Difference Between Online and Offline Advertisement
“Advertisement” is a big entity now. No business can stand or survive without having one. There are a lot of ways of doing it. But we mainly categorize it into two modes i.e. online and offline. Online and offline marketing may belong to the same principle, but they are different as in approach they use and the kind of results they produce.
No one can really rely on any one method particularly as the growing competition never allows you to do so.
Below is the list of three biggest differences between the online and offline marketing, so that you may now design a more comprehensive marketing plan for your small business:
1) Reach in online and offline advertisement
Basically there’s no doubt that online promotion can cover more traffic in short interval of time as compared to offline promotion. Naturally, an online marketing campaign has the potential to reach far more people than an offline campaign. With offline mode, you are restricted by the limited readership of the publication as maximum people don’t really read what they don’t find interesting, and offline campaigns can’t go viral like they can online. Business to Business (B2B) companies usually enjoy more online success, but with Business to Consumer (B2C), it varies.
Offline Marketing has a limitation which allows you to focus on your ideal audience — people you know are already likely to be interested in your services or products. It totally depends upon your targeted audience which you have selected according to age, gender and motive and next is the approach through which you are reaching them. The age bracket and profession of your target audience come into play here, as you’ll need to work out whether online or offline is the best way to reach them.
2) Cost of online and offline advertisement
When it comes to traditional offline promotional techniques; Radio, television and Newspapers are the best ways to do promotion. But when we talk about budget, they are always costly. For traditional marketing to be a success, you typically have to spend a significant amount more than you would online. You’re paying for visibility, and you can easily exceed your budget limit chasing more featured ads and commercial spots in prime-time broadcasts.
Talking about Online Promotion, you just need to buy a domain name and web-hosting to get an online presence and rest is magic. Of course, you might need to get a web designer to help you get started your business online, or invest in a few marketing tools like SEO, SMO & PPC to make life easier, but this will always be cheaper and more cost-effective than traditional advertising. For a basic level, you can start from doing promotion on Social networking websites like Face-book, Google Plus, Linked In or Twitter etc. Who can give you a kick-start and can really help you promoting your business without any cost.
3) Conversion of sales in online and offline advertisement
If you have an online store or an e-commerce website, online marketing is unbelievably important. It is easier to show your products portfolio online as well as for the customers to purchase it. Advancement in internet and E-Commerce websites has increased the perception of users for online shopping. They can just simply sit at home and can purchase almost everything. Offline, readers must make a decision to search for your brand or visit your store, and although many might intend to, they don’t always follow through.
There are also some advantages of offline promotion. Majorly it helps in interaction and making relationships stronger. Boosting engagement can help boost visibility, and word of mouth travels faster online than in the offline world. But, then again, offline advertising has a certain professional charm to it that some customers will value highly — especially those who are suspicious of online companies or distrustful of the internet in general.
Fundamentally, a smart company with a good marketing campaign will integrate print and online channels in a unique marketing mix. Using both merged with each other can strengthen brand image, increase company credibility and make your business seem competent, professional, and serious about what they do.
Offline marketing can work really well as a way of prompting people to find you online, too — include hash-tags, hooks and online offers in your print ads, and you’ll drive traffic to your website and online store.
Online and offline marketing may be two different things, but ultimately, they’re not that dissimilar. Where one is weak, the other is strong and so thinking about the bigger picture when designing your marketing campaign is essential.
“Don’t see them as two separate things — they’re both different halves of the same whole.”