Traditionally, marketers have been divided into two camps – those who focus on generating online activity and those who focus on driving consumers to physical locations. However, in today’s world, the lines between the two have blurred. Offline strategies such as radio ads, billboards, and TV commercials may still exist, but the majority of the marketing budget will be focused on online marketing and social media.

Why Are Online and Offline Marketing Melding?

Let’s be honest – most of us spend most of our time online. According to an article in Mashable, people spend 4 hours of their day on their phones, while 3 hours are spent on computers. With so much time online, it’s not a surprise that people are relying more and more on the web to discover new things. While the web is a great source of information, sometimes you want to experience a brand’s product or service in real life and that’s where the offline strategy comes in.

From the beginning, the web was designed to be accessed online. That’s why you need an internet connection to visit most websites, however, it doesn’t mean that everything can be done online.

The Importance of Offline Marketing

While we live in the digital age, where access to information is at our fingertips, many consumers still prefer to receive information in a physical, tangible format. Why?

Research from HubSpot reveals that consumers prefer to read text-based content (55%) followed by videos (24%), then images (12%). If you’re not equipped to provide your target audience with the content they want in the format they prefer, you’re losing out on a potentially valuable consumer.

Additionally, 70% of survey respondents said that hearing an explanation of the product or service in person is more valuable than reading about it online. So, if you’re spending most of your time online, it’s important to create content that can be understood and appreciated by many different people. You can’t always assume that those online are your only target audience – sometimes you have to go above and beyond to attract more customers.

The Rise of Virtual Shopping

As we’ve established, online and offline marketing strategies are becoming more intertwined. While we navigate the internet to look for goods and services to purchase, brick-and-mortar stores are also embracing the digital world by offering in-store experiences via mobile phones.

Virtual shopping refers to doing business with a company without ever having to leave the comforts of your home. Thanks to the combination of the internet and mobile phones, virtual shopping has become a viable option for consumers.

According to Fit Small Business, by 2022 over 80% of American adults will shop online from a mobile phone. With more people shopping online, it’s crucial that your online experience is up to par. If your online shopping is hindered by poor UX, you’re losing out on revenue and customer goodwill – both of which you’ll come to regret.

The Importance of Mobile Marketing

Since the beginning of the year, the mobile market has been the subject of much discussion and controversy. From mobile phones to tablets, the hardware to the software, along with the data they consume, have all been topics of heated debate.

One of the most prominent and controversial figures in the mobile world is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. In 2019, the Amazon founder and CEO said that he was pouring his own money into the company’s mobile phone division. If that wasn’t enough, he also revealed that the company was spending billions on mobile marketing each year. In 2020, Amazon is expected to spend at least $15 billion on digital marketing and mobile advertising. Even if you’re not spending billions on mobile advertising and marketing, it’s important to keep up with the trends and be aware of what users want.

How to Integrate Digital Media Marketing and Offline Strategies

Now that you’re aware of the importance of offline marketing and mobile marketing, let’s discuss how you can integrate these strategies into your own digital marketing plan.

1. Create content that works for both online and offline

We’re always told that content is king, however, that doesn’t mean that all content needs to work hard to be effective. You have existing content such as blog posts, product descriptions, and social media posts that you can repurpose for your offline marketing campaign. Just make sure that everything fits the narrative that you’re creating for your brand.

If you want to boost your offline marketing efforts, you can repurpose existing content or use content creation tools to come up with new ideas for a blog post, press release, or any other type of content you’re using for your campaign.

2. Outreach to bloggers and journalists for additional content

If you have a decent amount of content that you can repurpose, the next step is to start gathering a list of bloggers and journalists that might be interested in your product or service.

Depending on your budget, you can either hire a strategist to help you find these people or you can go yourself. If you decide to go the DIY route, don’t just blast out a press release and wait to see if anyone notices. Instead, look at what’s working for other brands in your space and create content that’s similar but also connects with a completely different audience.

If you want to create an attractive package, consider using a content writer to create an engaging summary of your product or service. This article will provide you with the essential details that you need to know about the product, while also introducing the product in a way that’s interesting and engaging.

3. Run an ad campaign on social media to spread the word about your product or service

You’ve probably seen or heard of brands that spend thousands of dollars on sponsored posts and expensive ads to get their products or services out there to as many people as possible. While this is a great option if you want to quickly increase your reach, it can also be expensive. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective option, consider using social media to run an ad campaign instead.

The great thing about social media is that you can target the audience based on gender, age, location, and interests. If you run an ad campaign on Facebook, for example, you can target users based on their interest in sports, food, or fashion. So, if you have a steady stream of traffic on your website, you can use that same traffic to fuel your social media campaign. The more people that see your content, the greater your chances of them sharing it with their friends and growing your audience – eventually leading to more paying customers.

4. Use retargeting to follow up with former customers

You might get a lot of people coming to your website from search engines like Google or Bing. But, do you know what happens after they visit your site?

Retargeting is the process of contacting people who’ve previously visited your site or bought something from you. This is especially valuable if you’re trying to get customers to come back and make another purchase. In a nutshell, retargeting is putting a twist on online advertising and marketing by tailoring ads to people who’ve already experienced your product or service.

Depending on your budget and the tool you want to use, retargeting can be quite inexpensive. Google AdWords allows you to build a retargeting list for free. You can also use email marketing tools to send targeted emails to people on your list. If you decide to hire a consultant, they can advise you on the various tools available for retargeting.

Final Takeaway

In today’s world, marketing strategies can’t be compartmentalized. Instead, you need to approach marketing as a whole, considering both online and offline channels, to achieve the best results. If you want to take your marketing to the next level, consider using retargeting to follow up with former customers and combining traditional offline strategies with digital media tactics.