The lines between offline and online marketing are blurring, but there is still a clear distinction. Offline marketing involves direct contact with customers and promotes activity that occurs in real life. In contrast, online marketing occurs online or via social media and can involve activity such as emailing customers, posting content to social media, or running ads. Simply put, offline marketing occurs when someone hears or sees your voice or an ad. Online marketing happens when someone interacts with an ad or message on your behalf.

The Growth of Online and Offline Marketing

The lines between offline and online marketing have blurred, and today, online marketing can encompass a variety of activities including advertising, marketing, and sales. This growth is primarily due to the increasing adoption of digital marketing through social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn as well as online communities like Reddit. According to HubSpot Blogs’ analysis of the LinkedIn data, 79% of B2B marketers say they use LinkedIn to gain insights into their industry. Similarly, Twitter’s 2018 Data and Analytics Review found that 19% of respondents use the platform to gain industry insights and connect with buyers.

In contrast, only 8% of marketers use traditional offline methods like mass mailings or newspaper ads to get purchase and to retain customers. The importance of these traditional methods continues to decline, particularly as email opens and clicks on ads decline. The growing importance of digital marketing is further demonstrated by the fact that only 14% of marketers say they spend more than 25% of their time on digital marketing methods, while 72% spend less than 25% of their time on these methods.

The Difference in Focus

While the lines between online and offline marketing are becoming blurred, there is still a distinction in focus. Offline marketing is generally about marketing a product or service in the physical world while online marketing is about marketing a product or service in the digital world. The distinction is important because it determines the way advertisers approach their approach to marketing. For example, if your product is furniture, you’ll want to advertise in magazines that focus on home decoration and design.

In contrast, if your product is software that helps businesses operate more efficiently, you’ll want to look towards commerce sites and blogs that have a focus on business and commerce.

Which Is Better: Online or Offline Marketing?

When considering whether to do business with a company, you’ll want to consider their approach to marketing, their reviews, and whether there are any complaints about the business or its products. Looking at these factors, it’s clear that businesses that offer quality products and services with a long history of standing by their promises outperform those that offer cheap products with a poor reputation. This, in turn, helps create a better return on investment for you as the business owner or investor.

With that in mind, it’s better to do business with a company that already has a good reputation than one that hasn’t yet proven themselves to be reliable. The key word here is “yet.” When considering which business to choose, you’ll want to focus on the sustainability and long-term growth of the company. When evaluating a business’ marketing plan, you should ask yourself: Is this advertising or marketing? Is this activity planned or organic? How is the plan formulated? Who is the target audience? How do I know they’ll actually read my content? Am I sure they’ll take action as a result of this content? Who is responsible for making the purchase? When you put all of these questions to yourself, you’ll be able to determine whether or not you’ll be happy with whatever business you choose.