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Entice Customers
Online Using
Off-line
Advertising
Learn how to send qualified prospects to your website
with an integrated marketing campaign
By Kim T. Gordon
There's a
smart, new advertising strategy that's taken hold among major advertisers. It
involves using traditional, off-line media for a single and vital purpose --
enticing qualified prospects to a website. Advertising that's designed to be an
opening salvo and send traffic to a website is hot and, in fact, can be used to
great advantage by marketers with smaller budgets.
Your website provides an ideal
space to tell a complete story that propels prospects toward a purchase. Here's
how to integrate your off-line and online media and messages to successfully
inform and motivate them.
Start With an Integrated Strategy
Every effective integrated
marketing campaign begins with strategic thinking. What story are you telling?
Will your prospective customers be intrigued by a comprehensive product
selection or a unique service offer, for example? The creative strategy behind
your integrated marketing campaign must have unique appeal and a strong pull in
order to grab attention and entice prospects to look for more.
An integrated campaign uses
multiple forms of media to carry through the central theme. Determine which
media reach your best prospects and how you will tell your story in each. Most
media allow you to "touch" prospects only briefly. So your first step in
campaign development is to consider what your message will be and how it will
send prospects from point A -- media that allow only the briefest copy – to
point B, your website, where they'll get the full story.
Tease With Off-line Media
Major advertisers use magazine ads,
TV spots, outdoor ads, direct mail and other media to drive customers to their
websites, and so can you. In fact, the better you get at integrated marketing,
the lower your off-line advertising costs may be. Once you simplify your
off-line advertising message and place your fuller story on the Web, the message
in your off-line ads should require less repetition to be effective.
> Magazine Ads -- There are special-interest consumer and b2b trade publications
to reach every audience, and in many cases their readers consider the ads
important sources of information. The key to sending these readers to your
website is to have a strong call-to-action and to place the most important
information, your URL, high up and to the right side of your ad to make it the
focus of attention.
> TV Spots -- If you're a local TV advertiser, it can be challenging to
communicate your full story in 30 seconds. Switch to an integrated marketing
strategy and use your spots to drive viewers to your website.
> Outdoor Advertising -- Billboards are ideal "teaser" media because they
mandate a short, compelling message. A few billboards in high traffic locations
that tie into an enticing or offer can quickly send a different kind of
"traffic" to your site.
> Direct Mail – B2B and consumer marketers can reduce the high cost of
multi-piece direct mail by replacing it with more affordable and less complex
postcard mailings. With an integrated campaign, your direct mail message can be
brief, just so long as it motivates prospects to visit your site.
Make a Great Offer
Need help deciding what call-to-action will work in off-line media to entice
prospects? For an integrated campaign that draws a crowd, try one of these
ideas:
A limited-time, free, or discount offer
The chance to see, learn, or experience something new
A pass to an event
A customer reward
A fun experience such as a game or movie
A contest, poll or vote
In-depth information
A deeper product selection or step up in service
A subscription or membership
The opportunity to make a difference
A special "guide" or white paper
A pathway to taking part in a community.
Get In-depth
Coaching on this Topic>>
Kim
T. Gordon's columns and articles are read by more than
3 million small-business owners each month. She is a small-business expert
and the author of four books, including Maximum Marketing,
Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business.
Copyrighted material. May not be reproduced in
whole or part without expressed permission from the author.
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