Advertising Your Online Business Offline
When running an online business, it is easy to get trapped in thinking internet-based advertising only. However, to reach the maximum number of customers possible, it may be worth your while to invest in offline advertising in addition to your standard Google AdSense and other internet advertising. Now, it’s definitely not best that you only use offline advertising, but diversifying your exposure will only help you in the long run.A�
What are some great ways to do this? First of all, you can get your name around by passing out business cards. There are various websites and companies that allow you to completely customize business cards, and will print them inexpensively. It does not take a lot of money to have business cards, but the return investment can be great. When running your own business, it often looks bad on you for not being able to provide a business card. Yes, we know that you are running a home business, but a home business can still be a trustworthy business, and to increase trust in your customers, it helps to have a business card.
Chances are that as a business owner, you meet many people every day. And every new person you meet is a potential customer or client. To best represent yourself, always have business cards handy to give to anyone you meet. A simple card with your company name, personal name, and contact information will suffice, and will let people know that you are serious about what you do.A�
You can also use a customer referral program. This program is very similar to affiliate programs, in that you are asking current customers to reach out and bring in more customers. Affiliate programs are primarily based online, however, and customer referral programs often involve using your company’s business card given to the customers involved in the program. Give these customers ten or twenty of your business cards. On every card, the customer should write their name and contact information, and release it to a potential customer. When you get these cards back into the company, you can easily keep track of how many referrals each customer has given you, and reward them based on that figure. Customers who love your product will be telling their friends about it anyway, and if you give them a chance to earn a little bit of money off the deal, you can be assured of increased customers in no time.A�
Other, more costly offline advertisements include radio ads, billboards, ads in the local paper or magazine, and bus stop ads. All of these can be quite effective as well, but may cost a bit more in the beginning. You will have to carefully monitor advertising expenses and returns to determine what type of advertising is best for your company. If it works for one company, that does not necessarily mean it will work for you. However, it might. Trial and error is the only thing that will definitively allow you to know what works best for you.