Why you need to combine online and offline in your marketing strategy

Combining online and offline marketing

It's important that every interaction your customers have with your business or brand is the same. The same look and feel. The same message. The same goods or services offered in the same way. That's why it's essential to combine both your online and offline marketing strategy. Your customers need to be greeted by the same messages and branding online that they're used to seeing in your retail space and vice versa.

In marketing, this is referred to as omnichannel That’s when it doesn’t matter how your customer chooses to engage with you because they will receive the same treatment and experience. Whether they choose to visit your website, mobile app, Facebook or Twitter pages, phone your landline or visit your physical store, they can be guaranteed the same experience. In addition, where and how they choose to engage doesn’t impact their experience of your purchasing journey offering.

Your customers will have the option of moving between your different channels with no snags or hold ups along the way. For example, your customer might be introduced to your brand on social media, browse your ecommerce store on your website and complete the transaction on your app. At every stage along the way, they’re recognized by you as a customer and identified at their current stage of buying or support. It’s essential that their experience is seamless at every step along the way.

Here are some examples of how you can combine online and offline marketing in your marketing strategy.

Create interest in offline engagement with social media

Imagine your customers: They’re at home, lying on the couch and scrolling through their social media feeds. What is it that you can post that will convince them to leave their comfy cocoon? An example of when this works well is weekend markets and food trucks. Appealing photos of what’s on offer, lines of people queueing for products and groups of people enjoying the vibe will convince keen market goers to jump off the couch and into the car. A discount code or other incentive will seal the deal and this is something which can simply be sent to customers using SMS.

Create interest in offline event attendance and engagement using social media

It can be tough to create awareness about new events and conferences. This is where social media can step in. With the use of visual media and assistance of key influencers in the sector, you could soon gain a dedicated following who’ll be interested in attending your events. By adding SMS and email to your marketing strategy, you could build a new, loyal following to your online channels who’ll also be motivated to come to your events.

Drive online attendance

In the same way you drive customers to your offline events, you can drive them toward your online webinars, chats and meetups. An option is to use SMS or snail mail (remember that?) to deliver messages to your customer-base. You can personalize these messages, making people feel like they’re a valued member of a community. Because of the low cost of sending out these SMSes and mailers, there’s a large potential for ROI.

Whether they’re receiving emails in their inbox, SMSes to their cellphones or post in their mailbox, these messages will be the same. That’s the key to success when it comes to combining online and offline marketing. If your interest in omni-channel has been piqued and you’re keen to include it in your marketing strategy, read our recent article which looks at some of the best examples of omnichannel experiences.