In this new media age everyone has some idea of the value of websites, online advertising and social media. Brands have powered their way to exponential success and bloggers over the last decade have paved the online marketplace with tactics geared towards winning the attention of readers and getting their products and services out to billions of web users. It’s been all about the web but have we forgotten good old-fashioned face to face, paper based branding and marketing? I can guarantee that most bloggers reading this don’t have a business card specially designed for their blog. Am I right?
The truth is that there are still many opportunities offline to spread the word about your blog and online services while building strong relationships.
Printing Isn’t Dead
Printing costs have become so much more reasonable these days and nothing beats making your mark than with elegantly designed business cards, name tags, invitations or any other creative piece of memorabilia and brand identity. Instantprint makes it very easy to get a wide variety of high quality printed material, packaged and shipped to you at affordable rates. The website has powerful features for creating designs for stickers, flyers and other marketing material from beautiful and artsy premade and customizable templates for any niche you choose.
Network Effectively
The next time you’re at a party, conference or business meeting ensure that you have some business cards ready to be handed out. Be creative with your designs, hire a graphic artist to whip something up that effectively shouts your blog’s brand and what you stand for.
There are tons of opportunities to acquire clients and secure advertising for your blog as well as making other deals which can help you get your brand and content out there. Just remember that there many bloggers who have been successful through landing book deals and broadcasting collaborations from creating awesome content and networking with the right people. When the networking opportunities show up on the road, be ready.
It’s Time To Get Serious
For many of us, blogging is a business and its time to start thinking about every activity that includes marketing your blog that way. Gone are the days when bloggers are considered hobbyists with too much time on their hands. Your branding and presentation need to be compelling and everyone who comes in contact with it offline should be compelled to take a look online. Get people curious about what you do.
Host a Blogger Meet-up
Hosting a blogger meet-up is a powerful way to start connecting with other writers and marketers in your area and solidifying partnerships and collaboration. Use this opportunity to build a network of first-class bloggers advertisers desperately want to work with. Pool your resources and building a community around your brand and the services you have to offer. Companies like Instantprint make it easy to get the right invitations and other printed materials done to help you stand out.
So many bloggers and business people have ignored the effectiveness of engaging all the human senses in the art of marketing. You can enhance your brand’s appeal by tapping into marketing offline and take advantage of the forgotten printed medium.