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Online and offline marketing nowadays is much like the PC Vs Mac war that rages across the World and leads to many heated discussions around the water cooler.

Over the last 10 years the surge in online marketing tools and tactics make many believe that offline marketing is dead and buried. If you believe and operate this way then you’re missing out on opportunities to stand out and get noticed.

Now, there’s still no denying that online marketing works and is a basic requirement for any modern business. But even with an unprecedented number of people online, we don’t live with 100% of our attention captured by the internet. Offline marketing is still very influential and it contains many advantages over its online counterpart.

What are offline channels?

Offline marketing involves using tactics such as direct mail, catalogues, radio, TV, print, cold-calling, networking, events, trade shows, Public Relations etc to promote your business. All these activities happen as the name implies offline. Offline marketing is well known thanks to its long and established history. This history has created many frameworks and tools that are proven to work.

The real World

The reality is that our customers will always live in the real World which is a blend of offline and online. Some customers may skew their time towards either World but the vast majority of us spend more time offline. So it makes sense that businesses that ignore offline channels will miss out on opportunities to serve more customers.

Despite how often we’re on the internet, every day we encounter some form of offline advertising. This can include an ad in the local paper, bench signage, a billboard on the side of the road, posters in store windows or a print ad that arrives through the mail.

Offline marketing channels have lost ground to online marketing and by the end of 2018, digital marketing spend is forecasted to overtake offline marketing expenditure but overtake doesn’t mean that offline marketing will stop. It’s dangerous to interpret this statistic as meaning offline marketing is dead and buried. 

What’s your inbox like?

How many emails do you receive a day? For me it’s over 300 not counting the 100+ spam emails that Google filters out for me. Trying to get my attention with email is impossible nowadays.

On the other hand, what’s your letter box like?  On average, I receive 3 letters per day and yes mostly bills. When a business sends me a direct mail piece, even a simple postcard they naturally get noticed and stand out because there is no competition.

This is just one example where offline tactics are worth considering in your marketing mix.

Is this the next big “marketing thing”?

Instead of wars, were historically we know there is never a real winner, the next big “marketing thing” is surely an alliance.

Both Worlds have their strengths and weaknesses, their pro’s and con’s. The winners will be those businesses that leverage and then coordinate both online and offline tactics to create a powerful marketing engine and then World domination can become a reality…Napoleon would be proud.

Want to create an alliance? Contact Intertype to start peace talks  www.intertype.com.au

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