Strategies To Use Print Media for Offline Marketing
Online marketing has recently been the preferred marketing channel for many small to medium-sized businesses. It’s cheap, effective, and can help your services and products reach a global audience. While this is great, many small businesses forget the power they can wield when they leverage online and offline marketing techniques to promote their businesses. There’s an unlimited audience demographics that you can appeal to when you use all the marketing channels available to you.
If you’re wondering which offline marketing technique to try, we suggest choosing a sure, tested, and trusted approach that dates to the 1400s — Print Marketing. Print marketing uses printed advertising tools like flyers and posters to promote your business. It’s a highly effective marketing technique for reaching your offline target audience.
Here are five print media strategies you can employ to boost your business offline:
1. Leverage Printed Material — Flyers, Brochures, Posters, Coupons
Printing out advertisements on flyers, brochures, and other marketing materials is not old-fashioned. It’s still effective for gaining offline visibility in your local area. As popular as social media has become, not every member of your local community is fully engaged with the internet and so may not be aware of what your business offers if you only promote yourself there. One fundamental principle of offline marketing with print media is to identify the categories of your target audience. Then, tailor your printed promotional material to appeal to them. For instance, if your business provides plumbing services, your target audience should be homeowners and local business owners like salons or spas. So, the content of your flyers and brochure should speak to these categories of people. Be creative and innovative so your printed material will stand out. Also, if there are any local events or exhibitions near you, those are great places to share or put up your printed promotional materials.
Although your website may not enjoy any elaborate SEO benefits when you use offline media for marketing purposes, it remains one of the valuable ways to boost brand visibility. Some brands put a QR code on their flyers, brochures, and printed manuals so that when recipients scan it, it links them to their website. This way, you can still direct some traffic to your site.
2. Publish in Niche-Relevant Magazines and Publications
Some publications print out and distribute copies of their journals or magazines to subscribers who prefer paper-based information. You can leverage these published materials by advertising your business in relevant ad placements.
For instance, if you run a local fashion store, you can pay for ad placement in a popular fashion magazine in your community or neighboring geographical locations. It promotes your brand as an expert in the industry and increases your visibility wherever the paper is sold. Be sure to include accurate and easily accessible contact details in your ad placement so that potential customers can reach you without hassle. As with your other printed materials, you must check whether the demographic that reads the publication is in line with your target audience. You must also be sure that the publication is a credible source of information so that you don’t end up paying for ads in a publication that people take with a grain of salt.
3. Distribute Your Branded Business Cards
Brands are continuously finding more ways to make excellent business cards that people find good enough to keep. Investing in well-branded business cards is a great way to promote your business wherever you go. They’re handy and easy to move about since they don’t take up much space. Design it to reflect your business’s values and ideals to make the most impact with your business card. Also, create business cards for key stakeholders or staff members in the company — you never know when the opportunity to give them to a potential client will arise.
Some tips to help you design a quality business card that stands out include:
● Be consistent — stick with the familiar elements of your brand, such as your logo, brand colors, font style, and others.
● Use a unique color of cardboard — different from the regular white.
● Choose portrait orientation instead of the regular landscape page orientation.
● Ensure your business card contains relevant information about your business and how people can contact you if needed.
Be strategic when giving out your business cards. Look for the right distribution opportunities or leave your card in the relevant places. For instance, if you run a dog-grooming business, visit the park or community playground often to give your business cards to dog owners you’ll meet there. You can also leave one or two cards in conspicuous places where passersby can see and pick them up. Creatively designed cards are the most helpful in such situations. Doing this puts your business in front of people needing your services sooner or later. You can cut costs of business card production by designing the card yourself with free business card generators online. However, it is often more effective to have a professional design and work with a print marketing team to help you bring your business card design to life.
4. Put Up Billboards
Billboards are like posters, but they’re more conspicuous and command attention. If you want to make a statement in your local community, a print billboard will help you achieve this.
Billboards help you reach potential customers who are on the move. How often have you driven by a McDonald’s billboard and wished for a burger once you saw it? You didn’t have to get out of the vehicle to see the burger, but you knew you wanted one as you drove by. It’s the same with your customers. Seeing your product or service on a billboard makes them realize that they need your services, even if it wasn’t on their minds. The bigger the billboard, the more visible it is from a distance. This way, you can get the attention of more potential customers from a mile away. Some of the best spots to mount your billboard are busy spots consumers frequent: train stations, airports, malls, and town centers. Billboards that command the most attention are unique, colorful, and have a distinct, easy-to-read creative message.
5. Publish an Industry-Relevant Book
Don’t roll your eyes just yet. One of the best ways to position yourself as an industry expert is to have a book that portrays you in that light. Think about it — almost everyone famous for something has written a book or has a book written about them, so why not you?
Depending on your industry, a book will be one of your best printed, offline business boosters, especially if you promote it correctly. Chefs and culinary experts can publish recipe books, while fashion experts, craft workers, artists, and handymen can publish printed “How-to” guides or “Do-It-Yourself” books. It helps you sell your brand as an authority in the field and gives your business more exposure. Your book does not have to be lengthy, but the information it contains must be valuable. Nobody wants to read a book that doesn’t bring them any value. The top selling point for your book should be the off-site assistance you can provide readers and how you’ll be happy to offer more help if they contact your business.
Bonus Tip: How to Run Your Print Adverts
If you’re considering using print as part of your marketing techniques, here are some pointers to help you ensure your campaign is a success:
● Plan your budget carefully and wisely, including all you’ll need to pay for depending on your print media choice.
● Think like the customer when preparing and designing your advert copies.
● Work with a print marketing agency to get the best rates for your business.
24 Seven Sites is happy to provide years of industry expertise in bringing you the best print services. We offer various small business solutions and can design, print, and deliver your printed marketing material directly to your door.
