Rebelling

Recent trends in e-commerce have indicated that mobile connected devices such as smartphones and tablets have become the face of the new retail movement. The reach of brands and retailers has never been this powerful. But what is it about this movement that has made companies so successful in reaching their consumers?

The answer lies in the convergence of online and offline marketing. When retailers have a multi-channel presence, Search Engine Marketing becomes a powerful tool that enables multi-channel sales – this includes offline sales as well.

Several consumers are inclined to research online before purchasing offline. Marketers can take this new inclination as an opportunity to tap into the potential of the internet to influence the customer’s decision-making process.

Here are 5 ways in which brands can use digital marketing to boost offline sales:

Online Reviews to boost offline sales

83 percent of consumers are of the opinion that online reviews heavily influence their offline purchases. The more positive reviews your brands can boast of, the better. Besides, it is common knowledge that Google favors local listings that have more reviews with higher rankings.

While faking reviews or inducing positive ones are definitely frowned upon, a brand can always ask its most loyal customers to promote the brand through reviews. This can be accomplished by maintaining a systematic SMS and email database.

Social Engagement to boost offline sales

You cannot capture conversations surrounding your brand and industry just by setting up an online community. According to a study by Forrester Research, consumers now consume more than 500 billion social brand impressions a year.

With such big numbers in the picture, it cannot be emphasized more that monitoring and engaging your customers on social media is necessary to respond to relevant conversations, to make sure you’re driving the consumers to your brand.

Email campaigns to boost offline sales

Most consumers receive three to five permission-based emails a day. Bombarding consumer is an ineffective method of boosting sales. The key is to ensure that your brand is incentivising profitable actions, all the while tracking ROI.

The easiest way to do this is by using coupons. But to achieve the desired goal, and to make sure that customers are waiting for the coupon before purchasing, is to have a smartphone-friendly coupon landing page – something that all retailers online do today very effectively. Coupon codes are used increasingly today at retail shopping outlets.

Mobile Search Advertising

When it comes to providing hot leads, smartphone search engines are leading the race to the top spot. The accuracy of phone map results enables customers to locate stores faster than ever, making it an indirect marketing channel.

To capitalize on this, you have to make sure that the right keywords and ad copy are being used on your landing pages, as consumers need to see your store as quickly as possible.

Brand Search Advertising

Big brands engage in pay-per-click advertising on search engines. It is easy to see why: PPC ads work hand in hand with outdoor advertising and traditional media. They help reinforce the brand name, brand message and brand loyalty.

It is very important to increase brand awareness from traditional advertising by keeping your PPC messaging relevant. Simply put, your PPC ads should send out the same brand image and message that your offline ads send out.

Without a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, it is very likely that your business will lose out on at least 50 percent of a potential market. Offline and traditional media tools are very effective when it comes to creating brand awareness, but you cannot rely solely on TV, Radio or Print to seal the real deal any longer.

Consumers’ media habits have undergone a massive paradigm shift, with the internet claiming maximum responsibility for it.

While this doesn’t mean that your brand needs to invest large amounts of money on creating and maintaining an online presence, it does mean that brands have to think about how best to reach out to their customers online to develop offline campaigns and boost sales accordingly.

Content marketing to boost offline sales

Creating impactful and engaging content has now become the go-to online marketing strategy to boost offline sales. Studies reveal that writing blog posts or write ups with links given to a particular brand or website work wonders in subtly promoting a product and creating a long lasting impression on the consumer’s mind. With the correct strategy, content marketing can become a great way to attract the right kind of traffic.

Experiential C q qampaigns

Experiential campaigns have blurred the line between online and offline marketing tactics. These days, many brands use unique experiential marketing campaigns as a tool to create positive buzz about their brand. The campaigns are then promoted through various social media platforms to enlighten consumers. These experiential marketing campaign videos, shared on social media, not only engage consumers but also showcases tangible experiences which in turn help to boost offline sales.