Digital marketing moves at the speed of light. When you’re over-subscribed to every marketing education newsletter on the planet, it’s easy to go into overwhelm… You feel like you need to do everything to keep up with competitors, but end up doing nothing because “it’s all too hard” and you “don’t know where to start” – sound familiar?
The good news is traditional marketing is alive and well. Get back to basics with these 5 simple offline marketing ideas that won’t cost a bomb and don’t require a team of tech-heads to execute.
1. Make an Impression at Networking Events
Deep Breaths… You’re Allowed to Take a Colleague!
People do business with people they like. As one brand building business explains, any company that links its corporate image with a human face immediately differentiates itself from its competitors; think Apple and Steve Jobs; Virgin and Richard Branson; Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.
Commit to attending at least one networking event each quarter and prepare your elevator pitch: a short spiel that gives people a condensed version of what your business does and what problem it solves for customers (the who, what, where, when, why and how of what you do).
When you’ve perfected your pitch, search event sites for suitable networking and professional development seminars in your area. Here are five to get you started:
Most importantly, don’t forget your business cards! If you really want to leave an impression that outlasts the event, invest in some business card clamshells with clear mints. Just insert your business card into the plastic sleeve behind the mints and you can be sure everyone you meet will be thinking about your encounter later that day when they’re enjoying their treat.
2. Send Direct Mail That People Will Actually Open
As serial entrepreneur Charles Gaudet explains, the first goal in any direct mail campaign is to actually get your envelope opened. How can you do this? Make it lumpy, he says, which has helped his business achieve almost 100% open rate on direct mail campaigns. Curiosity gets the better of people – they need to know what’s inside and can’t resist opening it to find out.
Another trick to making your direct mail stand out (for smaller sends/higher budgets) is investing in retro style brown kraft paper envelopes. You can be sure there’s nothing like it in recipients’ mail boxes and the quality and texture of the package piques curiosity to boost open rates.
Depending on the size of your product, a lumpy addition could be a product sample, or something with general appeal, like a promotional pen or branded bag of M&M Minis with your logo and contact details.
And remember, people have short attention spans, so cut to the chase with your offer and don’t make recipients work for it by hiding it half way down your sales letter – if you’ve qualified the list well, they’ll be interested in what you have to offer, so display it front and centre, then finish with a strong call to action that tells readers exactly what action to take after reading your mail.
3. In-Store Newsletter Sign Up
If you have a shop front, show room, trade show booth or club house, leave a newsletter sign up form on your front desk, right next to an eye-catching jar of colourful candy. If visitors want one, they’ll have to leave their contact details on the form provided – an easy trade for a freebie.
An email list is important to every business because it’s an owned form of media; you have full control over how and when you communicate with this list and can do so for free (bar the subscription cost of email marketing software), whereas to communicate with social media followers, businesses are increasingly having to pay advertising fees.
As Campaign Monitor explains, email marketing is the king of the marketing kingdom with a 4400% ROI and $44 for every $1 spent. Increasing the size of your list is therefore critical to your marketing efforts, but it doesn’t have to be a complicated online lead capture system – a simple form for people to write their full name and email is a great place to start.
With so many hands in the lolly jar, keep it hygienic by using individually wrapped confectionary. If you work in a school, hospital, gym or other health-conscious facility, individually wrapped mini fruit packets (no peanuts!) are a great alternative to encourage customers to sign up for your newsletter.
Kmart has a range of affordable glass jars to choose from for displaying your edible list building incentives – be sure to use glass so people can see what they’ll get for leaving their details.
4. Create Milestone Rewards for Existing Customers
According to consulting firm Bain and Co., a small 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by a whopping 75%. And what happens when you lose a client? Well, it costs five times as much to find a new customer than it would to have just kept the old one happy.
So what are you doing to nurture and market to your existing customers? Creating a milestone reward program for current customers – particularly subscription ones – can be a cost-effective way to keep them engaged, show them you appreciate their business, and remind them that you’re there for support whenever they need it.
Decide which milestones you’ll celebrate; whether it’s their 50th stock order, or an amount of time they’ve been subscribed to your service. Then decide on a budget for the rewards and choose appropriate gifts for each occasion. For example…
- A small and cost effective freight item like a keyring or branded pen could be a suitable reward for placing their 10th order;
- A greater value reward like a Starbucks coffee gift card or Hoyts movie tickets (no freight or manual handling required thanks to email delivery) might be suitable for a 6-month anniversary; and…
- To reallllly impress your big ticket clients (or those who’ve reached significant milestones) customisable wine packaging with a celebratory bottle of bubbles will let them know how much you value their ongoing business.
For more ideas on showing customers you care, checkout these 25 fun, quirky and memorable ideas for building a loyal customer base and browse our huge range of promotional products to reward existing customers.
5. Run a Cross Promotion
A major benefit of attending networking events is building relationships with non-competing businesses that can offer your clientele something of value, and vice versa. Do your homework on the business before you jump into a partnership and start promoting their products or services.
Pose as a prospective customer and check their online reviews and enquiry processes. How long did it take to get back to you? …. Were they friendly and helpful? …. Would you be happy for your customers to be treated like that?
Once you’re convinced they’ll look after your clients as well as you do, begin negotiating the terms of your cross promotion. Decide on an offer/freebie of equal or similar value to promote to your respective databases, agree to a time length if you’re running an offer (create some urgency to drive conversions), then discuss how the promotion is going to be marketed (in-store, letter box drops, posters, direct mail, social media, EDMs etc).
For more info on creating a successful partnership, check out these 6 Ideas for Cross-Promoting Your Small Business.
Dream BIG, Start Small
If there’s one thing you do after reading this, let it be just one thing – don’t make the mistake of attempting everything at once! Focus on one idea from the list above to improve your traditional marketing efforts and start executing it today. Focus, test, measure and improve until you find traditional marketing methods that work best for your business.
Ask the Experts
The team at Promotional Centre is passionate about helping businesses like yours brainstorm and execute creative ideas. We help our clients not only attract and convert more customers, but also increase retention of existing clients with our innovative promotional products and customised strategy.
If you’ve got the will to improve your marketing, we’ve got the ways! Get in touch and let’s have a chat about what your business needs to become the number one choice in the eyes of your customers.