Looking for new ways to drive sales and expand your customer reach? While digital advertising has experienced an explosion in revenue growth in recent years, there is still a valuable place reserved for offline advertising. Any new business needs to quickly find its feet and find an audience – and the best place to start is with a local focus. Here we will take a look at some of the best ways you can expand your local reach and gain visibility using tried-and-tested offline strategies.
1. Deepen the reputation of your brand offline
Using offline advertising helps develop a deeper trust and relationship between your brand and customers. By not leveling the focus on expanding your reach to a global audience you can instead establish more meaningful connections with people either within a more localized area or with the same niche interest as your business.
Good Things, which offers a range of promotional products including branded bags with your logo, highlights that offline marketing can strengthen your bond with your customers, as it becomes more difficult to create a lasting impression in the increasingly fast-paced digital world.
2. Networking
Networking doesn’t have to be all about small talk and the exchange of business cards. Attending local conferences and industry meetups is a great way to present your company and meet both peers and customers. Inexpensive signage such as roller banners printed with your company logo offers you a useful way to stand out and imprint your company name and branding into people’s memory. This is a great opportunity for your small business with these offline strategies.
3. Use Print Media
Using printed media is another offline advertising strategy you can use.
While excessive leafletting can be considered both wasteful and an annoyance, there are many other ways you can use printed media to your advantage. Taking out advertorials in local magazines or even working to have a feature written on you is a great way of integrating yourself into the news to make your business seem interesting and popularly relevant.
Getting to know local journalists or writers within your field is always beneficial: in the event, you should release a new product or expand to a new area, they could help to spread the word quickly and effectively. For more information about how to guarantee the quality of your business’s printed materials, take a look at this helpful infographic.
4. Sponsoring
Sponsoring is another offline advertising strategy you can use. As a young business, you might not have a lot of disposable cash but there are still ways you can promote your business without spending a lot. Try offering your product for free to either well-known local individuals or to prominent people within your industry. If they enjoy using your product they might be willing to endorse your company in the papers and be the subject of promotional materials such as customer testimonials.
Communicating your brand message is integral to reaching new customers and this is where the smart election of sponsors can give you enormous traction.
5. Seasonal Promotions and Messages
A Christmas card is a small token but can make a big impact, with some estimates in the US suggesting they can yield up to a 39% return on investment for every dollar spent. Indeed, sending out a seasonal message to your return customers is a great way to not only demonstrate your gratitude for their loyalty but a way of offer a more human face to your business. Equally, using the holiday as the catalyst for a promotion or offer makes it appear as though you are handing out a present of sorts: discounting your customers at a time of the year when their pockets might be stretched.
Keeping a database with returning customers’ information also opens up the opportunity to send out birthday messages or special discounts. All of these small actions create a much more personalized experience for your customers and better promise their loyalty.
