INTERGRATING

MARKETING
STRATEGIES IN THE
DIGITAL ERA
O N L INE & O F F L INE
INTERGRATING MARKETING STRATEGIES
IN THE DIGITAL ERA – offline and online
• Background
• Understanding marketing strategy
• Review of Offline and online marketing
strategies
• Integrating the two worlds
Background
• Marketing has changed enormously with the advent of internet.
One-way interaction has given way to two-way communication.
Also, customers are collaborating among themselves through
social networking dedicated groups, blogs and sharing
information and feedback about products and services.
• In today’s business climate, it’s easier than ever to reach new
customers.
• So many media exist. Yet, turning prospects into customers can
be difficult without a proper marketing strategy.
• Its no longer just as simple as putting an ad in a paper and
handing out your business card. Customers want more.
• Nowadays, traditional marketing practices must be integrated
with new ones.
• Finally, the online and offline marketing strategies need to
work harmoniously to tell your story in order to drive sales and
customer engagement.
Before your marketing strategy….

• There’s a need to first evaluate • Create a buyer persona of your

who your customers are and
where you’ll find them.
• Consider their age, demographics,
location, occupation, interests,
hobbies, behaviours and lifestyle
patterns.
ideal customer.
• Who are they? What are their pain
points? How can your business
help? Some businesses will have
multiple customer groups and it’s
important to identify each one.

• Then tailor your marketing

strategy to reach them in
places they’re likely to frequent.
Offline Marketing Strategies

• When we talk of offline marketing we basically

refer to the traditional marketing strategies
(Old school marketing strategies )
• They still work, but their effectiveness has been
drastically diluted since the coming of the
digital age. People will always trust you or your
business more if they meet you which is why
personal selling is still effective in most
industries.
• In West Africa, I find this is particularly true
especially in less digitally native areas outside
the big cities.
• So what other traditional marketing
strategies are available?
Types of offline (Traditional Marketing)
1. Direct Marketing
2. Print
3. Broadcast
4. Cold calling
5. Celebrity Endorsements
6. Networking and Strategic Alliances
Online Marketing Strategies

• Going forward many companies will need

to start embracing digital marketing.
• Digital is a very effective way to interact
with existing customers while also sourcing
new ones.
• The younger generation does most of their
research online today and we will likely see
this trend increase.
• Eventually, most sales will take place
online. The vast changes happening in the
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
arenas will only expedite this.
Online Marketing Strategies available
Without jumping too far ahead, let’s have a peek at some online
marketing strategies available to companies today:
1. SEO
2. Content Marketing
3. Social Media Marketing
4. Email Marketing
5. Online Advertising
6. Native Advertising
Integrating both worlds
• Traditional marketing practices in an overall sense can be
expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to measure.
• Digital marketing strategies can be comparatively
inexpensive, very measurable, reach a wide number of
people but involve a lot of time.
• To get maximum results in your marketing strategies you
need aspects of both strategies to really make your
marketing drive sales for your business.
• The fragmentation of peoples attention today means one
strategy cannot be the only way to reach customers.
• The best results will come from integrating both
strategies and finding solutions that your business will be
able to successfully implement and stick to.
Integrating both worlds contd
• The role of media in marketing communications
practices shifts from the execution of message
strategies into an extension of consumer
understanding.
• Online marketing has become very important over
the years as a more cost effective method of doing
business. However inspite of the obvious
advantages of internet, traditional marketing
continues to be used by majority of the businesses.
• More and more customers are using the internet to
research products and services online which they
later buy offline.
• Integrate or die needs to be the motto for your
entire team.
• This means changing the way you look at what you do
and how you engage with your customers everywhere.
Integrating offline and online marketing
• The problem is a majority of communicators are
looking at their online and offline marketing
strategies as two separate things.
• They are not.
• Facebook and Instagram are two separate
platforms, but we consider how they influence and
work together. Likewise, offline communication is
just another platform to distribute our message,
generate leads, and nurture and convert them to
customers.
• This includes offline sales efforts.
• It all works together. We will never successfully
integrate online and offline marketing strategies
until we start to see them as one.
References

 http://bxtvisuals.com/integrating-online-and-offline-
marketing-strategy/
 https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/in
tegrated-marketing-communications-from-media-channels-
to-digita-2
 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1398
982
 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1992
936
 https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13527260902757
506?scroll=top&needAccess=true
 https://spinsucks.com/marketing/online-and-offline-
marketing-strategies/