This one statement might not mean much -- if anything -- to you until you actually try promoting your business in
'real world'. I know it didn't mean anything to me; for years I heard 'experts' repeatedly say that one thing online marketers neglected was offline market.It wasn't until I opened up a new website where most of audience preferred good old postal mail that I had my first taste of offline marketing. My worst campaign barely broke even; my best earned me back my costs by a margin of 7-to-1!
It's easy to become comfortable just marketing online; after all, it's relatively cheap, a big advantage for those just getting started. Still, it's by no means 'perfect'. Some of problems include:
* Email marketing, one of most prevalent and popular ways to market online, is getting harder. With vast amounts of spam (unsolicited email) we receive every day in our email boxes, legitimate email can easily be overlooked. Many people simply press 'delete' key if email isn't from someone they immediately recognize.
* Anyone can put up a web page. There's no easy way to differentiate legitimate businesses from 'scammers', and there seems to be an huge proliferation of scams online.
* It's difficult to get *right* people to see your website. With billions upon billions of web pages, how do you attract people to your little corner on web? And once they're there, how do you keep them? Another website is just a 'click' away!
These problems make offline marketing much more attractive! Offline marketing has many advantages that cyberspace can't offer. Consider this:
* You are not limited to a web page or online ad. For instance, you can use texture and taste (ie. product samples); or enclose stickers in your mailings to help engage customer in your message.
* It's something tangible that your prospect can hold in his hands... and with things like brochures, postcards, and business cards, although they might initially be tossed aside, recipient can 'rediscover' them lying on a counter, on fridge, etc -- or he may hand it to someone else he knows.
