Last Updated on Mar 25, 2020 by James W
With more and more emphasis being placed on digital and online marketing, it can be easy to think that traditional methods have fallen by the wayside or have strictly become the tools of small, local businesses. When you are a small business, and you have set aside your standard twelve percent marketing budget (or whatever specific amount is relevant to your specific industry) it may be difficult to reach for those expensive television slots or that tailor-made website.
In this scenario, it can be easy to see why small businesses often rely more heavily on more traditional means, but the reality is that every method is another arm in a combined marketing strategy. Having the spend to reach for more expensive forms of advertising gives you more ways of communicating your goods and services, and you need to recognize the value of each tool to better use them to support each other — and in the end, support your business.
We’ll go over a few of the advantages of traditional marketing tactics and where they can fit into a modern business.
Tried and True
Most homes are bombarded with advertisements on a daily basis. Sometimes, from boredom or sheer curiosity you probably take a look through the stack just to see what’s in it. Have you ever seen someone in line at the local market handing in coupons? The simple fact is that you have personal evidence that people do pay attention to marketing through paper resources and that it works.
Even if you suppose that as little as three percent of your mailouts will get a response, you can measure the value of it. If that campaign cost one hundred dollars and that three percent response nets you more than a hundred dollars of business, you’ve come out ahead. Even in this day and age, mail campaigns continue to be very cost-effective –these market strategies are simply time-proven to be worth it.
Targeted Marketing
One of the resources a company will use to determine who they mail to are their own customer lists. They go through their records and extract former customer addresses from the list and send out mailers accordingly. The advantage to this method is that you can target known users of your company’s products and separate out customers you do not want to return. You can also ensure that your communications are relevant by matching the mailouts to the purchase habits of the customers you select. Cherry picking your customer base is a distinct advantage to mailing that targets a specific niche of the market.
Tangible Connections
The Chamber of Commerce located in nearly every county of every state within the United States of America is an organization that serves local businesses through several methods. Some of these methods are as simple as leads groups where networking takes place in very purposeful and controlled settings. They will host events for business representatives to exchange business cards.
Passing out business cards and flyers at gatherings is a good thing. It puts a tangible textile instrument in the hands of others who are in a position to refer your business. Most experienced sales personnel will tell you that people buy things from people they know and trust. While a person may be bad at remembering names, it is easy to reach into the desk drawer and pull out your business card. It is this sense of tangibility that continues to give traditional marketing methods their edge — the individual often feels a more real connection with the business.
Availing yourself of print campaigns, using business cards, even the signage you order through Quality Sign Designer, all make a real and tangible connection with your audience. Your communications all come from things they directly observe, interact with, and feel out in the real world. And with the continued development of new digital channels and technologies like the QR code, there are many ways in which you can use these cost-effective strategies to support your other marketing channels.
Author Bio:
Ray Donato is a freelance writer and small business owner who contributes articles and insights into business trends and the challenges faced by the entrepreneur.
