Small Business Web Promotions: Online/ Offline Integration

Marketing your small and growing business is tough! It's hard to separate your message from every other message out there already. If you own a business in a crowded industry, it may feel impossible to be distinct. Here are some ways to help you get more customers by strengthening your marketing efforts...

The Internet lets every business make its products or services available to the shopping public. Whether your business is just starting or it’s growing like wildfire, and whether your business is online, offline, or both, you can benefit from these marketing tips to help you build your customer base.

Google AdWords

These popular ads are 4 lines long. The top line is the title, there are two middle lines, and the fourth line is the URL. Unfortunately, too many businesses use the same-old approach when writing AdWords ads. They’re practically cookie-cutter identical, as if they all went to exactly the same AdWords Academy to learn to write them.

However, used effectively, AdWords can pop. Make your AdWords pull customers from their search to your store with power words! (Because that’s all you’ve got!)

  • Use words that motivate them like “free” and “fast” and “new” (which is already done well online) but you should also use words that create a sense of urgency like “limited time” or “expires soon” (which is not done nearly as well).
  • Ask a question in your Title line and don’t answer it in the middle two lines… just whet their appetite for more information.
  • Harness the power of the fourth AdWords line. If possible, get a URL that helps you sell by making sense in the search. (For example, Health-Food.com is better than FredsOnFourthStreet.com).

You may want to consider advertising in other PPC media as well to ensure that your message is heard. Yahoo, MSN, and Miva are three places to consider.

Coupons

This is a strategy that is not done well online and yet there is so much potential! Coupons are so popular (just look in your local newspaper if you want proof). They’re a marketing tool that will never go out of style. In fact, people spend more with a coupon than if they didn’t use a coupon at all!

And coupons are not limited to the offline world. Offline and online businesses can use online coupons to create marketing campaigns that reach local clients and global clients. Sites like www.myVoucher.com help businesses to create online coupons that can be printed and used like traditional coupons offline or just like other e-coupons online. Their simple system lets you advertise in all of your print-based and Internet marketing that coupons are available.

Here are some ways to create a strong coupon campaign:

  • Make sure all of your advertising shouts “use our coupon”
  • Make it time limited
  • Create real value with a substantial reason to use the coupon
  • Use it in online and offline capacities
  • Track the results to see who uses your coupons and where they get them from

Online/Offline integration

This is a fancy way of saying that you need to make sure your message is loud and clear across all lines of media. Two companies that did this really well in their early stages were www.yahoo.com and www.travelocity.com. It didn’t matter where you looked: print, television, or online, their message was clear and constant (and usually entertaining and memorable). In recent years, however, Yahoo’s advertising seems to have diminished, although Travelocity’s is still going strong.

If you advertise in several media, don’t pour all of your creative efforts into AdWords and television and leave nothing for your Yellow Pages marketing. Make your message consistent.

Here are some ways to make your message consistent:

  • Use similar colors, logos, and slogans. Make sure your logo doesn’t just look great online, but can be understood in black and white (newspaper and magazine) black and yellow (yellow pages) or on television.
  • Make sure your Unique Selling Proposition is not image based, but text-based. That’s the best way to carry it across all media. (An image based USP won’t work at all in AdWords).

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