How to drive sales through online and offline marketing
Until 20 or so years ago, the term ‘marketing’ referred only to offline campaigns. Yes, this even included technologically integrated platforms such as television. Ad agencies had no idea that in just a few short years after the arrival of the internet, it would become a catalyst that would not only offer an entirely new platform from which to connect with consumers, but also completely turn the psychology of advertising on its head. Agencies could no longer tell consumers what they needed through print campaigns, instead consumers were using this digital platform to tell companies what they wanted. Very soon it became evident that it was the brands who took the time to listen to what was being asked for, who were stayed in business.
Through all of these industry changes however, somehow the rise of digital advertising has not entirely eliminated the need for offline advertising campaigns, and today companies with the best marketing ROI are those who have found a way to seamlessly connect both their online and offline campaigns, by ever-so-slightly blurring the lines between the two.
The secret conduits, it seems, are the personalisation of social media to either integrate real time experiences such as pop-up shops, which can be used to compliment the existence of an online store, or to increase the sales of a low performing brick and mortar store.
Online shopping and pop-up shops add a new dimension
Shopping online can be daunting and a large percentage of folks are not quite over the tactile experience of the old-fashioned way of picking up a new item of clothing and handing over payment to a cashier, for example. In this instance, pop-up shops offer companies a way of introducing their brand to those wary of online shopping and create interest in an event that spreads the word through social media of the shops temporary existence.
Get technical
In the same way, social media can be used to create in-store promotions and events where sales and marketing analytics show low consumer activity. With social media, an in-store event can be planned and promoted that targets a store or even an area within a store, specifically pin-pointed to increase sales and awareness. In addition, geo-marketing targets people by their proximity to your event. If someone passes within a certain radius of your store, they can be notified of sales or other promotional events via mobile marketing, which is an extremely effective way to use direct marketing that doesn’t cost much either.
Make the most of user-generated content
Small business have been the quickest to catch on to the usefulness and cost effectiveness of user generated content to cross the bridge between online and offline promotion of their businesses. Posting daily photos of clients wearing their clothing, creating a competitions that requires a consumer to buy an item and then post a photo of themselves using a promotional hashtag to win a voucher for example, creates an easy way to get feet through the door as well as people talking online. In addition, they are also promoted both in-store and online.
Thanks to technology direct marketing both online and offline has allowed brands to turn away from the conventional method of advertising by talking to the consumer, into a conversation that builds two bridges, one between brand and consumer and another between online and offline marketing campaigns.
