Congratulations! Your company is starting to take off, and to build your business further, you decide to target your current database. Birds in hand, they are. Or maybe you have decided you’ve hit a level of saturation with your current contacts and really need fresh leads. Easy enough. You identify your target audience and begin mapping out your plan. In either case, since you’re a cutting-edge small business that understands the importance of the Internet as a money-saving marketing tool, you develop a solid Internet marketing plan.

But is that enough? All too often, companies think they can rely solely on the Internet and completely ignore printed materials for the offline world. But “integrated marketing,” that is, marketing using multiple channels, is a more effective approach that yields a better return on your marketing dollars. By targeting both online and offline audiences, you broaden your reach, allowing each channel to support the other. According to an article in Internet Marketing and e-Business Review, a newsletter from Advanced Media Productions:

“Online businesses can benefit from traditional ‘offline’ marketing such as direct mail, Yellow Pages ads, display ads, etc. just as brick-and-mortar businesses can use the Internet to promote themselves and get more business. Using both online and offline marketing together can help you maximize a small marketing budget and result in an even better return on investment.”

An article on AllBusiness.com offers practical advice on how to use the offline channel to support an online campaign:

“The goal is to have all your marketing efforts supporting each other, working together to promote your business. There are obvious ways to do this, such as including your URL or domain name on every piece of promotional material that you send out, as well as on your letterhead and business cards. Include it in your Yellow Pages ads and on printed promotional materials. Not only will this increase name recognition for your site, it will also give customers an additional way to contact you or make a purchase.”

One additional point, with so many online shopping sites, and so many stories of Internet fraud, many consumers don’t trust a company that seems to exist only online. An offline marketing campaign lets consumers know that while you’re tech savvy, you’re also stable and reliable, and you’ll be there to support them.

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