That is Not the Question

SYNOPSIS IN POINT FORM

• Your marketing decisions should not be based upon this distinction
• Start off by asking who your target audience is, which are the best channels and media to be seen by them, how can you best communicate through these channels and what budgets to allocate
• When promoting a purely online service then online might make more sense
• With traditional outlets certain offline promotion can still be very effective
• Think of where you will be mostly seen by your specific audience, go where they may be found
• Offline media is often the best for display type advertising, such as branding and visual impact, while online allows you to modify your message and interact with your audience
• At times consumers are influenced more through an offline message than an online one
• When searching for specific products and services most customers go online, so make sure you are also featured
• You must be very present online so running an online campaign is often more effective
• Online campaigns are usually much more targeted and also much less costly

FULL ARTICLE

Clients often ask me the question – Should we focus our marketing online or offline?

I will start off immediately by saying that this is not really a very pertinent question. It is not what a businessperson should be initially asking.

Whatever you are promoting, you must first set out your marketing ideas and intentions. It is true that in today’s business world the traditional long term marketing plan has become less relevant and in many cases has been replaced by campaign-driven marketing and opportunistic marketing. However, it is vital that some planning and budgeting is concluded from time to time to set you back in line and not operating haphazardly.

Our choice of marketing and ensuing promotion should always follow the same strategic steps. Who is my target audience? Which are the best channels and media to be seen by my audience? How can I best communicate through these channels? What budgets can I allocate to do this?

These are the questions we should be asking. The answers could lead you to both offline and online media, or they could possibly lead only to one. But your train of thought should be the one above and not one starting off by differentiating specifically between online and offline, which in many cases is incidental to this process.

There could be circumstances where you might be compelled to make this decision. Your might obtain ambiguous results, or perhaps due to limited resources and other factors you are truly led to having to choose between one or the other.

In this case also it would be preferable to assess and consider each specific medium on its own right and forecasting its effectiveness, as well as its pros and cons, rather than evaluating it purely upon it being an online or offline platform.

If however, for whatever reason, you really want to make this distinction, then these are the principle considerations. Are most of your clients constantly online as so many people are today? And if this is the case, are they more likely to see and be influenced by your online message rather than through an offline media they are also likely to view? The answers to these questions often lie in the way people function when online and when not. More so it will depend on what you are promoting.

Here are a few very obvious examples, to drive the message home. If you are promoting say a discount scheme which operates online via web site or social media, then the most obvious manner of promoting this is by sprinkling around as many online links to your site or page as possible, through countless means and ways. As your potential customers are browsing around they are likely to encounter one of these and hopefully click on that link, taking them instantly where you want them to go. Doing this via traditional offline media is very difficult indeed.

If you operate a purely online shop selling say gift hampers, then you might want to focus your promotional efforts on online groups and fora where your audience usually congregates and communicates. You could also consider being included in most popular directories and listings, as well as work on your Google search optimisation, perhaps also putting some budget onto the key search words.

You operate a fairly large casual diner just off a busy main road. There is a large billboard on the main road just before the junction leading to your establishment – grab it and don’t let it go!

You are importing and reselling luxury branded products largely reserved for a select audience. You have a decent budget purely for branding purposes. In such obvious cases there is absolutely nothing wrong with a back to basics approach, so full page or back cover adverts in a couple of glossy magazines would hit the spot nicely.

There are also other considerations between these two main platforms which you need to keep in mind. Offline promotion is often in-your-face display advertising and is usually more effective for this particular function. That is why branding is still so prevalent in this sphere. Naturally offline also includes a long list of direct marketing methods as are mail drops, in-store promotions and telemarketing, which can be very effective means of pushing your products and services forward.

It has also been shown that in certain circumstances reaching your audience offline can have a much greater impact on them and on their purchasing decisions, rather than online when they are literally bombarded with all types of information from all sides, making them less receptive to it.

On the other hand when searching for specific products and services, most people now do this online and you want to be there when they search. An online presence also allows you to modify and update info at the touch of a button and as often as you want. It also allows for full interaction with your audience.

Most businesses are comprehensively featured online and this is where you ultimately want to direct your viewers. Reaching out for them using the same platforms, allowing them to reach their intended destination via a mere click, is therefore often the most effective and direct means to your end.

Having a sound and an extensive online presence is no longer an option today and in fact hasn’t been one for many years now. When you are conducting a marketing campaign you are often best to start off by ignoring the main on-off distinction. Just think of what would work best with your allocated budget, then tweak things to make it even more effective and affordable, being online or offline and never losing sight of costs, which admittedly are often much less when going online.

Lastly, there are many means of carefully targeting your specific audience, even with several types of offline marketing, however, few come close to the precision available when using online methods.