Online? Offline?  Both are considered “real life.”   To reach your success goals you need a complete recipe online to enhance your offline marketing strategies. Whether you are a large corporation or a small start-up, learn the combination of advertising, publicity and marketing, then stir it up with your company’s message to hit your target customer’s taste buds.

Printed Materials

Although you may be a heavy hitter online with all the networking and social media outlets, you must continue to grow your presence in your own backyard.  Keeping your business brochures and business cards updated and handy will get your name straight into the hands of those who you want to remember you.  Trade shows and on the ground marketing at the local level is what is going to build your strong foundation.  Do not put your eggs all in one basket and rely solely on your online efforts.

Website & Blog

Your website is the icing on your cake.  You simply can not do without a website in the world of online marketing.  This is the mixing bowl in your online kitchen where you will direct all the ingredients from around the web.  All of your social media networking sites should point people right back to your digital hub. Blogging should be integrated into your website to introduce new content and keep those search engines crawling to your site.  Keep your blog posts relative to your business or company,  and share them among all of the social media networks.

Social Media Networks

Choose wisely where you want to put in your online time, and use it to your benefit and the benefit of your business.  Be sure to have a good presence on several sites, and for professional connections, we feel LinkedIn is the service to use.  Be selective with your connections, unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn will be exposing your business in a more open fashion, rather than your personal social connections.  As you meet people locally or at trade shows, chances are they will refer to your profile on LinkedIn.  Use it as your online business card, keep your profile current.  Join and participate in groups that are relative to your interests, don’t just join, mingle!

Press Releases

Refer to our previous article about press releases and how they benefit your business success. (The Press Release: Free, Paid and What Will It Do For Me?)  If you aren’t using your local media to help boost you and your business, you’re missing out on some golden opportunities to build that foundation.  Enhancing with online services, and the hope that it travels among your online acquaintances, is like the spice that gives your dishes flavor.  Also watch for local advertising deals, while an investment is required, a properly placed advertisement can potentially bring you new business.

Email

Email marketing, whether a consistent newsletter or just sporadic announcements, is one of the most personal ways to reach out to your potential customers.  In the building of relationships, properly timed email marketing campaigns give the personal touch, that secret ingredient, to the mixing of your overall strategy.

Your Publicist or Marketing Partners

Creating and developing a promotional campaign with a publicist is a process.  Know exactly what your expectations are and how your campaign will evolve.  (How to Work with a Publicist: What’s the Relationship Like, Are you Golden?)  A marketing partner can be an extremely valuable asset if used as a properly added ingredient to your mix, but they can not assume all of your own responsibilities of building that foundation. They are only there as a result of your personal efforts, there to enhance what you do, to put the final decoration on your business before you set it on the table with the good china.

Just as the consistency of your cake batter is important to the overall finished product, your marketing consistency is just as significant to your success.

Choose what works for you and your business and don’t be afraid to try new sites and ideas,  be consistent in your blogging and networking efforts, stir it all up with caring strokes, get the temperature right, then enjoy the beautiful success you’ve created!

Related articles

• The Social Aspects of the Most Popular Social Media Sites (socialbarrel.com)
• What NOT to Do on LinkedIn (performancing.com)
• Social media and the channel marketing Fear Factor (go.theregister.com)
• Sam Fiorella: LinkedIn, TrustCloud, Klout and the Game of Plusses (huffingtonpost.com)
• Top 2 Kinds Of Sites To Market Your Business Blog This 2013 (thepetitepenwritingservices.com)