Offline Advertising Ideas That Can Help Your Online Store

It might seem counterintuitive to hear that one of the best tools you have for increasing your online business are traditional, offline advertising tools.

In many ways, offline tools are a lot simpler than online tools. A good example is OOH. What is OOH? It stands for Out of Home advertising and is practically self-explanatory. Below are some examples of out of home, offline advertising that you can utilize to supplement marketing for your online businesses.

Offline Advertising Ideas

Flyers, Brochures, and Posters

If, for instance, you want to start an Etsy store online, you have to get the word out to people who are most likely to check it out and buy something. That would be the people who know you and like you. Your social circle will determine how many visitors you initially get to your site. You can increase that circle by using flyers, brochures, and posters to put information about your website in places like convenience stores, beauty salons, and everywhere else you have friends who may be able to help you. 

Pamphlets are an easy item that take up almost no space, can sit in a holder on a counter and/or they do well in waiting rooms where people are sequestered, often for a long time. During the holiday season, people will be actively looking for interesting and unique gifts for the people in their lives. Before you get a single unique visitor to your website, you can have already sold enough goods to make it a profitable venture.

Transit Advertising

Bus stop benches, subways, and taxis are excellent candidates for advertising online properties because you can fit a lot of information on them. And people generally have time to read and interact with that information. That is just one of the advantages of transit advertising and outdoor ads. Another advantage is that in a big city, a lot of people will likely see the ads. They are going to notice what is in the ad whether or not they want to. It is an excellent opportunity for branding. 

Aside from ads that reside on public transportation, there is also valuable real estate for advertising in subway stations, bus stations, and near transit schedules. Basically, anywhere that will get traffic and potentially be in view when people’s attention is trained in that direction. Try putting your ad where riders will naturally look. A sign in that direction facing the rider is some of the most valuable advertising real estate imaginable. Definitely consider transit advertising, especially around larger metropolitan areas that have public transportation in place.

Billboard Advertising

Drivers don’t have a long time to look at informational ads on billboards. But they can process a few simple things. Include a picture of your craft, then a URL shortened to something like etsy.com/gifts. Obviously, the key is to acquire the kind of URL that is simple enough to remember at first glance. From there, just collect the orders and try to keep up.

Print Ads

This is a big avenue for offline media channels to pursue. Print ads in magazines, local newspapers, or local business pamphlets or newsletters are another great way to build brand awareness.

How to Utilize These Avenues

Offline marketing strategies include not only getting your name out there but can also include offering something you give away free in exchange for online sign-ups or first-time purchases. In addition, it’s important o include email and contact information along with your website.

To catch the eye of customers, and keep their attention, consider clean fonts that are easy to read, a catchy tagline, and a way to name or refer to your business so that it’s easy to remember. If your business offers a way to solve a problem or fulfill a need, be sure to use that as the driving factor to convince people to buy from you.

Another important factor to consider is that you may want to arrange to have a unique phone number and/or phone that you place on these ads. This will reduce the number of spam calls that you will have to filter through on your personal line.

Final Thoughts

Your online business needs online resources like social media marketing campaigns. But it can also get a huge boost from offline advertising such as flyers, transit spaces, and billboards. There is something for every budget.