Many businesses on the internet speak of succeeding without paying any advertising costs. They have been able to build their business by using various social media platforms to get their message out. And, as a result, have created large numbers of followers that they are able to market to. They also claim that you can do the same.
First of all, I would have to argue the fact that it is free. While there may not be money involved for this form of advertising, it can be costly as it relates to your time. In addition to communicating on the social media platforms, these business people are also writing for article directories, writing guest posts for blogs that are similar in content to their own and commenting on many blogs each day. It is all this writing that gets them noticed. And it works – for an online business.
Your business is offline though – a brick and mortar store. Your customer base is local to your area, not all over the world. Is it possible that the same marketing strategies apply for your offline business as does online businesses? Some of them do. Social Media is of great value to all businesses, online and offline. Having the ability to communicate and develop relationships with your customers is extremely important. This type of communication, however, does not necessarily attract new customers though.
So how do you get your name in front of potential new customers? Where is it that your potential customers are getting information about what’s going on in your town? It’s the local newspaper, local magazines or direct mail advertisements. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are actually reading the printed paper or magazine. They may be reading it online but they are still reading it. Any of which gets your name in front of potential customers that are local to your area. These are the people that actually have the ability to take you up on your offer.
So, for now anyway, print ads are still necessary for the success of your offline business.
Photo credit: slade1955
