Digital marketing and online advertisements have a critical and deciding role to play in the exposure and growth of any online (and offline) brand.
Search ads, blogs, social media promotions, etc., have become an indispensable part of any brand’s marketing and promotional endeavors.
However, this does not cancel out the significance of offline marketing. Offline marketing is still significant for gaining a 360-degree exposure for your website, app, or your overall brand.
In fact, online and offline marketing strategies can be combined together for maximum output. The two can complement each other and elevate your chances of success, growth, and expansion.
So, let’s dive in and learn about the various aspects of offline marketing and promotions.
In this blog
- How to get an app in the first place?
- What is offline marketing?
- Who can opt for offline marketing?
- Why is offline marketing necessary?
- Best offline marketing strategies for your business
- Frequently asked questions
How to get an app in the first place?
Before we proceed to tell you how your website and app can be promoted offline, let us first tell you how to make an app and a website on budget. Do not worry, we will not ask you to compromise on quality!
(You can continue reading even if you already have an app and want to give it an affordable makeover.)
As far as the website is concerned, you can go with WordPress without much ado. It is one of the best platforms and the most popular one for creating websites.
Once your website is all set up, you can sign up for AppMySite’s free app creator and build premium Android and iOS apps in a go. It is completely code-free and super user-friendly.
Once you are all set, you can go ahead and start promoting your website and app through online and offline mediums.
Suggested Read: 25+ Must-know statistics and facts about WordPress
What is offline marketing?
Any advertising, or promotional practice that makes use of traditional and offline media falls under the category of offline marketing.
Basically, the use of traditional channels and platforms like television, radio, newspapers, posters, banners, graffiti, billboards, outdoor advertising tools, event sponsorships, etc., for brand promotion, is known as offline marketing.
Most brands, especially the big ones, continue to harness the conventional marketing techniques and even the huge digital boom has not been able to vanish the charm of these mediums.
Brands are still investing in making good TV ads and putting up catchy billboards. Clearly, offline marketing is still relevant and pretty much important for any brand looking for a wholesome solution.
Who can opt for offline marketing?
As hinted above, offline marketing can be used by any brand, however big or small. However, the strategies and platforms may differ depending upon the scale, scope, and goals of the brand.
For instance, offline marketing can be used by:
Large scale businesses and enterprises: Target, GoDaddy, Burger King, etc., are some of the big brands that continue to leverage offline marketing platforms. If you have the budget and means, you can go for putting up TV ads, billboards, etc.
Medium-sized businesses and enterprises: Such businesses often operate regionally and getting the hold of the local market can become easier by use of offline means such as organizing local events, publishing ads in newspapers or using radio broadcasts, etc. They can also use offline influencers to attract crowds and get them to visit your site or download your app.
Small-scale Mom & Pop businesses: Home-grown, or small brick and mortar stores can make extensive use of offline marketing strategies to promote their website or app. Small-scale restaurants, salons, florist stores, etc., can paste QR codes in their stores and ask users to scan and get app download links.
Why is offline marketing necessary?
Let us now tell you why and how offline marketing is still so relevant in the age of digital revolution.
As per CNBC, half of all global advertising dollars were spent online in 2020. This clearly indicates that the spend on offline platforms such as TV, radio, print ads, billboard, etc., still accounts for around 50% of the global ad spends.
Explore some points highlighting the significance of offline marketing and learn more:
Offline resources are still “cool”
In 2018, Nielsen found that Americans spent half the day (around 11 hours) interacting with media. Out of those 11 hours, over four hours were spent on live TV, 36 minutes was for DVR, and almost two hours were spent on radio. This makes up for around seven hours of media that had little to do with the internet.
Even today, when cricket or football matches, or other such sporting or other gala events are broadcast, people prefer watching it over television. Billboards are still hotcakes when it comes to getting the attention of driving traffic.
All these facts clearly indicate that offline advertising is still cool and will continue to have a robust significance for the years to come.
Offline tools complement online marketing
This is yet another great reason to opt for offline marketing. Ensuring a multi-channel marketing, communication and promotional experience for your customers will only act in your favor.
It will power your online initiatives and ramp up your efforts of getting organic and genuine traffic for your stores (offline marketing will not attract bots), thereby giving a boost to your conversions and sales.
Good for testing waters for a regional market
Getting the trust of a local audience merely through online mediums can be a difficult task. Therefore, in order to make the most of your localization initiatives, you can harness the power of in-person outreach.
Organize events, concerts, seminars, walk-in sales, etc., for your potential customers and give the regional audience a chance to interact with you on a personal level.
Once you have their trust and confidence, you can push your website URL and ask the users to download your mobile app and get everything at the ease of their fingertips.
Connect offline customers with online mediums
Offline promotions are not just good for a regional market, but for connecting with any kind of audience to your online resources.
The change from physical to digital is still happening and a huge share of the population is yet to harness all the benefits of online resources. You can target such store-visiting customers who have no idea about your digital platforms and connect them with the same.
You can appoint staff people who can assist such customers in downloading your app or liking a social media page, etc. Adding the perks of discount codes, gift vouchers and loyalty rewards to such initiatives will increase your chances of success.
Human touch is unmatchable
All said and done, this is one of the strongest reasons why you must go for offline marketing in some way or the other. While there are many advanced tools and software that can connect you with your audience, even in real time, there is still no match for the human touch.
Interacting with your audience on a personal level and giving them a chance to do the same can have a dramatic effect on your brand image and authority. It will help you in gaining better insights about their behavior, earning their trust and confidence, and connecting with them in a better manner.
Best offline marketing strategies for your business
In 2015, Ikea printed moving boxes that were the exact size, look and shape of some of its most popular furniture and started giving them out via a freestanding outdoor display in a downtown location.
The boxes helped customers imagine and ideate how the actual products would look like and inspired them to buy actual products. As a result, their sales spiked up while customers drooled at this new and unique idea of promotion.
As evident from the example above, offline marketing is not just about TV ads and billboards. In fact, you can take it to the next level with your innovative thinking.
Let us explore some offline marketing strategies that you can implement to get mind-blowing results.
Harness conventional mediums
You can begin with the basics and start advertising across various offline mediums like television, radio, newspaper, magazines, billboards, bus-shelters, etc.
Note down your budget, resources, goals, etc., and choose a platform accordingly. You can combine one or more mediums for better results.
You can also try to make TV appearances in popular programs as face value plays a critical role in helping people identify and relate with the brand.
Use smart product packaging
Most brands use packaging as a tool of offline branding and promotion. For instance, Amazon boxes have “Amazon” printed all over.
You can have a similar approach and ensure that your brand name makes a long-lasting impression on your customer’s minds and stays with them even after the purchase is over.
Additionally, you can take it a step further and send gifts, handwritten notes, etc., to your customers alongside the orders. This will earn your brand a good name and reputation and you might also get the benefit of word-of-mouth advertising and free referrals by customers in their circle.
You can also paste QR codes with app download links at suitable places and get people to download your app through these links.
Organize & engage in events & conversations
Organize fun and frolic events or gatherings yourself or participate in the ones organized by others. You can also provide sponsorships to such events.
Basically, try to engage in live and in-person conversations with your audiences and make them instantly connect with your brand.
You can also use guerrilla marketing techniques and randomly endorse your brand. You can drop business cards, send out brand-marked gifts, free samples, etc., to potential customers and gain the necessary exposure.
Track and analyze your marketing initiatives
Just doing is not enough. Sit back and dedicate time to collect and analyze the results of your offline endeavors.
You can create custom landing pages (make sure not to index them) and add URL for these pages on your offline advertisement resources. This way, you will be able to set up analytics for this page on tools like Google Analytics and track your traffic coming through this particular channel.
Make sure to keep the URL short and easy to remember. Also give the option of guest browsing and checkout avoid losing such customers who might be uninterested in signing up at first.
Also keep an eye and look out for dramatic changes in your website visitor traffic, app downloads, etc., when you run the offline campaigns. It will help you get some idea of the impact of your offline marketing campaigns.
Suggested Read: The importance of guest browsing and checkout feature in mobile apps
Wrapping up!
That was all about offline marketing and promotions. You can go ahead and combine the online and offline resources to build powerful and holistic promotional campaigns for your brand.
You can use the above techniques to popularize your website as well as app. However, if you are still looking for solutions to convert your WordPress website to app, then go ahead and sign up for AppMySite without much ado.
Here, you can create, customize, and publish premium Android and iOS apps without any coding expertise. Build apps in a completely DIY environment and launch to connect with mobile friendly users.
Go ahead and promote the app among your potential audiences and take your business to new heights. Combine all the strategies listed above along with online techniques and get maximum exposure for your brand.
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Frequently asked questions
Have questions about promoting your website and app offline? Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about promoting your website.
How many ways can you promote an app?
There are many ways you can promote your mobile app, both online and offline. Some of the best ways to promote your mobile app are –
- App store optimization
- Social media marketing
- Paid search ads
- Influencer marketing
- Event promotion
- TV/Newspaper ads
- Physical banner advertising
How do you attract users to your apps?
The best way to attract users to your app is to market it effectively. Before you get into marketing, you should first ensure that your app offers a smooth experience to users. Bad reviews and retention may hurt your app before you can even market it properly.
When it comes to marketing, you should first get the basics right. Optimize your app store listings to ensure they’re as discoverable as possible. Once your listings are set, identify a marketing channel that suits your app best. Try different techniques like paid ads, social media, and more to see which methods are working best for you.
How do you promote an app launch?
To promote your app launch, you need to build momentum on all your public-facing pages and profiles. This starts with your own website. If you already have a reasonable level of traffic on your website, it’s a good idea to create a separate landing page for the app and use other techniques like pop-ups and banners to promote the launch.
Start doing the same on your social media pages. Build up interest in your app among your website visitors and social media followers.
How do you market an app in 2022?
App marketing is constantly evolving as users change and respond to marketing campaigns differently. You can market your mobile app in 2022 using the following methods of app promotion:
- App store optimization: Optimize your app listing to maximize relevant search discovery and conversions.
- Social media : Whether it’s simple posts, short videos, or paid social ads, you can discover your app’s audience on social media platforms.
- Website promotion: Use banners and pop-ups to promote your app within your own website, or advertise your app on another popular website in your domain.
- App install ads: Run paid app install ads by signing up for a mobile app network. Pay other app publishers to promote your app.
- Influencer marketing: Approach influencers on popular platforms and sponsor their posts or videos to promote your app.