Integrating Your Online Marketing with Print Media for Success
I know, I know, online marketing is the best thing since sliced bread. I mean do a search for “online marketing” on google.com and the search engine returns 771 million results. Google Adwords places the global ad searches for the term “online marketing” at 607,000. That means there are over half million people searching for “online marketing” in any given month, that’s a lot. So this tells you that online marketing is quite the rave these days. However, if you are a small business, chances are, your website, if you have one, is drowning in the void of cyberspace. That’s not good for your business if that is your only marketing communications channel.
Now, now, do not get me wrong, I understand the significance of marketing online, social media marketing, and feeding the bird that goes tweet tweet, after all, I am a marketing communications expert, well self-proclaimed expert at least. But the problem with the small business and online marketing is that most of the time, the small business owner does not have any money in their budget, if they have a budget, to compete with the big fish in the pond. The big guys are knocking down the little guys when it comes to organic placement on search engines. They have larger budgets and they can hire teams of online marketers or SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies to get them placement. Remember, as a small business, when marketing online, you are not competing against other businesses in your neighborhood, you are competing against similar businesses, globally, That’s a rather large neighborhood, if I do say so myself! So, what is a small business owner to do?
Integrate Your Online Marketing With Print Marketing
Folks, let me set the record straight, print media is not dead, it may be on life support, but it is not dead! Small business owners who are community based (business owners who sell locally, like a local pet grooming shop, or local grocer), can take advantage of integrating their online efforts with a print marketing campaign and do it successfully and affordably.
When you integrate your printed marketing collateral with your online media, you are engaging in what’s known as Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). The concept is more involved then just doubling down on your marketing, sending out a postcard and integrating it with your website, but for this post, I will take a less complex route to explaining IMC.
The small business owner, for example, a pet grooming shop, might send out a postcard promoting a service and offering a discount. On that postcard, the ideal information, aside from the obvious, is to include your business website. On your website, the business would, again, showcase the special offer on its “landing page.” This pet grooming shop has just integrated it’s marketing message with print and online marketing.
Why is this significant?
As a small community business, you can compete effectively and more cost efficiently using targeted direct mail, such as the postcard. You can purchase a mailing list of pet owners within a specific driving radius to your shop, craft your message, and mail your collateral, in this case, a postcard. In essence, by mailing your offer, your business is reaching out and seeking potential customers. Online, your potential customers are seeking you out, but with so much competition online, chances that they find your business are not always good. Using the printed, direct mail approach, you present your offer and then drive your target audience to your website for additional offers or for additional information, such as services and prices.
The opposite also holds true. On your website, you can tease your postcard offer and have potential customers in your targeted mailing area be on the lookout for your postcard with the special offer. You can even have web visitors fill out an online form to be added to a mailing list just for mailed out special offers.
By using a direct mail, integrated approach, the small business is able to focus their efforts on a specific target group and market to them, using their website as a source of additional information. Relying online solely as your lone marketing communications channel can be costly to your business in the long run because your business may not be found so easily online, without spending time and money that could be spent on a more effective solution. Don’t get me wrong, having an online presence is important in today’s market place. Employing social media tactics are as equally important, but where many small business owners fail in marketing is assuming that online marketing is the be all and end all to building their business on the cheap. Nothing can be further from the truth. It takes an integrated approach to marketing, both traditional print and online marketing to effectively deliver your message, provide customers with information about your business, and sell your product and/or services.