Promoting Yourself Offline
Promoting yourself offline is important. When I say promoting yourself offline, I mean anything that’s not the Internet. Except for rare circumstances, it is vital to market your business offline in the “real world” as well. You cannot build a web site, launch it and expect that to be the end of your marketing plan. Don’t get me wrong, a web site can do a lot for your business and in most cases it can be the most effective tool in your marketing/sales arsenal. However, the thing a lot of people often forget is that a web site is what I call pull marketing, not push marketing. Customers to have to pull it, your web site doesn’t push itself onto people such as a sales person, or advertisements might. I am not a fan of advertising for every business out there, advertising does work when its done right. We here at QC Total Tech have tried many different medias over the years, TV, Newspaper, local magazines, web advertising and even event promotion. At the end of the day what works for us is this web site and referrals. The vast majority of our clients are people who referred by other clients and those who found us by searching on Google for web designers in our area. That being said, we’ve often found we have had the biggest pushes are when we were featured by the local media or sponsored an event. Offline promotion works because you reach people in a forum you otherwise wouldn’t. You can make your web site the hub of your marketing wheel, with all other methods funneling into it. If you have company vehicles, flyers, brochures, mailers, post cards, print ads, TV ads, radio ads, etc…all of those should prominently feature your web site. Why? Because, most people will do research on a company (even if its only a few minutes worth) before they call, this might be asking a friend, looking through a coupon book or searching the web. Your web site is your first line of defense and its important to treat it as such. The bottom line, your web site is not the end all be all, but you have to have people searching for your service or industry. Prospective clients will not necessarily be searching for your business name, but they’re looking for your type of service. You need to make sure your business is popping up in the places they’re visiting, entertaining themselves and of course on Google. Make sure the context is relevant and you have done your research. Have a good marketing mix, stay relevant, stay informed and stay involved with your clients.
Happy Webbing