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There has been a huge shift from offline to online marketing in the last few years, but does that mean offline marketing is dead?
Not if we have something to say about it!
While offline marketing might seem like a blast from the past, major B2B marketing brands are getting creative with how they do offline marketing.
In this article, we will look at the benefits, types, and examples of great offline marketing for B2B brands.
Table of Contents
- Benefits of offline marketing
- Types of offline marketing strategies
- Examples of offline marketing campaigns
- Effective offline marketing tips
Key benefits of an offline approach to marketing
The larger your market, the better offline marketing strategies will impress!
So, what are the benefits of offline marketing?
Offline marketing creates opportunities for your brand, and when you support it with online marketing, more avenues for growth will become available for you, including:
1. Networking
While face-to-face networking has changed as we know it, seeing a brand offline is just as good as a pre-pandemic handshake.
It puts a face to your name, creating substance and credibility.
When buyers see this, they’ll want to reach out and connect because they know you’re willing to go the extra mile.
You can also share vCard QR Codes printed on your business cards with prospective customers and clients. These digital business cards let potential customers save your contact details on their smartphones with a single click, providing a seamless offline-to-online connection.
Furthermore, you can print other QR Code types on your business card, such as URL QR Codes, location QR Codes, app download QR Codes, etc., and share them with people. This helps you drive traffic to your website, share your physical business location, or boost app downloads for your company, respectively.
RELATED: 30+ types of QR Codes you can use for better networking
2. Speaking opportunities
The more people see your brand offline, the more you’ll stay in their minds.
Plus, that credibility makes you seem knowledgeable.
Why else would you be investing in offline marketing efforts rather than sticking to the norm and pushing digital?
Brands that know what they’re talking about, get invited to speak at numerous events, whether live or digital.
This spreads your brand awareness and cements your organization as a thought leader in your industry.
3. More demos booked
Calling up cold leads becomes a thing of the past once you implement an offline marketing strategy.
Why?
Because the more your brand is seen, the less likely a prospect is to hang up on you.
They’ll already know who you are; that makes them a little warmer and perhaps a little curious to find out more about you too.
These “warmed up” conversations will lead to more meetings booked and attended.
Moreover, incorporating a comprehensive strategy to organize marketing data provides a solid foundation for both offline and online strategies. This holistic approach not only captures but also analyzes customer interactions across various channels, allowing B2B brands to refine their marketing efforts based on insightful data analysis.
And your marketing will have come full circle through the power of offline and online marketing combined!
5 types of offline marketing strategies
There are five main types of modern offline marketing strategies:
1. Sponsorship
Sponsoring isn’t just for influencers and sports professionals.
B2B brands, such as Telecoming, can sponsor events, webinars, and podcasts, to name just a few.
The more people associate your brand with industry expertise, the more they’ll remember you.
For instance, if you sell gaming software to a company like Glorious Model O Software, you could sponsor their next gaming event.
You just need to come up with something that resonates with your target market.
Our top tip? Make sure you stay on brand!
2. Personal branding
Going offline can be a lot of fun.
Think t-shirts, caps, stickers, and branded sweets. Be sure to add your logo in a prominent way. A free logo creator can help you if you are yet to create a logo.
Don’t be scared to get creative – the more creative, the better!
Just be sure you have a great strategy in mind for why you’re doing what you’re doing. Don’t just hand out branded caps for no reason!
3. Digital Signage
When you think of signage, you probably think of billboards. Right?
But, thanks to technology, signage has evolved for the better.
Digital signage allows you to tailor your content.
You can schedule specific campaigns with the perfect soundtrack to make an even more powerful connection. Or you can have different campaigns shown at different times.
Better yet, studies show that these digital advertisements get 71% more attention than online ads.
While digital signs aren’t popular on busy intersections just yet, you can find this tech in restaurants, local stores, and major shops.
Next time you’re out, look for them. Start thinking about where your audience hangs out for the best traction.
4. Word-of-mouth
Brands speaking about other brands, customer referrals, and events are all great ways to get your organization noticed offline.
While a lot of mentions, shares, recommendations, etc., are now online, they do still happen in the real world.
For instance, if a customer of yours is asked a question at an event, they might mention the success they’ve been having using your services – and that’s great offline marketing.
But you don’t have to wait for a customer to praise you in front of an audience; you can go out and speak to get noticed.
Sign up or host events, say yes to interviews, speak at conferences and smaller COVID-friendly meetups.
5. Guerilla marketing
Also known as experiential marketing, guerilla marketing is probably the most exciting type of offline marketing there is, and brands like Gong and The Modern Prospecting Initiative™ are taking full advantage of it.
The idea behind it is to think out of the box. To delight your audience and surprise them in a way that’s so well thought out, it sticks with them for years to come.
This can be anything from a branded Uber or Lift vehicle to a flash mob in the middle of a convention.
The more imaginative your idea, the better.
Examples of great offline marketing by top B2B brands
Let’s dive into some fantastic examples of offline marketing by B2B brands.
1. Salesforce and Gong
Salesforce staged a mock protest by renting a bunch of taxis to give attendees at the Siebel conference a free ride. Each one was filled with Salesforce brochures covered with a ‘no software’ sticker because their platform is web-based.
And it’s not just Salesforce that loves to ring in a couple of taxis for their guerilla marketing tactics; Gong did the same at Dreamforce.
CMO of Gong, Udi Ledergor didn’t attend the event. Instead, he wrapped a bunch of Uber and Lift cars and paid them to swarm around Dreamforce at certain times of the day.
Udi is famous for thinking out of the box when it comes to offline campaigns. His advice is:
“You need to think about your customer as a person who does day-to-day things and target them while they are doing those things. Not assuming that they are going to visit your website. Look at patterns of where they are going and show up there.”
This is why he thought of everything from wrapped taxis and food delivery robots to his outstanding Gongster billboards. These boards celebrate his team and encourage prospective candidates to apply for open positions.
But his biggest offline marketing moment so far has to be his Super Bowl advert campaign. Not only was Gong one of the first B2B companies to have a Super Bowl ad, but the campaign was also record-breaking, with the most inbound leads ever collected at Gong, as well as the most inbound business opportunities ever accepted.
2. The Modern Prospecting Initiative™
Collin Cadmus, Consultant and LinkedIn thought leader and founder of The Modern Prospecting Initiative™, previously worked for a company that sold phone systems. The company wanted to spread brand awareness by targeting a specific audience as it left the company’s offices.
After mapping them out on physical subway maps, they came up with a plan to advertise on the subway. Because it was pre-COVID, everyone was commuting this way and there were advertisements everywhere, making it too expensive.
Then they realized there were phone booths outside every station, and they were way more affordable. Moreover, because they were selling a phone system, it made much more sense to put ads on the phone booths.
With that said, it’s important to remember to be creative, think about your prospects, and target them where they least expect it for the most memorable marketing.
Effective tips for offline marketing
As you can see, offline marketing can work wonders for your brand’s credibility, awareness, and relationships.
Here are a few tips on how you can leverage offline marketing effectively:
1. Keep innovating
Offline marketing requires innovative thinkers who can look into the future and develop out-of-the-box ideas.
It takes careful planning and flexibility to pull off because plans don’t always work out.
Just look at 2020; none of us expected a worldwide pandemic or to have to start going remote. But some brands used this to their advantage and came up with fantastic innovations to help create some normality in our day-to-day lives.
So start thinking about the future! Is there an innovative offline marketing campaign that comes to your mind?
2. Identify and target the right people
Like with all forms of marketing, you need to ensure you’re targeting the right people.
So be sure to do your research before you start planning.
It won’t do any good if you decide to put a billboard on a truck and then drive it around the suburbs while everyone’s at work. You need to know where your customers are at various times of the day, what they do for fun, how they get to and from work, and so on, to really make an impact. That’s why it’s important to do the right outreach beforehand, applying a LinkedIn email finder can help in reaching out to potential customers and getting to know simple details about them, including job titles, social profiles, etc.
3. Stay consistent
No matter what you do, make sure your brand image is always consistent.
Stick to the same colors, logos, and the same style of voice in every campaign.
Most importantly, don’t say one thing on your website and another offline.
When people start seeing your brand around, they’ll immediately recognize you as credible and reliable.
For instance, It won’t do any good if your brand colors are purple and white and you suddenly change them to pink and orange. It will only confuse your audience.
4. Know your values
Staying consistent goes hand-in-hand with your company values too.
All your campaigns should stick to your values.
If you support an animal charity and then put up a billboard in a shop window that sells fur, that’s not going to be good for your brand.
But if you do a Pop Up Adoption day for that charity, you’re going to gain support and your audience will stand by you because you’ve shown you stand by your ideals.
The final and most important tip we can give you is from Udi Ledergor:
“Ignore what everyone else is doing and think about how you can do what no one else is doing to stand out.”
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