Opportunities Available With Offline Marketing

(From the tutorial, Marketing Your Online Business in the "Real World")

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 different colors and textures of paper; you can send postcards, brochures, flyers, coupons... you can send gifts, samples, CDs... or use stickers or "scratch-and-win" boxes... There are all sorts of things you can do to try to attract a prospect's attention.

It's something tangible that your prospect can hold in his hands.

With things like brochures, postcards, magnets, and business cards, although they might initially be tossed aside, the recipient can 'rediscover' them lying on a counter, on the fridge, etc -- or he may hand it to someone else he knows.

You can reach a whole new segment of the population that would never see your ads online.

Some people don't use the Internet at all (or use it rarely, or only while at work)... while some of those who do, don't necessarily know how to search for specific information. Many people use the internet solely for entertainment purposes or for reading and answering email. You'll expand your reach by taking your message back into the "real world".

People can more easily focus on your message.

For example, a brightly colored postcard in someone's mailbox is more likely to stand out (and get read!) than an email that appears alongside dozens of others, most of which are spam.

You can contact your audience more directly.

Place an ad or get some publicity from a trade or niche magazine, or send a piece of mail directly to someone's home, and you'll reach your target audience. Market your website online and you'll have to learn how to get the right people to your website, which can easily be "lost" amongst billions of other web pages.

You can make your web business stand out from your competitor's.

Send a thank-you card or Christmas card through regular mail, for instance. Or send an unexpected gift, or a coupon for savings on a customer's next order. Many internet businesses rely solely on email as a form of communication, so anything received through regular postal mail helps to differentiate your business from the competition.

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