In the age of the internet, being “online” is commonplace.

As a result, many industries have become heavily dependent on websites and online channels for marketing activities. However, while the digital transformation has presented major opportunities, it has also increased the complexity of marketing activities.

To survive and thrive in today’s digital world, marketers must be familiar with, and consider the impact of, both online and offline channels.

What are Offline Channels?

If you think back to your childhood, you’ll probably remember going to the shop to discover the latest toys, games, or gadgets that were featured on the radio commercials. While those radio commercials might not have been posted on the internet, they still had a huge impact on your decisions that day.

Toys R Us and other retail stores were once the lifeblood of the American market. However, as more and more families moved online, relying on digital marketing channels to find products, physical stores have struggled to maintain relevance.

Today, offline channels like radio and television advertisements still play an important role in marketing. However, with customers often preferring to look for products on the internet first, and then seek them out in physical stores, marketers must consider the strategies and tactics behind each channel.

What Are Radio Channels?

If you’ve turned on the radio in the past few days, you’ll know exactly what I mean. While most people consider online channels to be the most effective way to reach potential customers, radio channels are still one of the most important.

Each time you turn on the radio, you’re presented with a myriad of options. While most cars get tuned into the most popular stations to hear music, you can also find talk radio stations that focus on politics, sports, or business.

Whether you’re interested in sports or not, you’ll inevitably hear something that catches your attention. Moreover, you may hear a song that you like, but didn’t know that song was used in a commercial. In these instances, you’ll find out more about the song’s context when you listen to the track on the radio station’s website.

Unfortunately, unlike with most digital marketing activities, where you can always find information about how a product or service works in online tutorials or user guides, without needing an internet connection, getting the full backstory on a radio ad can be difficult.

Why Are Offline Channels Important?

Whether you’re a traditional marketer or a digital marketer, you’ll need to consider the differences between online and offline channels. While it’s important to have a presence online, it’s also important to consider how people make purchasing decisions, especially in today’s world where customers often research products and brands before purchasing them.

Customers increasingly rely on their smartphones to access the internet, and increasingly, those smartphones are tethered to data plans. As a result, customers are more likely to be online when they’re making purchasing decisions, and research products and brands more when they’re online. That makes digital marketing campaigns more effective when targeting audiences online, but it also means that offline marketing tactics, like radio ads, can have an even bigger impact.

Thanks to the prevalence of smartphones, location-based marketing, or “geo-marketing,” is also on the rise. When a potential customer comes within range of a wireless network, they can be delivered a message via text, email, or other methods.

Although online and offline channels are distinct, they’re not entirely separate from one another. For example, when you search for products on the internet, you’ll often find some information about the product, its competitors, and customer reviews, all of which can be valuable. Similarly, when you visit a retail store like Walmart or Target, you’ll see product placements on television or digital displays. However, the sheer volume of advertisements on television alone would be difficult to consume and process as a potential customer. As a result, the internet and offline channels work together to present customers with information they need to make purchasing decisions.

How Do I Integrate Offline and Online Channels?

If you’re fortunate enough to have a marketing department, it’s your job to make sure that the different platforms and media that your company uses to reach customers are coordinated and working together. As a marketer, you’ll need to consider how to best leverage the power of both online and offline channels to gain the greatest traction.

For instance, you might want to create a social media campaign that includes a podcast, with the hope that this new platform will drive traffic to your website and boost your conversion rates.

To get the most out of your offline channels like radio, you need to ensure that your online strategy is geared toward driving conversions. Moreover, you can use digital marketing platforms, like Google Ads, to target customers based on their location, as well as other offline and online factors.

Thanks to the growth of online communities, like social media and forums, like Quora, integrating online and offline marketing is easier than ever. For example, you might want to create a Twitter account with a relevant hashtag, like #CMA17, to increase your chances of getting customers to follow you.

The takeaway from this article is that, while the internet has made the world smaller, it has also made marketing more complex.

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Marketing Channels You Should Learn About

Here’s a quick list of some of the most important offline and online marketing channels from which you should learn, and consider integrating into your strategy.

Radio Channels

As discussed above, radio channels are an important part of any marketing plan. Moreover, they’re often underutilized or ignored when compared to other channels, like television, which have historically dominated the medium.

Despite this, research shows that radio ads actually work better than online ads, and paid search ads generally work better than social media ads.

When creating or revising your marketing strategy, you should consider what will work best on the radio, and how to integrate more stations into your plan.

Television

Although television has been around for more than 70 years, it wasn’t until the late 20th century that marketers began using television more often as a means of advertising. Thanks to the invention of the television set, and the subsequent boom in TV viewing, television became, for the most part, a “safe” platform for marketers.

Moreover, with more people seeking entertainment, news, and information via smartphones and other devices, programming on television has become, for the most part, a “passive” platform. This makes television an excellent choice for advertisers, as it’s already tuned into the customer, and they’re not likely to be interacting with advertisements, anyway.

However, just because television is a passive platform, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any power. For example, if you want to advertise on TV, you’ll need to decide how much you want to spend on advertising, and how much you’re willing to invest in a particular show.

The Internet

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that the internet has completely redefined marketing. Thanks to the internet, and the subsequent boom in digital marketing, customers can research and interact with businesses and brands, all from the comfort of their homes.

With more people shopping online, especially via smartphones, location-based marketing or “geo-marketing” is also on the rise. When a potential customer comes within range of a wireless network, like 4G LTE, they can be presented with a message via text, email, or other methods.

As a marketer, you’ll need to consider how to best use the internet as part of your marketing strategy, and whether you want to focus more on digital marketing, like SEO and email marketing, or traditional marketing, like TV and radio ads.

Paid Search

Paid search, or ads that appear when you perform a search on Google, are a crucial part of any marketing budget. What is search engine advertising?

If you’ve ever used Google to look up products or services, or found yourself on a website that features product placements, you’ve been exposed to paid search advertisements. These advertisements appear when you perform a search on Google, and they’re also sometimes referred to as “advertisements” or “sponsored results.”