Offline Marketing Strategies for Your Website

Most webmasters are aware of the online marketing strategies they will need to employ to drive traffic to their websites. There are search engines, interlinked ads, articles, discussion forums, social networking sites, and so on in which to easily (and inexpensively) promote your site. Unfortunately, there are still many website owners struggling to understand why all of their work isn’t paying off. The most approved problem that links these particular webmasters is their lack of offline promotion. That’s right, you aren’t bringing people directly to their computers for the specific purpose of finding your site, which is how the most successful web businesses prosper. While you can place links and advertisements everywhere hoping that a few people will come across them, click on them, and actually purchase something from you all on a whim, the best approach is to have them discover out your area on purpose. That’s where the following marketing tactics will come in. People will see your ads in the offline world and, when they do find your site, it will be because they were actually looking for what you have to offer. This means they will be distinguished more likely to grasp whatever you are selling (or click on links you are promoting), so pay attention.

Offline marketing strategy #1: Classified newspaper ads. Newspaper classifieds are often absolutely free, or are pennies per day. Simply select an area in the business section of your newspaper’s classifieds that best describes what you offer, and be sure to include a logo or represent that will grab attention. For just a few more dollars, you can often highlight your ad with bold text, a border, and other “extras” that will make it stand out even more. Remember, you are promoting a website, which means you don’t have to stick with a particular newspaper if you know it won’t be read by many people. In other words, if you live in the backwoods of Georgia, forget the local paper and advertise in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You bag the relate. Advertise where the market actually is.

Offline marketing strategy #2: The Yellow Pages and other business directories. While it’s true that most people are looking for phone numbers when they look in these directories, so many people use them that it is essential to have an advertisement in them for your website. You can include a business number if you like, but place the emphasis on your website link. Today, most people prefer to do their business online and avoid phone calls anyhow, so you will be ahead of the competition in the rest of the directory right off the bat.

Offline marketing strategy #3: Free newspapers. Do you ever read those free “coffee” newspapers that are offered in restaurants, hotel lobbies, airports, and, well, everywhere? A lot of other people do, too. Freebies get passed around like wildfire, so make sure that your website ad is in at least one in your status.

Offline marketing strategy #4: “Giveaway” charity donations. Charities are often looking for free donations that they can use as prizes in drawings and raffles. Take advantage of that by offering something free on your website as a gift. Not only will people at the actual event be exposed to your little marketing ploy, but your business will likely be advertised for weeks beforehand in flyers, press releases, and various announcements that the charity sends out that describe the available prizes and where they are coming from. No one loses here. You can even require a visit to your site for redemption of the prizes.

Offline marketing strategy #5: Give donations to building funds. Charities are also often looking for business donations to various building and expansion funds of theirs. In return, they might offer free marketing in their bulletins, a brick or stone in the new building in your honor, or an inscription on a commemorative plaque in the new structure. The donations are tax deductible, and the promotion given in return is priceless.

Finally, as mentioned briefly in strategy #1, do not limit your offline marketing to your local area. Promoting your website to a town of 10,000 is not going to get you far. Also, most often the citizens of rural and small communities are not as technologically savvy as those in larger areas (Try just finding an ATM in a rural town!). Focus on promoting to those who expend the Internet often, who are aware of the safe payment methods now offered online, and who will be glad to see an advertisement offline for a website that can actually provide them a valuable service. The result will be specifically targeted customers coming to your site with a purpose, which can only add up to more revenues for you.