Clever Offline Techniques to Improve Brand Visibility and Deadly Mistakes to Avoid
In this digital era, many entrepreneurs – especially bloggers who are expanding their horizons – may be tempted to only focus on online marketing. Internet-based marketing strategies are great and largely effective. However, online and offline marketing are complementary and can really boost your sales if integrated. In fact, as much as digital marketing is great, face to face human contact is special. Consumers really appreciate brands that can cut through the noise of the internet and reach them on a personal level.
Let’s face it. What would you remember – another ad on Instagram or a friendly, pleasant representative offering you something new, say a branded t-shirt? Yes, online marketing is crucial, but businesses need to combine it with clever offline marketing tactics for true success. Here are brilliant offline marketing techniques.
Wearable marketing
Look around. Whether you are in a coffee shop, office, train, or in line at a shopping mall, there is a high chance someone around you is wearing a hat, shirt, jacket, or has a bag with some kind of logo on it. Those are walking billboards! Capitalize on your customers’ and employees’ routes and personal interactions by giving them branded apparel to market your company. Here are the reasons why branded apparel is an effective brand promotional strategy.
- It inspires interest in your company – walking advertisements are a perfect way to cover more ground, and there is no better and cheap way to cover more ground than letting your customers and employees do the work. Embellishing your brand on bags, shirts, hats, and jackets expose your brand and inspire questions about your company.
- It is a great way to share your culture – your company culture can be reflected by the type of apparel and merchandise you choose to give to customers and employees. Polos and button-down shirts depict a polished professional image. If your company embraces a casual approach, t-shirts would be perfect. If your employees are usually outdoors, hats, jackets, and baseball caps will not only keep them comfortable but also give your company a great deal of exposure.
- Loyal customers will help promote your brand – If you are doing your thing right, your customers will love getting some branded apparel to promote your company and the exceptional products and services you offer. You can give branded apparel as gifts to loyal customers. You may also sell branded apparel. Who would not want to be associated with a successful brand?
Company branded apparel is definitely worth the investment. Anywhere your branded apparel reaches, so will the success of your marketing efforts. If you would like branded apparel for your organization, check out https://thrivescreenprinting.com/wholesale-screen-printing/ for the best wholesale screen printing services in North America.
Business cards
Utilize all kinds of paper that you use for your activity to promote your products and services. Business cards, for instance, are a great offline marketing strategy. You should carry business cards in your pocket or briefcase and distribute them generously wherever you go. Make sure your business card contains all the crucial information concerning your business as well as your contacts, website, and address.
Creative stickers
Creative stickers are pocket-friendly and a perfect way to showcase your brand in a funny but clever way. You can put the stickers on company vehicles or on your vehicle. They should contain the crucial information you want to deliver about your products and services. A creative slogan for your activity, address, and the website would be enough.
Revamp your packaging
Are your packaging and presentation great? How does it compare to that of your competitors? Looks matter – your branding and presentation speak volumes. Maybe it is time to do away with outdated packaging and presentation that is not sending the right message to potential buyers. Revisit your packaging and come up with a creative method – even the slightest change can make a huge difference.
Sponsor a community event
Sponsoring an event is a remarkable way to spread your name far and wide. Don’t just wait to table at an event, take the lead and sponsor one. You raise brand awareness and create authority by sponsoring a community event. Those in attendance will spread the word about your company. Also, when you sponsor an event, you can give out pamphlets, coupons, discount cards, and branded goods, which creates a positive brand image.
Participate in trade shows
Participating in trade shows is a phenomenal way to reach potential customers. It doesn’t matter whether you are selling or displaying; you will definitely get quality leads within a short time.
Tips to make the most out of a trade show
- Give away discount codes and product samples for every lead you get
- Have a trick that will make potential customers flock to your booth
- In case you get a chance to speak at the event, take that chance to woo potential customers
- Follow up with people who leave their contact with you within a month.
Additionally, trade shows offer the perfect opportunity to study your competitors. Study their pitch, strategy, and check out their marketing materials.
Branding Mistakes to Avoid
Failure to get the logo right from the start
A logo speaks volumes about your brand. In case you don’t get it right from the start, it can be too complicated to change it later. This is especially so when you can’t change the logo without losing valuable ground.
Lacking a brand personality
‘Who’ are you as a brand? Understanding your brand personality is a very crucial branding step. If you don’t know who you are, you can’t expect your customers to know you. Know your brand, the kind of personality it has, and everything else will fall into place.
Failure to connect with the right audience
Connecting with the right audience is crucial. You see, business is not about what you like. It is about what potential customers would like, and this is where most people go wrong. Before you begin your branding process, you must know and understand your target audience:
- What are their needs?
- Where do they live?
- How old are they?
- What do they do?
- What are they?
You have to connect with your customers in a personal way. Otherwise, your competitors will leave you behind. It is how businesses work nowadays. Whether you are a startup or an established company, personalization is more important than ever before.
Jumping on trends
In this digital era, something is always trending – be it a hashtag, event, story, item of clothing, design style, and so on. In the process of trying to make the most out of what is trending, most brands are often lost in the tide of incoming and outgoing trends. If you are not careful, you may fail miserably in the process. These waves will come and go, don’t waste your valuable resources and time on invaluable returns.
Failing to differentiate
What do you do best? Why should consumers choose you? In order to succeed, you have to give your customers a reason to choose your products and services. Give them a good reason to choose you instead of your competitors. Otherwise, they will go for a different, more distinct solution. Finding a distinguishing characteristic that makes your brand tower over other alternatives and build it around that point of difference.
Overstretching your brand
Brand extension has become popular in the last decade. It is a good and effective marketing strategy. However, stretching your brand too far can easily go wrong. A brand extension often leads to unfamiliar territories usually dominated by other big firms. For instance, McDonald’s wanted to extend its services to the pizza business, but it was unable to convince consumers.
Neglecting public perception
Sometimes the public’s perception of your brand might not be the rosiest, but instead of pointing fingers or chalking it up to bad luck, you should be focusing on turning around that perception. Gather feedback, run polls, conduct research, and begin campaign afresh.
Starting with cheap and weak brand identity
A name can limit the scope and success of the brand it represents. Invest the time and money necessary to come up with a strong name and logo when starting out. Remember, the name you choose will most likely live as long as your business does. You should, therefore, choose a name that your brand can grow with over the years.
Starting with a cheap brand identity is another common mistake. As much as your budget may be limited, never be tempted to use a cheap logo designer. The result of this is that you will have to rebrand sometimes later, and you may end up paying much more than you could have paid initially. Get a trained professional designer and show potential and current customers just how serious you are about your business.