Use Offline Advertising Such As Flyers, Brochures And Posters To Sell Online Products
As the internet continues to grow in complexity and reach, many new products and services are being developed. A high percentage of these are digital in nature such as e-books, online courses and memberships. Since they are purchased and used online, those promoting them often think they should only be advertised online. But offline marketing of online goods and services can be surprisingly effective. I have found this from personal experience.
Some time ago I used flyers to promote a Clickbank product, a survey site. I "snipped" the affiliate link to make it easy to type and displayed this prominently on the flyers. They were very basic; just strips of paper really. I distributed thousands of these flyers through the suburbs of Perth over a couple of months. I can't recall exactly how many unique visitors I got from this campaign, but it was probably only in the dozens. Yet three of these people ended up buying the membership! (I knew this because the location of the buyers was shown in the stats. Anyone from Perth almost certainly came from that campaign.)
I also have a survey site affiliate link on one of my blogs. That link has been up there for years. I have had well over a thousand clicks on it. But so far not one of them has converted into a sale!
The lesson: Clearly it's more laborious, and therefore expensive, to get hits to your website by promoting it offline. But that traffic seems to be much better quality.
Why? I can't be certain. But I have a hunch: If a person has learned of your site offline, he or she goes to your site directly by typing in the URL. They don't do it in the middle of an internet surfing session when there are many other sites vying for their attention (and during which they might be a bit tired). They type it in to the browser because they are interested in what the site offers. They then focus on it without distractions. So they are more likely to make a decision to buy there and then rather than put it off.
So, promoting offline is worthwhile for the conversion rates. Also, you can target campaigns offline more specifically than you can online. If your website is primarily for women, say, why not put your flyers, brochures or posters in women's hairdressing salons and clothing stores?
Have a website promoting a high end real estate investment program? Do a flyer run through well off, "old money" suburbs where there is a high percentage of people who already own their homes and who are hoping to increase their wealth by acquiring more real estate.
Multi-level marketers can persuade more people to join their downlines if they can meet them in person, so an offline approach can work well for them, too. Flyers displaying both the website address and a local contact phone number placed in nearby laundromats and shopping centers can bring in high quality leads.
Of course, you wouldn't want to rely entirely on these (or similar) methods to advertise your website. Some of them might not work at all! But it's almost certain that one or more offline approaches will prove to be effective and should therefore become an integral part of your overall website promotion plan.
