, that means going to physical stores to do their shopping.
Marketers need to look for ways in which their online and offline channels can complement each other so that their marketing campaigns are aligned. By using new technology such as data insights, store apps and beacons, companies can increase personalization efforts and communicate with their customer base offline.
They can also take advantage of the prevalence of mobile users and work on satisfying the overarching desire for a faster and better service.
Companies that build on traditional principles and adopt a customer-centric approach will be able to build a stronger reputation, both online and offline, which will breed the customer loyalty needed to make their marketing campaign more successful.
When the world changes around you & when it changes against you – what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind – you have to lean into that & figure out what to do because complaining isn’t a strategy.
Jeff Bezos
Other Offline to Online Marketing Ideas:
Some other offline to online marketing ideas include:
- If a customer indicates they have had a really positive experience, ask them to write an online review.
- If you have a particularly memorable experience with a customer, share the anecdote on your blog or newsletter with a takeaway or lesson learned.
- If you have print material, use tracked phone lines to find out which materials are generating the most calls and which ones lead to the most conversions.
Incorporating your online and offline strategy isn’t just about bringing offline marketing online. You should also bring your online marketing offline! Social media is one such online marketing activity that can reach people offline too.
