As the world is being increasingly digitized, offline marketing has lost some of its appeal. In turn, marketers pivoted investments from television, radio, newspaper, events, and outdoor advertising to digital channels, from Google Ads to TikTok.

But offline marketing still holds value. It can be a truly effective way to engage with your customers. 

Offline marketing, sometimes called traditional marketing, is any kind of marketing that doesn’t take place online. Basic examples of traditional marketing include things like newspaper ads and other print ads, but there are also billboards, mail advertisements, TV, radio advertisements, etc.

Not all of these strategies work for small online businesses. An unique business cards, as some articles suggest, is unlikely to bring you any tangible returns.

Some offline marketing strategies are too expensive for small businesses. The average ROI on TV ads is roughly between 300 and 500 per cent. They’re great for companies with a giant bank balance, but small owners most likely won’t have the budget to run TV ads.

In this article, we’ll discuss seven offline marketing strategies that small online businesses can incorporate and get high ROI.

7 Offline Marketing Strategies for Your Online Business

1. Direct mail

Direct mail is anything that involves a physical item sent to a customer. This can include letters, newsletters, brochures, and postcards. 

By 2025, according to Statista, the number of sent and received emails per day will reach 376 billion globally. Amidst the storm of emails, something physical can be quite influential in consumers’ purchasing decisions.

According to the 2023 State of Direct Mail, 74 percent of marketers reported that direct mail delivers the highest ROI across the channels they use.

One 2019 study by Pebble Post found that consumers tend to consider direct mail items such as newsletters and postcards when they are closer to making a purchase. They prefer to receive promotional offers the most and newsletters the least, with brochures, postcards, and catalogs falling in the middle.

Direct mail isn’t just for the elderly either.  A 2019 USPS study found that millennials are more likely than Gen X and Baby Boomers to take action based on marketing mail. In fact, 67% said they “frequently and occasionally use marketing mail as a prompt to go online.”

But don’t send mails to new people. It works best with existing customers or those with a proven interest in your brand. The Pebble Post study reported that 68% of consumers throw out direct mail that contains content they’re not interested in from brands they don’t know.

Meal box brands, such as HelloFresh and GoodFood, consistently send mailers out, often with discounts. These mailed coupons entice customers to engage with the brand directly—this strategy can get through to each customer physically in a way emails sometimes might not.

2. Event Promotion

Partnering with an event to promote your business or product can be an effective way to gain more customer exposure. This can be as simple as posters or products sold at an event or even a booth setup where you can connect one-on-one with buyers.

Promoting your company, product, or service at small community-focused events can help you target the specific customer you’re trying to acquire, while bigger cultural events, like concerts, markets, or festivals, can help you reach a wider net of potential buyers.

3. Print Advertisement

A neuromarketing study conducted by the Office of Inspector General at the USPS and Temple University found that physical ads are better for brand recall and ad recognition. 

One theory is that consumers experience “digital fatigue” and thus are more receptive to print advertising. As of 2019, 33% of Millennials are using ad blockers. On the flip side, 62% will read print ads instead of discarding them.

Sure, the ROI will vary depending on the campaign, targeting measures, and more. But one thing that’s clear is that print ads can be as effective as digital ads.

4. Phone Calls

It doesn’t get more traditional than a phone call. It’s a strategy that makes some markers cringe. It’s intrusive, it makes some people mad, but most importantly, it’s effective.

Despite the shift toward digital communication in recent years, studies show that consumers still prefer phone calls over emails and websites when discovering businesses.

In a 2019 Forrester study, 84% of business owners who responded said that it was a critical or important aspect of their communication strategy.

The key to succeeding at cold calls is converting them into warm calls. Before calling, you shouldn’t just have a person’s name and number. You should research them as thoroughly as possible. Learn their occupation, their location, their competitors, biggest pain point they’re facing, etc. Doing a few minutes of googling and snooping their social media accounts will get you all the infos. 

We now have the ability to personalise cold calls and make them more effective. This makes it an excellent traditional marketing tactic.

5. Trade shows

Trade shows are a great place to gain exposure among people who are actively interested in your industry, especially if you work in a B2B firm. Customer can engage with you and your product in an industry setting, which allows for whatever tone you want to strike, whether it’s casual or more professional. 

Whether you’re displaying or selling, you’ll be able to generate quality leads in just a few short days. Give away free product samples or discount codes for every lead you collect.

While trade shows at the consumer level are relatively niche, they also offer a ton of value because they allow you to interact with prospective buyers who are already in the market for the products you sell. Your brand gets quite a bit of exposure among your ideal customers and they get a chance to not only try out your products but meet your people to develop a relationship with your brand.

6. Speaking Engagements

Speaking engagements can be a great way to get directly in front of your target audience and expand your brand awareness. Part of the reason why events can be an effective marketing tool is the face-to-face connection brands can make with consumers.

According to a 2018 Demand Generation Benchmark survey, 68% of brands said events were most effective for generating qualified leads, above webinars, white papers, and case studies.

One report from Hinge Marketing found that speaking engagements generated about the same amount of leads as recommendations and referrals. So, whether it’s virtual or in-person, don’t miss an opportunity to connect with consumers.

7. Poster and Flyers

Posters and flyers are one of the oldest ways of marketing for businesses.  They may seem like an old tactic, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get results.

According to a study by USPS and Template University, physical ads are better for brand recall than digital ads. Like all marketing campaign, the ROI largely depends on how intelligently the campaign was designed and executed. 

Posters and flyers are perfect for when you want to get the word out about an upcoming event or or trying to gain some visibility in your local area. However, flyers may not mesh well with high-concept, luxury brands.

The Main Advantages of Offline marketing

As consumers are spending most of their waking hours online, they are becoming increasingly numb to conventional digital advertising and engagement. For example, a HubSpot survey found that 57% of participants disliked ads that played before a video and 43% didn’t even watch them. 

Traditional ads, on the other hand, are experiencing increased engagement. MarketingSherpa reports that more than half of consumers often or always read print advertisements that they receive in the mail from companies they are satisfied with. 

Indeed, research by Ebiquity suggests that traditional media channels — led by TV, radio, and print — outperform digital channels in terms of reach, attention, and engagement relative to costs.

The same MarketingSherpa survey found that the top five most trusted advertising formats are all traditional, with customers trusting most print advertising (82%), television advertising (80%), direct mail advertising (76%), and radio advertising (71%) to make purchasing decisions. 

Similarly, it found that British and American consumers trust traditional advertising such as television, radio, and print more than social media advertising. As a result, marketers can use traditional advertising to build brand credibility and trust with jaded buyers.

Conclusion

Offline marketing is alive and well. A combination of digital and offline marketing can help you reach a wide and diverse audience, build and keep trust, and motivate buying from consumers who otherwise might tune out marketing messages.

Unfortunately, offline marketing can be difficult to track and measure. For example, it’s difficult to find out just how many people saw an ad and were influenced by it, and this means you’ll need to do that legwork yourself by tracking sales, measuring sales increases over time, and so on.