Those of us who spend all of our tine online tend to forget that most of the world doesn’t. Think about the family and friends you know in your personal life outside of work. The majority of people that I know all have computers, but use them for web surfing, making online purchases, and email.

The majority of these people don’t use RSS feed reader and in most cases, don’t even know what an RSS feed is. They don’t have a Stumble or Digg profile. They don’t participate in forums. They don’t have a blog.

Are you spending a disproportionate amount of time marketing in places where only a small potion of people are likely to find you?

Are You Suffering from New Media Marketing Syndrome?

While many traditional businesses such as real estate agencies are just beginning to leverage the web, there exists a whole group of ‘new media’ business owners who grew up in the internet era. These folks, (myself included) have a handle on how to reach web audiences but are most likely missing a vast number of customers by not focusing on some ‘offline’ marketing.

Whether you are the author of an eBook, have created an audio series, or an ecommerce retailer, you could drastically increase your customer base by reaching people offline.

Here are a Few Ideas for Marketing Your Online Products Offline:

eBook Author:

• Get an ISBN, hire an artist to create a great print-ready cover, and self publish a handful of books, and get some signed copies of your books on a ‘local authors’ display at your local Barnes and Noble, Borders, or community bookstore.

• Create some inexpensive post cards marketing your book, buy a mailing list, and send them out to your target audience. Create a website targeted to traditional book buyers (not eBook downloaders) where they can buy your book.

Audio Product:

• Audio and video information is plentiful online, but people will pay big bucks for audio CD on topics they are interested in! Turn those audio files into retail ready CDs, find a graphic artist to create CD covers, and get your CDs positioned in local bookstores and niche specialty stores.

• Create some inexpensive post cards marketing your CD series, buy a mailing list, and send them out to your target audience. Create a website targeted to traditional media buyers (not downloaders) where they can buy your CDs.

eCommerce Retailers:

• Get your products in front of people the way that successful product marketers have done for years - via direct mail catalogs. According to the USPS:

Consumers who receive catalogs are more likely to become multibuyers online, accounting for 15% more transactions, and will spend on average 16% more than customers who did not receive catalogs.

• Exhibit your products at trade shows, farmers market, or at a local fair.

• Choose one of your best products and produce a 30 second infomercial that heavily promotes all the features, benefits, and uses of the product. TV is extremely influential. If the Elvis Silver Half Dollar Collector Coin sells successfully on TV, won’t your product?

Tags: Business Building, Marketing //