7 Top Tips to Get Creative with Offline Marketing
When you own a business, you often resemble a very skilled “plate spinner” – keeping all your “plates” safe while continuing to “spin” without issue. And in today’s world, a business owner is often “expected” to be available 24/7 because the online world never sleeps.
The marketing bar keeps getting raised almost every day, and as a business owner, you work hard to keep meeting and exceeding that bar both online and offline, and it can be exhausting!
And because we wear so many different “hats” in our business, we often fall short on offline marketing. This month I will share several creative ways you can up your offline marketing strategy if you own a brick and mortar business.
Studies show unique marketing strategies get people’s attention – remember the “Ice Bucket Challenge” for ALS – people around the world were dumping ice cold water on each other to raise funds and awareness, and it worked. The ALS foundation raised a whopping $115 million!
And why did it work? Watching others get ice dumped on them STOPPED the scroll in their social media feed. It got everyone’s attention. Did you do the ice bucket challenge? I bet you knew a lot of folks who did. Attention getting for sure!!
So, how can you apply attention-getting strategies to your offline marketing plan and stop the “scroll”? Here are a few suggestions:
- Offer a unique live event at your business location – have you heard of “sip & paint”?
- At the same event, offer limited online seating and allow live and virtual attendees to interact with each other
- Make sure to promote on social media, flyers, rack cards, and places where you can get the word out!
- Volunteer in your community – sponsor business events and lend a hand to let the community see how much you care
- Reward cards – spend $X amount, get $X amount FREE
- In-store treasure hunts or bingo can help improve how long a customer stays in your store
When you use out-of-the-box ideas for offline marketing, while keeping your ideal client’s pain points that you can solve in mind, you will increase your foot traffic and store purchases.
Kelly Hartigan
Cortineo Creative
CortineoCreative.com