In the pre-Internet era, business establishments did not have the options to resort to online marketing strategies. Conventional offline marketing strategies such as print advertising, discounts, special promotions, direct mails etc ruled the roost. Like the online marketing strategies, the aim of offline marketing strategies was same – to boost your small business. Anyways, despite the rapid surge of online marketing strategies, the importance of offline marketing strategies can not be denied even in the modern times. Basic offline marketing strategies still play crucial role in expanding your business. Here we discuss about some typical offline marketing strategies which are indeed helpful to boost your small business.

Print marketing

Advertising products and services in print media such as newspaper and magazine is a popular offline marketing strategy. Through advertising your products and services in the newspaper you can reach out to varied classes of people. Again, magazine advertisements aim at targeting a particular sector of the customers such as teens, women or the car lovers.

Broadcast

Radio and television are popular marketing platforms which are still being used very widely. The main advantage of broadcast marketing is that it reaches a large audience at a very quick time. In television advertisements, people can actually see how the products work. However, it is to be noted that advertising through radio and television is comparatively expensive than other forms of offline marketing.

Direct mail

Direct mails are used by many small businesses to augment customer base. This aims at raising the awareness of a product through letters, postcards, brochures and fliers. In direct mail method, a particular type of target market is aimed at. Moreover, this type of marketing strategy is costly too as it involves designing and printing costs.

Referral marketing

If a particular customer is satisfied with the product or the services that you offer, he or she may refer it to other customers. This way your client base increases through word of mouth or referral marketing. However, referral marketing is not any strategic marketing plan but it is useful to build up a loyal customer base. This type of marketing however does not require any cost. You, as the owner of a small business, should not entirely rely on referral marketing. Referral marketing should combine with other forms of marketing so as to reach to a wider section of the market.

Co-branding strategies

Co-branding is a smart offline business marketing strategy. Co-branding implies mutually beneficial marketing agreement between two business units. Two parties that embrace co-branding strategies do not compete with each other, instead the products offered by the two parties complement each other. Through this strategy you can attract those clients which you can not attract through other offline marketing strategies.

Loyalty programs

Even small business units can use these programs to expand customer base. Incentives are given to the customers to purchase more products. For instance, a movie theater owner may offer free movies to the customers on their fifth visit. This way, encouragement is given to the customers to purchase more units of a good.

Discount pricing

This is a very popular marketing strategy to augment your sales. Advertisements of discounts are given in radio, television or in newspapers. Giving bulk discount is a very popular practice. The aim of giving discount is to increase the sale of the product. However, while giving discount you should not compromise on product quality.

These are some offline marketing strategies which are still very much relevant. Even in this online era where increasing thrust is being given on online marketing, basic and traditional offline marketing strategies are very much required to keep your business in good stead. In fact, an ideal marketing strategy should be a judicious mix of both the offline and online marketing strategies.

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Author’s Bio:
Alex Brown: Alex is a prolific writer with specialization on various aspects of financial finance. His articles on debt, mortgage industry and personal finance are offer valuable guidelines to the readers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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