Why Traditional Marketing Still Works

So you've paid a hefty amount for a great logo and a cutting edge website. You've spent hours on SEO, link submissions and blog entries. Finished, right?

Not quite.

If you'd done this ten or even five years ago, that might have been enough. Now, it's time to think of traditional marketing. This includes mailings, flyers, print ads and face-to-face time.

Now, if you have a very exclusive, niche market - where you are selling something truly unique, then your online efforts may be enough. However, if your business is more common (service industry, products, etc.) then the competition is very stiff.

Two examples of great marketing efforts are outlined below:

Case 1: We created a website for a regional portal that included a business directory, local information, news and advertisements. It sounds like it would be enough since it was concentrated on one local region; but with many sites out there providing similar services (like citysearch and yelp), my client decided to take a few computers to the local mall and show people directly and let them browse the site. It was a hit, and he signed up a slew of people that day and got off to a good start.

Case 2: We created a service industry website that appealed to the general public. Because the subject of the site was not very unique, we started a traditional marketing campaign regionally, then expanded. We sent out hundreds of white postcards with nothing on them but a very small-print website address. Curiosity got the best of most people and got a large number of visits to the website and our first customers.

A good rule of thumb is if you do traditional print advertising is if you get a 2% return you're doing well. The above examples returned over 15%.

Web surfers are getting smarter, and they know the difference between paid search engine results and run of the mill ideas. When you include print or television advertising, you're now standing apart. Don't discount those weekly mailers and car flyers - it just might give you the edge!