Thread: Doing offline promotion for online business?

There are so many online way to promoting your online business. However, don’t forget that you can utilize the offline media too. Do you think it’s effective to promote online business in offline media such as newspaper and brochure?

I ask this because I found so many online businesses on my local country using offline promotion. There is one site that promotes their URL address by put a sticker on the glass of public transport.

I agree. I also think online businesses should invest in offline promotions. However, I don't think putting URLs on bumper stickers, newspapers, etc. is very effective because unless your website sounds really interesting, more often than not, people may forget about it once they go online. Also, remembering a URL or jotting it down on your phone or on a note can be too much work for people who are used to instant everything.

An effective offline promotional strategy may be the use of QR (Quick Response) codes. Lots of people have smartphones and generating a QR code for your website may be very beneficial. When your target audience comes across your offline advertisement with a QR code, all they have to do is scan the code to see the website or whatever information you would like to share. You can place this code virtually anywhere, online or offline. Best of all, you can get one for free.

Great idea, angel_lee. My personal experiences are mixed, really depends on the type of site and business. I personally have a sticker with my URL on my car and already got about 6 clients just this way.

An effective offline promotional strategy may be the use of QR (Quick Response) codes.

I am beginning to see junk snail mail with QR codes.

Offline promotion is also a great way to promote our websites.A good place to start is to look at what can be changed within your own organization to promote your new website address. If you want to see better result you probably do the most expensive forms of advertising due to its massive audience and air in prime time T.V because people watch that schedule.

I now see many trading portals advertising on TV. However the website may be but the ads are made in a great fashion and I didn't visit their website yet but I still remember a few URLs because of the ads. It is true when I go online I forget about those ads and do the work as always, check email and other stuff. However it may be seen by a serious customer and that would be beneficial.

Giving free T-shirt where our URL written is also great idea! People will wear it and when they're walk around it's a kind of free offline promotion for our online business.

Giving free T-shirt where our URL written is also great idea!

The latest twist to this is to include a QR Code box in the printing. You can embed your URL and other information in the QR Code. People with smartphones with a QR app can read and save the URL or visit the site directly. Seeing the QR Code will make them curious and they may check it out just to see what it says.

I don't clearly understand about QR code but CMIIW, do you mean it's something like this:

http://www.inverselogic.com/img/barcode.png

If yes, in my country we called it as "digital barcode".

Yes, that is the layout for a QR Code. They originally were used in manufacturing to identify parts and products but have overflowed to the general market and are gaining popularity. Most smartphones have a QR reader app now or one is available for them. Usage is said to be widespread in Japan and Korea. It is gaining popularity in Europe and the US, particularly on the populous east and west coastal regions. I have even seen direct mail flyers with a QR code so that people don't have to type in a web address to get to their sites. There are several QR code generating sites on the web where you can get a QR code block encoded with the information that you input.

Originally Posted by akira07

There are so many online way to promoting your online business. However, don’t forget that you can utilize the offline media too. Do you think it’s effective to promote online business in offline media such as newspaper and brochure?

I ask this because I found so many online businesses on my local country using offline promotion. There is one site that promotes their URL address by put a sticker on the glass of public transport.

I think it is a good idea. It can attract many internet viewers who might have missed the key words you target, or just plain users who just use the internet for fun.

Recently, i also found that offline promotion can be a great method to earn affiliate commission.
My friends spreading brochure at some college to promote free gadget CPA offer and he got a lot of conversion.

Originally Posted by akira07

Recently, i also found that offline promotion can be a great method to earn affiliate commission.
My friends spreading brochure at some college to promote free gadget CPA offer and he got a lot of conversion.

yes i agreed with you, offline promotion can't be forgotten, especially if you spread the brochure at crowded place where people eager to know what are you promoting, school and universities are the best place

It's really rather sad that people are starting to forget about the offline strategies, believing that online is the only way to go now. Well the truth is, it's not, and there are still a lot of advantages to the more traditional print, tv, and radio marketing strategies.