Matt DeAngelis of Affiliate Blog fame writes about offline viral marketing. Read the introduction below by Matt and then visit his blog via the link at the bottom to view the marketing ideas.
Recently I participated in a forum discussion about offline marketing – that is using more traditional marketing offline to drive traffïc to your website or blog. I can still remember the first time I saw a URL in a TV commercial and how cool I thought that was.
The offline world has the constraint of geography, so the least expensive forms of viral marketing are going to be geographically bound, which can be challenging for some sites. Someone on the forum said that offline marketing is a waste of time for most sites or blogs. I think that is a false generalization. In fact, every site should practice some förm of offline viral promotion. We call these efforts drive to web programs and they can be very successful.
There are two important pieces to all promotion, and they become even more important in promoting your site offline. Just like the online world, your success at offline promotion is going to hinge on putting your message in front of the prospect in the right context – meaning at the right time and when they are in the right mood to perform the action you are looking for, which in this case is a visit to your website.
You need two elements for each viral marketing idea – the hook and the context. Once you figure out how you’re going to do it, you need to determine where you’re going to do it. If the niche and scope of your business won’t lend itself well to local leads, passing out business cards isn’t going to work as a viral marketing idea. I think every site could benefit from offline leads – it’s just a matter of how much time and monëy you want to throw at them.
Read Matt's ideas here.
Comment Preview