Offline Marketing vs Online Marketing: Which Should I Use?
In many instances, both. Here’s why.
For small businesses and organizations, the holiday season is an annual opportunity to reach and deepen relationships with target audiences through thoughtful, personalized campaigns.
Eager to optimize holiday promotional opportunities, marketers for brands and organizations are making their lists and checking them twice to determine the best channels, aiming to reach people at the right time, with the right message, via the right channel.
Online channels continue to prove their power as a way to reach consumers since they integrate work and personal activities in the online space.
According to Adobe Experience Cloud, 2022's Black Friday online sales were a record-breaking $9.12 billion. Seasonal sales for 2022 reached nearly $240 billion; with Cyber Monday being the largest online shopping day in U.S. history. /
However, online-only promotion strategies fail to take advantage of opportunities that raise awareness of -- and interest in -- your organization.
A multi-channel approach aimed at reaching people with the most relevant content at the optimal time will offer the most impact.
With end-of-year time crunches a-plenty at the end of the year, it is critical for marketers to keep in mind the following key considerations in planning multi-channel strategies in the New Year.
Everything Is Connected.
People are moved to seek out more information from a brand or organization online because they’ve seen something that piques their interest offline. Think postcards, billboards or van wrap advertisements that serve to increase brand awareness and that also may offer an enticing online promotion.
The same goes for finding out about a relevant business or brand online and then visiting the physical retail store or restaurant.
Consumers Expect a Seamless, Multi-Channel Journey.
With multichannel online platforms dominating consumer time and attention for news and entertainment, it’s no surprise people expect seamless online to offline customer experiences.
Research from Salesforce determined that 70% of consumers surveyed reported they expect companies to provide a consistent experience wherever they engage (website, social media, mobile, or in person).
Multi-Channel Shoppers Mean Business.
According to National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, the 2022's Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday attracted over 75.7 million Americans shopped both online and in stores. These multichannel shoppers spent on average 25% more than those shoppers who shopped only online or in stores.
Keeping in mind these three factors, business owners can be confident their multi-channel strategy will reap the benefits of increased brand affinity, recall time, and messages that resonate on a personal level. And mailing postcards continues to be an important element of a tried and true way to reach people to underscore an organization’s branding, mission, and unique value proposition.
Direct mail garners averages a 2.7% - 4.4% response rate, according to ReportLinker. People appreciate tangible marketing mail that is visual, provocative and relevant. Mailing postcards has the potential to capture attention uniquely because it is haptic, tactile and -- for established brands whose audience is often already engaged online -- also reinforces a customer’s digital journey.
As you start evaluating your marketing strategy for the coming year, direct mail is a critical player not only for major holidays, but has its place in a well-rounded multi-channel strategy.
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