Obviously, marketing has evolved over the past five decades, with new technologies and ideas developing yearly from various academic scholars and strategies alike. That being said, identifying which tools are best suited for your marketing message is vital.
But sometimes, effective marketing means going back to the roots. Let’s look at x traditional marketing channels and strategies that still have surprisingly high ROI today.
Marketers can use virtual if not face-to-face meetings to meet with clients and nurture leads. For instance, an early-stage startupreneurs looking to outgrow his marketing potential might set up a face-to-face campus tour with prospective students.
While this tactic sounds very outdated from many viewpoints, face-to-face communication is highly effective for sales and customer retention. Recent findings hint that 79% of top-level executives use face-to-face meetings for lead generation.
Online meetings are gaining terrain these days and serve as great alternatives to in-person meetings. They provide many of the same benefits and can help build trust with leads and customers.
Face-to-face is so effective because it allows us to read body language and adjust our approach accordingly.
Meetings taking place over the phone or video only provides us with words, tone, and at times emojis to gauge a lead’s interest. However, this can lead to misinterpreting the direction of a conversation or even the individual’s intent.
Speaking of basics, it doesn’t get more traditional than a phone call.
Studies show that consumers still prefer phone calls over email and websites when discovering brands and businesses despite a growing interest in anything digital in recent years. A 2019 study found that 60% of consumers preferred calling a local company after finding them.
Businesses also report revenue increases due to outbound calls making it a critical or important aspect of their communication strategy.
More often than not, marketers seeking immediate client communication simply pick up the phone instead of sending an email.
While all outbound channels – such as emails, social media, chat – are decisive for businesses, phone calls remain one of the top ways brands foster their customer relationship.
It turns out direct mail is quite a preference in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Recent findings show that people tend to consider direct mail items such as postcards and newsletters when they are closer to making a purchase. It also reports that they prefer to receive promotional offers the most and newsletters the least, with postcards, brochures, and catalogs falling in the middle.
And since a global pandemic, there has been a growing interest in the mail. Reports show that 67% of consumers have experienced feelings of separation, and almost 42% now rely on email more due to social distancing guidelines.
Another key aspect is that if your customers are millennials, direct mail may be worth your investment. A 2019 study found that millennials are more responsive to mail marketing than Gen X and Baby Boomers. In fact, 67% said they frequently and sporadically use marketing mail to go online.
What’s more, direct mail may work best with existing audiences or audiences with a proven interest in your brand. More often than not, people throw out direct mail that contains content they’re not interested in from brands they don’t know.
The gist of this strategy is to only send direct mail to existing customers or people with a great interest in your business. By doing so, you will save money and increase your ROI exponentially.
Brick and mortar establishments, malls and streets are just some of the places where brochures, flyers and attractive popup stands can come in handy. It turns out they are still the most widely preferred tactics for special discounts and offers. Think of business cards and the power they have over a client. Traditional marketing that’s straightforward or simply “into your face” is way more connective and interactive.
Early-stage entrepreneurs looking for affordable marketing options should not underestimate the power of hand-outs to bring their business new growth opportunities. Business cards, popup stands and direct mails seem to elicit an emotional reaction and be more easily absorbed than words on the screen. Marketing mediums such as these evokes strong responses and greater reach for marketers.
If you’re an eCommerce entrepreneur, you know advertising plays a key role in driving people to your website. But what happens when they’re not ready to purchase when they first find your store? Or if they get distracted before they complete a purchase? Well, it seems that you can bring them back.
These campaigns remind your audience of your services and products after they leave your online store without buying. After accessing specific pages, it allows you to retarget them and show your visitors relevant text or visual ads when they visit other websites. Retargeting campaigns could be done with the help of Facebook retargeting, LinkedIn Ads, Google Ads and other retargeting advertising platforms.
97% of visitors leave without buying anything, and they’re lost forever unless you can bring them back.
Retargeting ads can reach more than 90% of people on the internet across more than 2 million sites through display ads.
Once someone searches your website, they will start to see your ads while reading an article, watching a video clip, or visiting other stores online. Your ads will remind people of all the cool stuff you have to offer and bring them back to your eCommerce store when they decide to purchase.
Overall, people now demand more transparency from companies on the data they collect and how they use it. More traditional marketing tactics have proven to be effective and continue to be despite the public shift toward web-based engagement.