Marketing does not exist inside a vacuum. Sadly, when we think about marketing these days, the first thing that often comes to mind is social media marketing. How many ‘likes’ does our business Facebook page have? Do we have any followers on Instagram? Are our tweets being re-tweeted? Social Media Management has been a highly useful tool for increasing reach, but is it all that it’s cracked up to be? Is non-digital marketing important?
Is integrated marketing the more prudent way to go?
In a study conducted by The Oxford Internet Institute, the figures showed that one in four people do not have access to the Internet. There are several reasons for this, including age range, privacy worries, education level and even income.
The people listed above cannot and do not follow a business online. They will not like a post. They will not read or leave a review. They don’t do research using Google (or other search engines), so targeting them in a digital campaign will mean absolutely nothing because they won’t be looking at the page that you’ve so cleverly SEO’d. There will be no return on investment there.
Ultimately, it can be argued that the primary purpose of marketing is to create awareness and to sell products and/or services. However, if your marketing campaign doesn’t include provisions for all potential customers, it will not be as effective as it could be. This is why non-digital marketing is still so important to have as part of your marketing strategy.
The question is, “Can you afford to neglect around one in five people?”
Let’s take, for example, the recent popularity of high-end mattresses. Their online campaigns have been magnificent, and their high sales are almost certainly due to their innovative online marketing campaigns.
However, their success isn’t just down to social media and digital marketing. They employ smart offline marketing practices too; displays on the sides of buses and at bus stops, adverts in magazines and quite amazingly, one often-forgotten marketing practice, “word-of-mouth”.
Imagine if they didn’t advertise on the sides of buses or maybe they didn’t bother with flyers and leaflets? How many sales were lost because their marketing campaigns excluded such a large proportion of people? We can never be sure but don’t forget them when you plan your marketing.
So we should always be including non-digital marketing in our strategy?
At Not Another Marketing Agency, we like to employ all means available and necessary to promote the products and services of our clients. Having met with you, we will determine who your potential client/customer is via the use of customer personas. We will then look at where they are most likely to see advertising for your product or service. Having collected that information, we create a bespoke integrated marketing plan that aims to reach as many potential customers as possible.
So, if your services include gardening and landscaping, for example, you may want to reach a demographic of customers who aren’t internet savvy. While our strategy would include online marketing, we would also suggest distributing flyers in the area local to you. While 20% of the population may not be on the computer, they may indeed take notice of a pamphlet with eye-catching design and with offers that are hard to resist.
If you would like to take advantage of our integrated marketing services, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
