You’ve likely heard about all the benefits of focusing your marketing energy, time, and money on online strategies. And for good reason – there are countless benefits to online marketing when it comes to reaching more people and tapping into new markets. Here’s Hubspot with a ton of statistics backing that up.
However, those numbers don’t take away from the fact that offline engagement is still as effective, if not more, now. The trick is to balance your efforts between these two major marketing platforms.
One of the best uses of offline strategies is to connect with your existing clientele in the form of loyalty programs. There’s just something about tangibles that make them more personal, particularly in the digital age.
To give you some ideas, here are a few offline customer loyalty programs you may want to try out.
Actual Punch Cards
The idea here is to have a card that has a certain amount of holes to be punched. Of course, they don’t really have to be holes. Most businesses just use blanks that employees would put a stamp on every time customers purchase a certain item or spend up to a certain amount. This can be done digitally, using a mobile app, but like what was mentioned above, there is something that people get inherently attached to when it’s tangible. Plus, printing out punch cards takes significantly less time and uses up fewer resources. If you’re on a budget and looking for a way to get repeat customs, punch cards may be for you.
Special Rewards Delivery
Packages are always something special. When people get packages, there’s automatic excitement and curiosity that builds up the anticipation until they open it. This is what you’re going for with the special rewards delivery program. Make a list of all your top customers and come up with an excellent gift to be sent via mail. The more surprised they are, the better. Yes, it would be nice to get something in your email telling you you’ve earned a free product or a complimentary t-shirt that they can redeem in-store, but wouldn’t it be way nicer to get the item at your door immediately? It’s unexpected but very welcome. And if you are sending apparel or small items, try using custom poly mailers to make it more special.
Event Marketing
If you have a brick and mortar store or an office, you can hold events there. People are drawn to exciting and fun activities. These events don’t even have to be that much in line with your products or services. The important thing here is to make sure your event appeals to your target audience.
If you don’t have your own space, you can join local events and conventions. This is a great way to connect with people and form potential partnerships with other businesses. It’s also a good platform to get your business’s name out there. You can even give out your punch cards here.
Actual Coupons
This is a classic for a reason. Coupons that people can actually touch has more pull than digital ones. In fact, according to Mandlik and Rhodes, even as digital coupons rise in popularity, print coupons still represent 44 of the coupon market. And it’s also been found to have a higher ROI than its digital alternative.
Try one or all of these offline customer loyalty programs and see an increase in repeat customers.
