In a world so dominated by online advertising, it’s easy to disregard the effect of its older offline brother and relegate it to memory. Condemning advertising in print, radio, television and its other offline forms wouldn’t be a wise decision for the modern business; no matter how outdated it may first appear.
Print
Regardless of online magazines and newsletters, traditional paper newspapers aren’t disappearing. People still like to have their morning coffee or tea with a newspaper, or read it on their lunch break. It’s the same psychological reason that e-Books aren’t sky rocketing in the way that companies thought they would, we like to have a physical print in our hands. Advertisements in popular newspapers are guaranteed to be reaching their demographic, if the pages are selected carefully. Although a lot of people skim read, they skim with the intention of finding something interesting. If a printed ad is interesting, it will hold their attention. The same principle carries across magazines and flyers in the street, as long as they can catch the eye of your target audience, you’ve got every chance of them being followed up.
Advertising boards in particular are important. The geography of these boards are key to their success; erecting them in places where people will be stationary for long periods of time. You will often find them on busy stretches of road and on the walls of supermarkets, particularly by the tills. Standing in a queue with little to interest you will lead to roaming eyes and undoubtedly more attention paid to advertisements you would normally walk past.
Audio
Radio is perhaps as important as ever, for the same habitual reasons as print. Even though the introduction of AUX cables and MP3 stereos in cars have lowered the need for radio, a lot of people enjoy listening to the news on the radio whilst driving, the travel, weather and even the music. It’s become a technology now tied to the motor industry. Small businesses would do well to get a short ad on the radio, as they’re primarily locally broadcast stations. Local citation listings are key for smaller businesses to compete with chains and corporations, so newspapers and radio stations can be great outlets.
Visual
Television isn’t being watched any less because of the internet, and you’ll notice how strange it is to see a television advertisement without a website. The new purpose of offline marketing and advertising is to be a platform which points potential customers and clients to your online sector. A memorable domain name is key for offline vehicles of advertising, you’ll want to pique interest and then snag memory.
Local & Public
There are some businesses which manage to be competitive and successful without any form of advertising whatsoever. If you operate in a small area, or in a niche market, you’re more than likely going to want to promote your business through local mediums and public sympathy. A good reputation is worth ten newspaper ads, word of mouth can’t be underestimated online or offline. Businesses like accountants, who are very client specific, will find themselves much more likely to win clients through this kind of medium.
Ultimately, you can’t discount offline advertising. But neither can you focus on it entirely, the synergy of the two is the way forward; especially for smaller businesses.
This post is brought to you by Transport Innovation, the sepcialists in serving first-class transport solutions, including taxi services throughout the UK.