The traditional marketing world companies rely heavily on print ads, billboards, cold calling, tradeshows, events, and conferences.
Internet/online marketing integrated with a traditional marketing approach can save company time, money, resources, and give them the dual advantage of global and local brand awareness and buyer reach.
Many industries still use the traditional approach of print and direct selling to promote their products and services. The main reason is to reach the buyer directly by being face to face and through brand saturation in mass media.
Typically, service companies marketing to the oil and gas producers and explorers tend to create long-term relationships to encourage repeat business and maintain a stable customer base. Buyers, on the other hand, generally tend to stay local and do business with who they trust, can meet with, and create a healthy business relationship with.
Companies looking to create new accounts and reach a wider audience in a different state or province need a focused strategy to get their prospective customers attention.
They generally list themselves in the industry related online directories, create a decent looking website to link back from the listing, and attend tradeshows and association events. For companies wanting to go global and attract international buyers, it is important to use the integrated marketing approach and leverage the internet to reach the prospective buyer in a different state, province, or country.
Display advertisement: Traditionally done in print using industry publications and magazines. Try the online versions of the same or other magazines if that supports your marketing budget and strategy. Digital marketing through display online advertising can give your marketing a global reach and give you more exposure than ever before. Analytic tools such as ActiveConversion can track the hits on your online ads and the clicks to your landing pages. Not only that but you can also individually track whoever clicked on the ad, including the company name.
Search: To gain new customers especially if growth is your strategy, being found is crucial. Your customers are now online to research and look for the services and products that you sell or provide. If you are the one who comes up high in their search result, they will probably check your website/offering out.
Search Engine Optimization: Search Engine Marketing for different search engines including Google can be used to increase your online visibility. Employ SEO techniques in-house or use experts to create a search engine strategy to include in your marketing mix.
Seminars / Webinars: Seminar or an event presentation is often used to present whitepapers, research articles or new product briefs. Why not record the seminar to later present or use in a webinar. You can post these webinars as resources for your online repository (blog or support forum) to refer your prospects to when they need to know more about a particular topic.
The above are some easy ways to spread your word, be top of mind and nurture your prospective buyers. Using integrated marketing in your marketing strategy will enable you to leverage the internet as much as the traditional ways of marketing. Doing both will ensure maximum exposure and reach.
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