NehalKazim.com

There is a lot of emphasis on having your Twitter and Facebook links plastered all over the internet but what about offline? There are many places where businesses are passing up the opportunity to get buyers to become loyal to them by not inviting them to join the conversation. For the sake of an example, assume that these 4 methods are for a golf course interested in getting their website out there. Here are 4 ways to get your offline prospects to join the conversation online:

1. Business Cards. There are many situations where the first contact between a prospect and your business is a face to face interaction. After building trust and credibility, that prospect will quickly scan your business and ideally go to the website. The fact is that most people aren’t going to call a number on a business card immediately. They want to learn more about the business and with a link to your, there is a high probability of the prospect coming over to the site.

2. Product Packaging. Placing a website link on the product provides a cool way of getting clients to your website. When the user of the product is opening the product for the first time, the person looks at the box and will pick up on your website. If you’re a golf course, this could be the box of branded golf balls.

3. Flyers and Advertisements. In flyers and advertisements, many businesses sneak in the website in the bottom corner in miniscule size 8 font. On a large sheet of paper, that website link is nonexistent. Instead, place is it creatively in the ad.

This is definitely not subtle but is really powerful. Ramon DeLeon, a managing partner of seven Dominos in the Chicago areas, goes a step further. He put highlights of Twitter comments from his fans as an advertisement. He conveniently placed his Twitter username for his market to see.

4. Letters. As a call to action to the reader, it’s critical where you place the link to the website in a letter. If a link to the website isn’t in each letter your organization sends out, there is a problem. The purpose of the website is to educate your prospects and clients on who you are and what you can provide them. You must place it dominantly around the edges of the letter either in the header or footer. But as addition, make the link more valuable in a letter by placing it in the body of the letter where it gives them an incentive to visit the website.

There needs to be a purpose of putting the website or social networking links in front of your clients and prospects. What is your purpose of getting people to the website? Is it to create awareness? To capture leads? To educate clients and prospects?

In marketing, the more times your prospect sees an ad for your product/service, the more likely they are to buy it; this is true for your website/social networking sites. Determine the purpose of why you want people to come to your website and then position the website in the marketing materials to reflect the purpose.

What ways have you marketed your website offline? What was most effective? What didn’t work at all?