Comments on: Promoting an Online Business Offline

By: Lbug

Lbug — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:51:55 +0000

Good points. I think a lot of companies feel that since the invention of the internet the world outside no longer exists!

By: ntfs datenrettung

ntfs datenrettung — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:00:03 +0000

You are really a great person.Thanks for sahring about this important matter.I will follow you tips.

By: Kristian Liebrand

Kristian Liebrand — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:50:57 +0000

Most on-line businesses invest little in off-line promotion. You might not want to spend tens of thousands on a TV spot but simple, consistent efforts will help set you apart from your competitors.

By: Marta

Marta — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:43:52 +0000

In my experience working for an online gambling company, press ads were the second most cost-effective recruitment medium.

By: Reverse Mergers

Reverse Mergers — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:53:38 +0000

I like your article and tips. Also I think the conservative business opportunities are more important then e-commerce options (though the power of the Internet is brethtaking).

By: Air Conditioner King

Air Conditioner King — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:35:10 +0000

Good ideas about promoting your online business offline. If you have an online business, you put all your attention promoting online because your target customers are almost online. And I think, to make your business more effective it should be a combination of both online and offline promotions.

By: gwen

gwen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:28:23 +0000

We are members of two business networking groups. It’s a great way to get out into the community.

By: Cincinnati

Cincinnati — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:01:00 +0000

Nice and cool header.Thanks a lot for the post.

By: Laminate worktops

Laminate worktops — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:16:39 +0000

Really good ideas..i liked your article and your tips about the business..Thanks for sharing these great informations..

By: Dental Websites

Dental Websites — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:38:49 +0000

Great..simply great. I have always think about online business and not even had a thought on offline business. This is simply exciting me so as to promote my website in a offline way. Thanks for sharing this information.

By: Patsy

Patsy — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:37:14 +0000

I worked for a company that would send free t-shirts with orders over $30 and to all employees. On the shirt was the company name and logo and contact info, so if ever they wore the shirt in public they were a walking billboard.

By: Mark Nagurski

Mark Nagurski — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:39:23 +0000

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment and I’m glad the post struck a cord.

@gwen - I agree about networking. It’s something we do a lot of and the key for us is to change the focus from getting sales to looking for potential partners.

@Patsy - I really like the t-shirt idea, it’s one I might have to copy

Thanks again for taking the time to comment

By: tv bracket

tv bracket — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:50:40 +0000

A few years ago I had to sit through National Assoc. of Realtors e-Pro course and this was something they stressed to all agents. Put your emial and url on everything! Business cards, letterhead, pens, wherever you can. They referred to it as branding. The more successful people on the web (not just realtors) do this all the time.

By: Larry

Larry — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:31:32 +0000

I think another reason this is an excellent idea is the fact that most people still operate in a very traditional environment. Most are not comfortable floating about in cyberspace. The offline advertising provides easy to find pointers, in a traditional format that will help point people to your content.

By: Sports Psychology Degrees

Sports Psychology Degrees — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:40:13 +0000

Offline marketing for online properties is a great when a business targets the local market.

About a year ago, I started seeing lots of advertisements for a local classified ads site, and since that time, they’ve become a real competitor to Craigslist.

The point about advertising (offline) where there are less competitors is really quite true. People take notice when something peaks their interest and there’s a followup URL to check out. This isn’t always true when you’re surfing online and there’s always 10-50 links within your screen space.

By: discount lamp shades

discount lamp shades — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:36:13 +0000

Hmmm, I guess I never even thought about real world offline marketing as a strategy. It does make sense though. Is it cost effective though?

By: Monavie

Monavie — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:02:09 +0000

Good tips. Here is a great way I have found to offline market. Give professional business cards to your family and friends, and ask them to put them somewhere visible at their work. That way, customers trust where it is coming from so you are more likely to get their business.

By: Qaswer

Qaswer — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 12:21:55 +0000

In my thoughts Offline marketing was almost dead but you raise some very valid points which urge me to think about it again.

By: Koozie Guy

Koozie Guy — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:51:33 +0000

After reading this article I will aslo promote my business both online and offline. This is really a wonderful article. Thanks

By: web hosting

web hosting — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:16:49 +0000

Personally I haven’t tried this but suggested on my friends doing following:

1. Make a nice logo, slogan and print it in T-Shirt and distribute them.
2. Place a website URL in small bracket that could go with backside of Car.
3. Send SMS to friends,and friends of friends etc.
4. Visiting Card would always help.
5.If you run some contest, you could give ads in newspaper, radio stations, magazines ( weekly or monthly).
etc..

So basically I am still looking on how to do this in more effective way.

Thanks and looking forward to see more tips from bloggers here.

Chris

By: Bouncer

Bouncer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:07:03 +0000

good points but one needs to understand that they first need to analyze IF their business needs offline marketing…..

else it will be true waist of money..

By: diet plans

diet plans — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:16:31 +0000

I did some work online but didn’t try offline. I shall try offline. I think that will be good for me too.

By: Andy Bargery

Andy Bargery — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:13:27 +0000

Thanks everyone for commenting and Mark for writing a fantastic post. One thing for sure is that whether you are an online of an offline business, you really need to consider your marketing as having multiple levels i.e. taking into account a variety of different marketing communications vehicles.

As Mark suggests and as many of you agree, that will most effectively be a combination of both online and offline - which is exactly how I have been growing my own business and that of my clients.

Please keep posting your ideas and examples. I know a lot of people are getting a lot of value from this discussion.

By: syed Mohammad waseem

syed Mohammad waseem — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:35:23 +0000

Thanks for sharing..

By: Best Juicers

Best Juicers — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:32:51 +0000

This is something I keep on thinking about with my online business. Many aspects of promotion can be used offline to boost by online business, from something as simple as newspaper advertising. I have a couple of websites that would probably do very well at attracting new business if I target offline marketing, but I focus a lot (probably too much) actually online.

By: UptakeInOH

UptakeInOH — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:24:00 +0000

I actually get many of my online sites from magazines. I love reading about new ideas and sites when grabbing a magazine to take for coffee or to read during a office visit. I find it’s a very effective way to market.

By: MLM Asia

MLM Asia — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:57:53 +0000

Very Interesting perspective and something most online businesses neglect doing. Nice Read, Thanks.

By: A dust collecting fool

A dust collecting fool — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:16:26 +0000

We work the business meeting circuit here and it works very well!

By: Faxless payday loans

Faxless payday loans — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:55:28 +0000

Your point on process marketing is a good one. I’ve need been as consistent with this as I should, but when I’ve spent even a small amount of time with process marketing, the benefits have been well worth the effort.

By: Fire Pits

Fire Pits — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:14:55 +0000

An valuable article. The best way to make your business more effective is to target on both online and offline market.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:50:04 +0000

The most successful companies are those who have used what was successful offline and tweaked the process slightly to create the results they get online.

I believe promoting your business offline should be approached the same way with online methods. Just getting the know how to use the offline media like you have online. Its a combination of both that creates immense results.

And one quick way to get your feet wet, is to send a postcard to your list using their physical address. It may even be a birthday card or thank you card. You will be amazed at the response you get. There are websites that offer sending postcards cheaply even at $1.

Give it a try.

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By: global resorts network

global resorts network — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:56:20 +0000

I love reading about new ideas and sites when grabbing a magazine to take for coffee or to read during a office visit.

By: Music By Day

Music By Day — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:14:09 +0000

I have always think about online business and not even had a thought on offline business.

By: Business Attorney

Business Attorney — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:28:14 +0000

It is nice to hear a couple of good ideas on how to promote online business offline, I think we do not always realize that our promotion efforts are incomplete if the offline ground is not covered. Thanks to make me remember that!

By: colon cleansing system

colon cleansing system — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:36:07 +0000

Especially in developing countries like Phillipines, India etc promoting the business thru offline is much more beneficial as only few folk have access to internet. Nice post.

By: Lake Tahoe Rentals

Lake Tahoe Rentals — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:51:09 +0000

True, we get so caught up in the web and online promotion that we forget that there is life outside Google. Like in the investment world, diversifying will likely be of benefit.

By: Mike Davies

Mike Davies — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:39:25 +0000

Good advice to remember. The trouble is many online marketers have never been involved in traditional marketing and as a consequence, they’re generally pretty bad at it! Not to mention the time it can take to do both online and offline marketing. Decide what works for you and do that! Experiment, but not to your detriment.

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By: free asian dating

free asian dating — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:30:59 +0000

Nice article. I think this is commonly overlooked. I have found offline marketing to work very well in Asia and its quite cheap.

By: Condos

Condos — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:17:39 +0000

Having a balanced mix of online and offline marketing helps you to promote your business.

By: hank

hank — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:22:39 +0000

Without the proper techniques offline you’re going to have a hard time selling online - not IMPOSSIBLE, but difficult!

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:14:33 +0000

I have started looking at offline advertising and I am overwhelmed at opportunities for advertising. Unfortunately I don’t know of any that are good advertising outlets.
Can anyone tell me good advertising outlets offline (or even online at reasonable costs!)
Cheers.

By: irish gifts

irish gifts — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:21:43 +0000

Great advice there. Webmasters should keep in mind that a lot of people aren’t as internet savvy as they are. There are still plenty of people who don’t go near the internet who need to be convinced that online is the place to be.

They will by definition only ever see offline promotions.

By: Ilonka

Ilonka — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:51:17 +0000

I’ve have a big sticker on my car and made some small stickers wich i can put on anything. That’s working great. I make more money from offline advertisment than online.