We live in a digital, networked world. The internet can be accessed from almost any location and computers seem to be everywhere. As a result, many business owners assume that all consumers can use the web to find out about their products and services. However, despite the ubiquity of online technology, there are still demographics who either don’t use the internet regularly or don’t use it at all. If you rely entirely on online marketing, you won’t be able to attract customers from these demographics. Luckily, you don’t have to depend on the internet to generate consumer interest. Printed advertising and marketing can be used in conjunction with your online marketing efforts to attract customers. We will examine how printed marketing materials can be used alongside online marketing when you need further engage with your customers and reach out to new demographics.
1. Recruiting prospective customers
When marketing online, you probably use ‘pay per click’ adverts and links in relevant blogs to attract viewers to your site. Posters, leaflets and flyers are the real-world counterparts to these adverts and links. Obviously, customers can’t click through to your website when they see an interesting advert in the real world, but they can visit your physical premises or call your business’s telephone number. The key to successful online advertising is placement: you need to put your links and ads on sites that your target demographic is likely to visit. The same is true of printed adverts: you need to place them in locales your potential customers are likely to be in. Think about the kind of shops, events or districts your ideal customers may visit and distribute printed adverts nearby.
2. Providing vital information
For customers, your website is a vital source of information, granted. It tells them everything about your business, products and services. Offline customers also need a compendium of important information. Brochures are a fantastic source for this. Brochures are thicker than flyers or leaflets and can contain much more information. Try to put the same information in your brochures that you would put on your website and make sure they are easy to obtain. You could try distributing them through direct mail advertising campaigns or making them available in store. According to the website ‘Bizfluent’, brochures are also “flexible when it comes to design”  so don’t be afraid to make them look as good as your website, too. Ensuring your brochure printing is of a high quality as it represents your business and the products and services you offer.
3. Retaining customers
Online customers can bookmark your page or add it to their list of favourites, enabling them to access it any time they like. Business cards and postcards can help offline customers do the same thing. These simple cards should feature the name of your business, the address of its physical premises and a telephone number so customers can access these important details whenever they want to use your business. Distribute them in-store, via direct mail or even on the street.
For more on the advantages of using brochures, take a look at the excellent article by Shailynn Krow, Advantages & Disadvantages of Brochure Printing.
Online and offline advertising methods share many similarities. We at PrintUK.com believe that a good print marketing campaign can act as a direct analogue to your online campaign while targeting different consumer demographics. We are proud to provide a wide range of high quality brochure printing and booklet printing and various other printed products to help you make this campaign a reality.