How to Coordinate your Online and Offline Marketing Strategy
Whilst both online and offline marketing are effective in their own rights, an integrated and coordinated strategy linking the two can be more than doubly effective. It is important for businesses to have a cohesive and consistent image regardless of whether it is online or offline and for this reason it is imperative to have them both working harmoniously together. Today’s society lives both online and offline, and businesses need to reflect this.
One obvious reason for focusing on making the most of your offline marketing strategy is that, surprising as it may be, not everyone is online. By concentrating on channelling your campaign through the internet only, you are alienating and disregarding a large number of people. Equally, there are people who rarely leave the house, don’t have a TV, or live in remote locations who might not see offline marketing and rely on communicating online. By combining the two, your impact is exponentially increased.
One of the first, most basic, factors is to have a decent website which looks good, is working properly and gives all of the information that potential customers would want to know, including details of how to contact the company. It is well documented that when consumers are considering buying something, they almost always look online for the finer details. By having a good website that also incorporates the marketing campaign, consumers can be fully informed.
At the very least, advertisements offline can direct consumers to the website which will give additional information and can also be used to gain customer information and get people involved using social media.
Offline advertisements can be used to promote online campaigns by showing what the campaigns are and how to get involved. A good offline campaign will tempt and intrigue customers to get involved and want to be part of the online one. A TV advert, for example, showing the reaction of ‘fans’ to a particular video, or showing photos that fans have posted as part of a marketing campaign can be used to gain more support online. By boosting offline awareness, an online campaign can become far more effective and have more of an impact.
It is important to create a consistent campaign in terms of image and the words used. Having different online and offline images can be very confusing for potential customers. For example, if an offline image is fun and quirky, the website needs to be similar, as do any online campaigns. Going to a website which is dry and technical after seeing a funny advert could cause customers to be confused and possibly put off. A business needs to have a cohesive and uniform image across all media.
Another bonus to having coordinated campaigns is that an offline campaign can be used to put out keywords which will help to direct consumers online. A memorable hash tag that is promoted offline will also help people to get involved online for example.
It is vital that businesses create integrated online and offline marketing strategies to avoid consumer confusion and maximise the effect of any marketing. Online and offline worlds are not mutually exclusive, just like in real life, and businesses should bear this in mind when developing brands and marketing campaigns.
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