We are in the midst of a revolution in the marketing and advertising industry— the change we are seeing is in the medium of communication. With technology evolving day in day out, the attention-grab of the customer towards a new product/service is inevitable.
Social media is a fairly new channel of marketing one’s product or service. AR/VR ads are soon-to-be witnessed extensively. However, there are a few old-school channels of marketing that work pretty well today, and if you are not leveraging those, add these to your to-do list:
1. Email:
Email marketing has been around for a long time, and even today, it is considered one of the most effective marketing platforms. Research has found Email can generate up to 32x ROI for businesses. In the context of customer acquisition, it’s also considered 40x more effective than social media like Facebook and Twitter.
And even without all this research, if we look at our daily activities, reading emails— promotional or not— is a part. So, go email!
2. SMS:
I am gonna straight out say this: SMS Marketing is underrated. There are only a few businesses leveraging this channel despite being an excellent, revenue-generating means of communication. To quote the mentioned Omnisend article, here’s the proof:
“In fact during the recent holiday shopping season:
- Ecommerce brands earned a 14% CTR with SMS
- SMS also earned 592% higher order rates than email
- We saw 21% more orders coming from SMS vs email
Therefore, you should consider an SMS campaign and send bulk messages to potential consumers. In case you weren’t aware, SMS stands for “Short Messaging Service” which are more commonly known as texts, meaning you need to collect phone numbers in order to pull off a successful campaign. In addition, you should consider a platform tailored to the type of marketing you are doing, such as Tatango for political or fundraising efforts.
3. Cold calls:
There are statistics that prove the success of cold calling. The people who know the ABC(Always be closing) of sales will win big time. Meaning, if your business includes something that a cold call can sell, cold call! If you can’t do it, hire someone— maybe a virtual receptionist.
It’s that simple.
4. Pamphlets, Cards, & Flyers:
This is real old school, but one of the better options nevertheless.
Compared to the banner ads and those horrible floating ads, Pamphlets & Flyers are quite better. In fact, a perfect choice for trade shows where thousands of potential customers visit. You can use online sites such as MyCreativeShop´s postcard templates to get an idea on where to get started. There are many categories to choose from and you can add your own special twist to drive home the message. Similarly, handing out business cards is also effective.
5. The good ol’ handshake:
Talking about trade shows, what better than a good old handshake? Handshake is physical and triggers a different part of the brain an online ad cannot. You talk, you listen, you respond, you negotiate…you sell!
Final words:
Some things work longer than others. The same is the case with marketing. With giants like Facebook losing relevance, there are still some marketing channels that are effective— maybe rusty but effective, however. We discussed five of those. Which one’s your favorite? Are you using any? Let us know in the comments below.