Offline branding, as well as traditional marketing materials and channels, continue to demonstrate their value to businesses large and small. Companies may have adopted larger digital marketing strategies, but print, TV, and radio still hold sway when it comes to capturing interest in a company’s brand.
When integrated into your overall marketing strategy, offline branding enhances the scope of your reach and can guide leads into the sales funnel. The real benefit to offline branding efforts is being seen by part of your target audience, a segment that might have potentially missed your digital marketing campaigns up until that point.
How to bridge the gap between offline and online marketing
They key to successful marketing is using offline and online branding strategies to complement one another so that you cover potential weak spots in any given ad campaign.
Offline branding can be essential in guiding your prospects through the customer journey, from the real world to the digital. A billboard could lead someone to a website where they make a purchase.
That’s what successful offline branding looks like.
While that’s a good example of successful offline branding, it’s important to understand that your offline marketing materials should pave the way for a customer’s online exploration. A prospect should be able to take something away from your TV commercial or print ad that will lead them to your website or online store.
There’s also the chance that your end game won’t lead them to a website. Maybe you’re drawing them to a physical location, or encouraging them to make a phone call. Wherever you want your offline branding to take leads, it has to share the same direction and messaging as the rest of your collateral.
Offline and online may be two different worlds but your brand should possess a single, united voice. Inconsistencies between the two could confuse or alienate potential customers.
When offline branding succeeds
Trade shows, community events, and conventions provide companies with unique offline branding opportunities that allow businesses to meet with peers or customers in person, letting others put a face and personality to the corporation.
Gaining contacts or becoming part of an organization can lead to directory listings, or becoming a member and having your business mentioned through a link on the group’s website. In terms of ROI, this association and endorsement is great for the amount of time or money it takes to attend shows or run booths.
Car and truck wraps are another example of offline branding that can be optimized for your digital marketing campaigns. Including keywords you’ve optimized for online use along with your URL creates an intrinsic connection between offline and online. This sense of cohesion in your marketing tactics is what leads to conversions.
When offline branding fails
Offline channels still play a fundamental role in marketing. Media such as TV, radio, and print ads continue to drive online searches. However, they’re not always optimized to capitalize on the content you’ve published online. Someone might try Googling a phrase they heard in one of your commercials and wind up with any result but the website they wanted to find.
Offline collateral featuring brand mentions should be optimized for your website and landing pages. If you’re using keywords or phrases in your offline branding that don’t appear on your website then people won’t know how to find you online or learn more about your business.
When people have search queries, something online has to answer those—like a landing page specifically for an offline marketing campaign. Likewise, your digital marketing should be capitalizing on any printed materials and ads.
Checklist for optimizing offline branding
To ensure your digital marketing is benefiting from your offline efforts, follow this helpful checklist.
- Spell out your URL. On the radio, on billboards, it doesn’t matter—spell it out so people can easily remember and write it down.
- Words included on any printed material (ads, billboards, car wraps) should be keywords already optimized for content on your website. Don’t introduce any new terminology that wouldn’t point towards your site in a search.
- Optimize websites for ads run on the TV or radio. Anything someone might have heard or seen in one of your ads should be useful in a search to find you and your content.
- Take control of your video content. If you’ve aired commercials, make sure you’re the first to upload them to sites like YouTube and remember to embed the video on your website as well.
To ensure both your digital and offline marketing are coordinated, make sure that they share enough similarities, like keywords. Using keywords linked to your online content is the most efficient way to lead your customers from an offline piece of branding back to your website. Prospects will be left confused, frustrated, and with a sense of disconnect if one piece of marketing doesn’t lead to the other.
Learn how to coordinate your offline branding strategies with your online marketing tactics. If your customers see a print ad or TV commercial, you’re starting a conversation with them—one you should be able to finish online. Collaborate with the professionals who know how to coordinate your digital marketing efforts with intelligent, results-driven offline branding.
Our Lancaster marketing company works with clients on traditional and digital marketing campaigns. Give us a call to get started.
