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Offline Marketing, Still Holding Its Ground in the 21st Century

by BeniR
offline marketing strategy

There’s no denying that sometimes the old gets pushed into the background in favor of something completely new. Fact number 2: in ninety percent of the cases, this occurs due to financial reasons. But should we entirely forget traditional and long-established practices? We will bring some well-founded arguments that the digital world advocates and marketers shouldn’t bury offline marketing in 2022!

Offline or outbound marketing implies non-digital or non-online methods to advertise a property for sale. We know that social media networks pretty much overpower the world nowadays. Golden rule: experienced local real estate agents can’t afford to post listings exclusively online (inbound marketing.) However, an effective marketing campaign for 2022 entails offline and online marketing strategies in the same measure.

Fundamental differences between the battling sides

Let’s see the essential differences between these two marketing types. Firstly, online marketing is way less expensive than its offline counterpart. Costs include the expanses of building a professional website featuring great interactivity, SEO settings, running blogs, email, and content marketing. Besides, you must launch ads, online classifieds, and commercials on numerous social media marketing platforms. For sure, these ads also can cost a lot of money.

Still, experts say offline marketing is way pricier. Banners, posters, TV and radio ads, newspaper classifieds, brochures, pamphlets, and flyers will make you reconsider your budget. How come, though, that so many listing agents and brokerages chose offline marketing and haven’t gone bankrupt yet?

And we arrived at our second major difference. Realtors opted for traditional advertisement because it reaches many potential buyers. In addition, offline marketing often targets an atypical clientele, namely those who didn’t even know they had wanted to purchase a home.

Printed press, published ads in newspapers, giant billboards, and TV commercials will create a powerful impression on the viewer. In psychological terms, people will regard a real estate agent appearing on such impressive offline marketing platforms as someone with authority and more established expertise.

Why is offline marketing still not done with us?

Traditional marketing has an impressive effect on people. Did you know that approximately 100 million people still bought catalogs worldwide last year? And they actually pick products, services, and real estate, as shown in those printed inventories. Investing in real estate brochures presenting high-resolution photos of properties available is also a winning idea!

Traditional marketing fills up downtime.

People have specific “dead time or downtime” periods at their disposal. The term describes their time waiting in lines while shopping, driving their car, or commuting to work. Many don’t go online and listen to the radio or read a newspaper. In fact, it’s a downtime they don’t spend actively engaged in a particular activity. And here’s where traditional marketing can get triumphant.

Frequently, newspaper ads, advertising boards, and radio advertisements can “plant the seeds” of an idea. And that’s how a notion or initiative is born, leading consumers to unconsciously purchase or sell a home. Still, a present idea can come to fruition only later. Moreover, those who experienced an advertisement will opt to work with the agent whose ads they have just seen. The sole downside of this technique is that it can be time-consuming and is not exactly cost-effective.

Offline marketing is excellent for targeting a unique niche.

The younger generation, Gen Z, and millennials need something flashy, bombastic, and genuinely out-of-the-ordinary to capture their attention. Additionally, their other characteristic is that they spend their free time and working hours on the internet, often oblivious to the outer world. Undoubtedly, housing agents should invest more in online marketing in their cases.

On the other hand, long-established and traditional marketing can be a profitable strategy to target the older generation that doesn’t spend their time glued to the screen. Several realtors chose the retired as a real estate niche because they accumulated practical and street-wise know-how to address them adequately. In other words, they learned how to speak their language.

Unbeknown to the latest technological achievements, senior citizens prefer the good old-fashioned face-to-face networking time to Facebook and Instagram ads. Besides, they will read real estate billboards and stop to inspect a lawn sign.

Too much online presence leads to weariness.

Have you ever gotten tired of spending too much time online? Hours and hours on a row in front of a computer can quickly burn you out. Some exhausted Internet users will assume a natural shield of psychological protection against anything that doesn’t fascinate them. So it happens with the online real estate ads. No matter how well-intentioned they get or how much daring creativity they display, online users will turn a cold shoulder toward them.

Once tired users decide to go offline, they’ll need communication in person. Also, the Covid restrictions damaged human interaction. People can now leave their homes and prefer the company of others. A specific demographic will always choose a more emphatic and plausible persuasion than detached interactions with a computer.

Impersonal ads vs. a friendly face in the neighborhood

Offline marketing has the psychological advantage of creating the impression of familiarity with the advertiser. Imagine the following scenario as an example of successful brand building. People go shopping every day. They notice a giant banner with a community real estate agent’s smiling face at their local store. In short, they become more familiar with the individual and recognize them even if they haven’t been introduced to each other. Moreover, this awareness might lead to nurturing a type of friendship unconsciously.

The next time the idea of buying or selling real estate crosses their mind, they will for sure turn to someone they “trust.” Consequently, offline marketing shows excellent potential for displaying your competence as an authority in the local real estate market. Besides, it can prove that you’re the community’s active and trustworthy member. And that’s what we call pure success!

On the other hand, online ads rarely can achieve such a degree of advanced trust.

Traditional marketing grants you a higher degree of independence.

Advertising online successfully presupposes certain restrictions and limitations, such as SEO-friendly content and thorough keyword research. These two ensure that search engines find your website and rank your content high on SERP (Search Engine Results Page.) Often, you take a well-known template and add your brand to it. In addition, you must rely on third-party tools for supplying your site with analytics.

However, offline marketing offers you more freedom and creativity in content and style. As a result, you can use virtually any image size, sign shape, or font. As long as your ad doesn’t include profanity or harmful material, you can conceive your own scripts, for example, your TV commercials and radio announcements. Ultimately, you can set your imaginative mind free.

Conclusion

As we previously pointed out, there are too many advantages to offline marketing to write it off. Though it requires a more substantial budget, time-honored marketing still rocks since it reaches an extensive group of potential buyers. Thus, it plays an integral part in creating brand awareness and obtaining more leads.

Nevertheless, we recommend listing agents use a multi-channel marketing strategy. In other words, combine offline and online marketing tools cohesively to target and reach a larger audience. After all, the two advertisement types shouldn’t compete but strengthen each other. As a realtor, you can benefit from the perks of both sides and create a genuine real estate empire.

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