While some entrepreneurs may see their businesses offline and online presence as two separate things, the truth is that a positive reputation translates across both of these worlds. This raises an important question of can you improve your online reputation by working vehemently in the offline environment. The answer to this question is – of course, you can. The greatest issues here are those of cost-efficiency and focus. In other words, if the boost to the online reputation is the name of the game, what you want are methods that lead to its direct improvement, not just those who passively benefit it.
That being said, there are several offline marketing strategies that can help you build your online reputation.
1. Encouraging customers to leave reviews
Even people who purchase from you in-person or do so via cash payments can be persuaded to leave reviews and comments online. This can be done only if your sales representatives and customer service representatives are assertive, helpful and skilled enough. On the other hand, you can encourage your customers to register on your website either way, even offer to award them some points (in a form of a loyalty program) for the purchase retroactively. In this way, you get to strengthen your online reputation, while simultaneously creating return customers.
2. Brand ambassadors
This particular move is fairly similar to the previous one. You see, just because someone made a purchase offline it doesn’t mean that they won’t brag about a positive experience in the digital environment. The reason why this is still considered an offline marketing technique is due to the fact that you’re actually using your company’s physical presence in order to gain a foothold in the digital environment. This alone makes a method with brand ambassadors worthy of this list.
3. Attending industry events
One more offline opportunity that you can use is attending industry events, engaging people in person and encouraging them to look you up online later on. For this to work, nonetheless, your brand’s delegation at the event needs to look both welcoming and professional. The first step in achieving all of this lies in looking for branded exhibition stands. This way, you’ll be able to attend industry event in style, as well as display all your brochures and flyers. On them, you can also print an URL of your website, as well as mention your brand’s social media handles.
4. Boosting your curb appeal
Boosting your curb appeal will not only attract people (bypassers) to enter your store but also give you a chance to make some truly amazing photographs for your website. Think about it, some brands use photographs of their employees in order to give their business a human face it can stand behind.
Now, you can use a similar method in order to remind your digital audience that your business also has a physical presence. Due to the fact that online businesses often get doubted and suspected of being a scam, using the visuals of your headquarters can turn into a pretty potent persuasion tool.
5. Guerilla marketing
One of the most brilliant ways to improve your reputation through offline marketing is through guerilla marketing. Imagine a scenario where you create an amazing piece of branded street art. How many people are going to take pictures of it and post them on your social media account?
In fact, some of them might even make you a favor and tag you on the photo or mention you in hashtags. All of this increases your presence online, as well as separates you from the rest of your competitors. Most importantly, this is both incredibly subtle and non-invasive.
6. Promotional products
At the very end, we should probably address an issue that we’ve already hinted on. Namely, one of the best ways to boost your online reputation through offline marketing strategy is to do so with promotional products. This can help you spread the word, about your business in one of the most effective way possible. Just by adding a social media icon on the custom printed t-shirt, you can remind people that you are present on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.
This is possible due to the fact that these icons and symbols are universally recognizable and, therefore, handy and space-saving.
In conclusion
Due to the fact that there are so many options available, you’ll have an easy time picking those methods that suit both you and your business model. This is just huge, seeing as how the successfulness of any marketing campaign heavily depends on flexibility and adaptability.
Most importantly, while using an offline marketing strategy to build an online reputation is an effective course of action, a lot of entrepreneurs aren’t accustomed to this kind of outside-of-the-box thinking. This is where you also get the opportunity to get ahead of the curve.
Also read: Pay-Per-Call Advertising – A Dominant Method of Getting Leads for Home Renovation Businesses in 2023
