Offline Tactics

7 Offline Tactics To Drive Visitors To Your Website

by Neil Stafford

Most of my business is web-based, but I use all and every marketing technique that can boost my sales.

Offline and online together gives you a good mix of marketing processes to use if one or other slows down or stops completely.

These are 7 offline ways I use to drive visitors to my website and they should be part of your marketing strategy too.

1) Classified Ads Out of date?
You would be surprised how effective small classified adverts in niche magazines are in driving people to a website. Because you only have a few words, treat it like a Google Ad. Keep the headline relevant, the text topical and end with a call to action to visit your website for more information. I also give a telephone number for people to call for more information.

Why? Because it gives me the opportunity to get a mailing address which I can use. I then send offline mailings and postcards to them at a later date and this has proved very successful.

2) Display Advert
A bigger statement, but also a lot more expensive. Usually a quarter, half or full page of the publication so you can make more use of your headline and body text to create interest and give them more reasons why they should visit your website.

Because of the increased cost, you need to think this carefully as it is not always justified. Remember to test all adverts that you run for responsiveness to the advert AND conversion to sales.

3) Flyer or Insert
This is so simple you must implement it immediately. With every physical order you send out to new customers include a flyer that advertises another of your products and / or website. Once those customers have bought from you they have confidence in you and now is the ideal time for them to buy from you again.

Flyers are also a cheap and effective way to reach new customers when you have a Joint Venture (JV) arrangement with another business. For instance, we have a Junior Soccer Site and so an ideal JV would be with a major sporting goods supplier. Every time they send out an order, we have a potential new customer reading our flyer, at very little cost to us.

4) A Full Direct Mail Pack
Direct mail is a specialised area and you need to treat it with caution as it's easy to lose money when you don't know what you are doing. With direct mail you must understand your lifetime customer value and have a good knowledge of your response and conversion metrics to be successful.

In the past I have experimented and tested including a web address on my order form to see if that had any effect on orders. The results were variefd because in one niche market it increased my normal conversion levels but in another it showed a fall.

I can't be certain why; but one theory is that by including a web address on your order form you are giving your customer the option to put your order to one side to 'deal with later online', but usually 'later' means they won't get round to it.

5) A Single Letter or Postcard
I successfully use this technique a lot with existing customers or customers who haven't bought from me in a while and need rejuvenating with a new offer.

Keep it simple with a personal, one page letter or postcard giving a small amount of information and a call to action directing your customer to a website.

6) Seminars
Once your business becomes successful you will probably be asked to speak at, or run, seminars and workshops on your niche topic and it is a great way to promote your product or service.

You must always, always, include a web address within your presentation to direct your audience for t more information about you or your products. I recommend you put up a special page for the event you are at and tell people they can download your presentation (or offer a special report) if they visit the site and leave their name and email address.

Also, get the most from your business card and make sure it has a call to action on it as well as your details. Offer it to those you meet during the event and give them a reason to contact you afterwards.

7) Books
Books are an excellent marketing tool and not as hard to write or produce as you might think. In the book you can place bounce back offers directing people to your websites for more information or free downloadable gifts and you can use the book to place adverts for your own products or services.


By selling it you can increase your profits, or just give it away as a bonus at seminars and generate more traffic to your website.

These 7 simple offline techniques will drive online sales. Don't make the mistake of thinking that an online business only means you do everything on the Internet.


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