“I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the bricks are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.” – Carlos Slim Helu
With the surge in digitization, the distance between businesses and their customers has increased. People spend a lot of time alone with their smart devices and laptops, in the belief that spreading the business online and using social media networking will suffice to attract and retain customers. The fact is that the manner by which you connect with customers, will affect the company’s bottom-line and statistics reveal that customers prefer the human touch and personal interactions. It is no surprise then, despite highly affordable online methods of interaction, 88% of top line executives still believe that the best way of boosting business and forge strong relationships is through offline strategies – face-to-face interactions. In fact, such interactions have repeatedly proved to more effective and robust to drive business and create positive customer perceptions about the company.
Boosting business through offline strategies have proved successful in the past, but with the rise of the numerous online marketing tactics, they seem to be relegated to the back. While online marketing is crucial, offline strategies have a distinct and unique value, proving to be highly effective for boosting business. While face-to-face interactions are extremely critical for building and boosting business, always meeting people this way is logistically impossible. Companies now have customers across the globe and it is not always possible to meet them in person but wherever possible, making offline efforts would accelerate your efforts towards boosting business. Your offline efforts for boosting business could include attending conferences, meeting customers, / clients for a drink or a meal and other such activities. What are some of the offline strategies practiced by your company for boosting business?
Networking events allow people to meet with like-minded people and exchange ideas and views. Even if the company’s products and services were top class, unless people know about them the company would not benefit. Hence, networking is extremely crucial for boosting business and is possibly one of the best offline strategies. It is important for the company’s top executives to attend as many networking events as possible – many of these events host marketing experts, media personalities, influencers on social media, other business owners and other such high profile individuals who could prove instrumental in boosting business beyond the company’s ‘individual’ capacity. Attending such events puts a company in touch with people who may be eager to buy the kind of products or services offered by the company, but were unable to find the right source. There would be others, who know of people requiring the offerings of your company, and would be willing to connect both parties. Even if no immediate business deals come through from such events, the company would have had an invigorating and educative experience providing insights and ideas to help them with boosting business in a better and more structured manner.
It would be in a company’s best interest to attend and or organize such networking events. They are a highly visible and effective method to meet great minds, build brand awareness, and learn new things, which in turn prove highly useful for boosting business. To add more influence and visibility for the company, many top executives attend such events as speakers – lending their expertise on topics of general interest. In whatever capacity you choose, ensure that your company gets representation regularly at such events.
Boosting business is about being ‘out there’ – in the forefront, where people know about you and remain consistently aware of your company and its offerings. Even though, online strategies may have overtaken offline efforts, flyers continue to be a highly effective offline strategy for boosting business. Market research and networking could lead to some opportunities present within the immediate vicinity of your business and flyers ensure that your business appears ready to serve those opportunities. It would be a great idea to hire youngsters to paste these flyers and drop them off in the area. Of course, the most obvious way to spread the flyers is by putting them into the local newspapers and slipping them into the pages of magazines.
People now seem to have forgotten the utility of the small piece of paper – the business card. An eye-catching and meticulously designed business card goes a long way in boosting business. ‘Arm’ yourself with your business cards and drop them off at the networking events, restaurants, shopping malls and other places that could potentially get business for your company. Ensure that your business card conveys all the essential information and appears distinct – this is an inexpensive yet still effective offline strategy for boosting business.
Be a repository of information and expertise through blogs, articles, and other such knowledge spreading sources. You could use your company’s newsletter – not online but hard copies to disseminate knowledge. The content of these newsletters should be information that people can use – for instance if you are pet company, you could provide tips on how to keep pets safe from diseases spread by seasonal parasites. The more knowledgeable your company appears, the more respect and trust it would garner, leading to more business. As mentioned, people prefer doing business with companies they can trust and those that appear to know just how to reduce their pain areas.
People are more likely to believe the existing customers of a company. Encourage customers to speak about their pleasant experiences with the company, to their friends and family. Make video recordings and take pictures of candid moments of your customers, (with their permission of course) at your establishments and display them in your stores, offices, and post them on social media sites. You would be using the strengths of both offline and online strategies, which proves highly effective in boosting business. Happy customers would share and re-post the pictures on their personal social ‘pages’ and passers-by would be able to view those candid ‘shots’ displayed on your neighbourhood store and office.
If your company has launched a new product, re-launching an old one, is giving away freebies, and or offering attractive discounts, let everyone know. Putting up attractive displays, banners, and other such in-store advertisements greatly enhance your company’s chances of attracting more visitors who could potentially become buying customers. It’s important to remember that your physical world presence – offices, stores and other such establishments – must always be spruced up and attractive as part of an offline strategy to boosting business. You would confuse customers if you had a shabby office but an updated and cheery looking website – the complete package makes up the customer’s perception about your company.
Your company must be an active member and promoter of corporate social responsibility programs. More people are becoming aware of the need to give something back to society and to the world we live in and as such prefer companies that do their bit for these initiatives. CSR activities help the company become more aware of things beyond their business and are a great method to attract people’s attention towards its culture and offerings. The more positive interest a company can generate for itself, the greater the number of opportunities for boosting business and gaining market share.
It is beneficial for any company to use both offline and online strategies. By creating personalized interactions through both mediums is a much more long-term and robust method of boosting business and gaining positive customer perception.Learn about a new approach to better customer service!
