Did you know that consumers of a product almost never buy it on the channel where they discovered it? This truth is substantiated by two other aspects:
- 40% of online purchases are affected by offline promotions
- Sixty percent of customers prefer to buy items online only after hearing the opinions of people who have already tried them.
This means that in the sales funnel the consumer‘switches‘ multiple times from online to offline before proceeding with the order. Consequently, it pays to be present on any channel that is useful to customers and consistent with marketing goals, so that you can be spotted at the right time and grow brand reputation, recognition and popularity.
Offline presence for every business is also important because not all people easily juggle e-commerce platforms and the web in general. The use of offline tools, therefore, makes it possible to reach this target audience that would otherwise remain excluded.
Offline marketing activities are also much more likely to attract attention and elicit engagement than digital content because offline messages have a strong visual component and stand out even when they are longer and more information-rich.
Here are some tools and channels that can be used in a brand’s O2O (online to offline) marketing strategy :
Events, trade shows and conferences
They allow online activity to show up physically in reality. These are opportunities to promote the brand and increase online engagement by leveraging the sharing of the extraordinary event on social media.
Trunk show
These are events, usually held in small stores, during which an exclusive product is presented-a preview and to a limited number of customers. This makes it possible to present and have the product tested by a group that fully reflects the target audience and with which to begin an exchange of opinions about the activity and the product itself.
Temporary Store
Also called pop-up stores, they offer the opportunity for customers (even if only for a short time) to see items ‘live,’ touching them with their hands and also being able to buy directly. The temporary store gives a strong boost to the brand precisely because of its nature as an “extraordinary event” and limited in time.
Sponsorships and social events
Their purpose is to obtain paid advertising and visibility for the brand and to expose it by associating it with events that are in line with the values and vision of the business. The goal is to generate online engagement by encouraging sharing through official hashtags created specifically for the event.
Radio, TV and newspapers
Among the best known are traditional newspaper ads, billboards, TV and Radio. These advertising tools have always had a very high impact on consumer perception.
Catalog publishing
The printed catalog is an excellent offline marketing tool for consolidating one’s position in the market. The catalog must boast engaging content and have continuous reference to the online platform. According to a survey by Info Trends, 56 percent of those who viewed a physical catalog then visited the relevant website.
Direct mail campaigns
Direct mail allows personalized promotion/communication to be sent directly to the customer through the e-mail service. Absolutely recommended to keep the focus on the benefits to the recipient approaching the product offline or online.
Packaging
The packaging of purchased products is the first element of the store with which customers interact, it is necessary to take the best care of the packaging used.
Better to use packaging that is as similar as possible to what you would do in the physical store, only then will you get feedback from the customer who will perhaps post a picture on social media or even take a video of the unboxing.
Flyers and coupons
Flyers and coupons are the quickest of the traditional means and are able to attract attention, bringing traffic to e-commerce. Both copy and graphics need to be taken care of in detail and the link to the online platform needs to be reported.
QR Codes and Beacons
Beacons are small devices with Bluetooth technology that send messages to your smartphone only when you are near a store. To be sent are both discount codes to be used at the time and any other relevant communication.
The only stumbling block is that they assume the development of an app for their e-commerce.
QR Codes are a real bridge between offline e-commerce marketing and online marketing and are cheaper than Beacons. Placed in strategic locations or printed on product packaging or flyers, they allow you to attract customers’ attention and take them from a real to a virtual dimension in an instant, connecting them with the online shop. They work because they exploit the curiosity of users who do not know in advance what content and/or promos they are about to see.
Augmented reality
Another way to merge offline and online is to create a product catalog using augmented reality technology so that it is interactive for customers to try it out in their own environment. Of course, it all depends on the type of product.
How to effectively integrate and align offline and online in a marketing strategy? When promoting a brand, an offline product with billboards, or proposing offers through flyers, you need to make sure that customers can reach the online site quickly and that it is updated by foregrounding the offer in question.
No to Urls that are too long, yes to landing pages!
URLs that are easy to memorize and not too long are always recommended! In addition, it is definitely strategic to develop landing pages designed specifically for offline campaigns, so that the result of the campaign can be easily monitored. It is always good to identify a set of keywords to use in both online and offline advertising, remembering that all actions should be designed for customers and their needs. Another detail not to be underestimated is to always maintain consistency in every action or message proposed online and offline.
Many tools, one common goal: conversions
Developing an offline marketing strategy and combining it with a coherent online strategy, then, makes it easy to achieve sales goals and deliver engaging and inclusive shopping experiences for customers. The proper integration of all available tools and different marketing strategies involves achieving (or not…) the main goal: conversions.
