Thursday, April 19, 2007

Offline Advertising for Online Business

Offline Advertising for Online Business

If you have an online business and you’re trying to get traffic to your site, you want to advertise. Many people think this means that you have to advertise on the web or via some electronic medium. But advertising is advertising whether it’s on the web, in an email, on a sign, on TV, at a trade show, or in a magazine.

Your choice of advertising – online or offline – should not be driven by which media it is on. Rather, where you advertise should be driven by what audience you seek. The media that can you get you closest to the audience you need at the best price, is the media you should use.

How can you tell the audience of a given media? Believe it or not, there’s numbers available for everything. A few examples include the following:

Magazine’s: Get a media kit for the publisher – they’ll generally offer extensive detail about their readership.

Online newsletters: Likewise. Get the demographics of their opt-in list.

Billboards: Drive-by traffic data is available from most billboard providers.

Rented lists: Demographics and characteristics including “selects” (filters that can be applied) are generally available.

Radio/TV: Viewership & “Reach” demographics are almost always available.

The point is that your choice of advertising needs to be driven by the numbers. To make an intelligent choice, get the numbers and examine them to see if they describe characteristics of your audience. Then do a test. Run a trial offer through the media and see what happens. If it’s good, do more of it. If not, try the next venue.
Offline Advertising for Online Business

If you have an online business and you’re trying to get traffic to your site, you want to advertise. Many people think this means that you have to advertise on the web or via some electronic medium. But advertising is advertising whether it’s on the web, in an email, on a sign, on TV, at a trade show, or in a magazine.

Your choice of advertising – online or offline – should not be driven by which media it is on. Rather, where you advertise should be driven by what audience you seek. The media that can you get you closest to the audience you need at the best price, is the media you should use.

How can you tell the audience of a given media? Believe it or not, there’s numbers available for everything. A few examples include the following:

Magazine’s: Get a media kit for the publisher – they’ll generally offer extensive detail about their readership.

Online newsletters: Likewise. Get the demographics of their opt-in list.

Billboards: Drive-by traffic data is available from most billboard providers.

Rented lists: Demographics and characteristics including “selects” (filters that can be applied) are generally available.

Radio/TV: Viewership & “Reach” demographics are almost always available.

The point is that your choice of advertising needs to be driven by the numbers. To make an intelligent choice, get the numbers and examine them to see if they describe characteristics of your audience. Then do a test. Run a trial offer through the media and see what happens. If it’s good, do more of it. If not, try the next venue.