How to Effectively Integrate Online and Offline Marketing

Marketing your business is all about appealing to, identifying, and utilising the way your audience behaves. Since every target audience differs greatly, it is only right that marketing strategies will also vary from one business to another. But given today’s advanced technology, people seem to share one common behaviour: Bring their online devices with them wherever offline places they go. Heck, they even share their offline experiences on various platforms online. With that said, you need to find a way to effectively combine both online and offline marketing in relation to the behaviours of your target market.

Here are ways on how you can effectively bridge the gap between online and offline marketing. Keep them handy!

#1. Identify All Marketing Channels and Use the Best Combinations

This is where you need to list all of your online and offline channels, especially who own each of these respectively. If your business has a mobile app, make sure you include it in the list. Remember: Mobile marketing can be used as an effective medium in bridging the gap between online and offline worlds. This is thanks to mobile devices become an integral part in every person’s life.

Once you finalise your list, determine all complimentary channels where you can promote continuous conversations with your customers. These include, but not limited to, direct mail, email, on-premise advertising, mobile app, and your website. Whichever combination you decide to use, always secure an alignment and buy-in from the people responsible for these channels you choose. Make sure it covers everything from goal setting to measurement to implementation to optimisation. The more capable you are of using your existing resources or infrastructure, the much easier for you to move forward. It may seem difficult in the first place, but as soon as you understand the complexities, it will be a walk in the park.

#2. Determine Goals and Set Success Metrics

Like any other campaign, it is important that you set first your goals before starting cross-channel campaigns. If you have to, try working backward from every revenue goal, so you can determine your objectives required for each channel. Although online and offline marketing metrics may differ, the end goal will still be pretty much the same. That is to drive more sales and revenue.

Below are some online and offline marketing metrics you can track in order to measure your business’ success:

Email – CTR (click-through-rate), conversions, subscriptions and unsubscribes, etc.
Digital Advertising – clicks, CTR, conversions, engagement rate, impressions, reach, etc.
Mobile – actions, in-app time, length of session and retention, users, etc.
Website – average session duration, behavior flow, bounce rate, keyword rankings, most visited pages, page views, etc.
Offline Metrics –store purchases, offer usage, phone inquiries, store or booth visits, tradeshow attendees, etc.

It is important that you set goals of the lift you want to see when integrating your online and offline marketing channels. Of course, this solely depends on the channels you integrate as well as the kind of influence each of them has on your customers. Once you have set goals for each of these channels, start determining the percentage of whatever can be driven from other channels.

#3. Be Creative in Integration

Provided that all of your goals and framework are already set in place, you must start brainstorming campaign ideas that can help provide a seamless experience to your customers. Below are some interesting examples that show how creative integration should be done:

Email and Direct Mail – increase your customer engagement by using direct mail based on triggered campaigns. For example: If a customer clicks or opens an email, you can automatically send a direct mail customized to that particular action.
Events – this is where you need to use beacons to track and measure every interaction with attendees. From there, you can follow-up with a personalised but relevant content. This could be a promotion or coupon.
Geo-Specific Promotions – mobile devices help marketers in reaching more customers regardless of location. Here, you can add SMS opt-ins to your online forms, allowing your customers to receive important information on their smartphones.
In-Store Promotions – it is time to give your repeat customers the rewards they deserve. You can simply give coupons that they can grab online, and these coupons can even be utilised for in-store usage.
Mobile App Messages – start sending triggered push notifications or in-app messages, but make sure they are all based on a customer’s email action or non-action.
Promote Online Channels Offline – there are actually plenty of ways to drive offline traffic online. For instance, you can start by including vanity URLs and social media handles on brochures, so customers will have a way to locate you online. You can also start using QR codes, which is considered an effective means of bringing offline consumers online.

An integrated online-offline marketing strategy, when done right, can do wonders to your business. This integration is even capable of achieving your overall goals. While you continue evaluating your online and offline channels, remember that it is never too late to explore and try newer channels.