14 Ways That Offline and Online Marketing Are The Same
The same! I thought they were VERY different and you should use one or the other for your business. Well ....
In the early 1980s I was working on my doctorate in Special Education. A friend of mine was working on her Masters in Adult Education. We ha
d discussions regarding how children and adults learned. She (who had no experience teaching kids) held the accepted (at the time) opinion that adults and children learned differently. I said they learned the same way except adults have more experience and therefore have to "unlearn" some things.
At the time I co-owned an Apple computer dealership (one of the first in Toronto, Canada) and trained our customers in how to use computers. I had taught kids from 1972 to 1980 and those in special education from 1976 to 1980 so I had lots of "real life" experience.
Forward 25 years. It's 2012 and the belief NOW in Adult Education is that "adults and children learn the same way except adults have more experience and therefore have to "unlearn" some things." Hmmmm.
What if online marketing which many believe to be different than offline marketing ends up being the same? Interesting.
Here are fourteen ways offline and online marketing are the same.
- they both use advertisements
- they both use networking to get clients
- they both use articles
- they both use newsletters
- they both use books or booklets that you sell or give away
- they both use strategic partnerships
- they both use "free reports"
- they both use follow-ups with prospects and clients
- they both use direct response
- they both use promotional videos and audio products to promote
- they both use radio
- they both use free seminars and demos
- they both use publicity
- they both are about building relationships
Way back (ha! ha!) in 1983, Jay Conrad Levinson wrote about guerilla marketing and in 1985 a book that has become a bible for small business owners. It was called Guerrilla Marketing, 3rd Edition: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business. It's on its third edition now, is only available used and the term "Guerilla Marketing" has spawned a whole series of books that are still rolling out. Everything in that book still holds true today! The only difference is that with the invention of the internet and the widespread ownership and use of computers it's now easier and cheaper AND you can promote your business both locally and internationally.
So what's changed? Not the marketing activities themselves. What's different is just the method. Do you agree or disagree? Tell me.
Next time I'll write about how offline and online marketing are different. Watch this newsletter for that!
Keep learning, and until next time.
Trudy