Sometimes the old school, tried-and-tested methods can still be just the ticket when it comes to generating new business. Whether it’s traditional promotional materials, such as business cards or flyers, or whether it’s simply word-of-mouth, the conventional methods have great strengths, and are often still the benchmarks for modern marketing technologies. So which of the traditional methods are still useful for generating new business?
Directories
It’s worth noting that not all of the old techniques for marketing your company will work as well today as they may have done in the past. For example, listing your business in a local directory such as Thomsonlocal, or the local paper, has been shown to have less and less of an impact. Even businesses that have traditionally thrived on these methods, such as tradespeople, have seen declination in their acquisition of clients from these sources, with only an estimated 11% of their clients finding their businesses through these marketing routes.
Most of these local directories have, however, noticed this downward trend, and have switched to an online focus. Listing your business with an online directory is a great modern alternative to the traditional listing approach, and, as you can link your website and social media presence to these listings, you’ll be able to send potential clients exactly whether you want them.
Promotional Material
This tearable business card design designed by Advertising Agency, Leo Burnett in Dubai, shows how creative traditional marketing can be. It is still very much worthwhile investing in promotional materials, such as business cards, direct mail, press releases, flyers, pens, calendars, etc. If you’ve followed our previous two guides on responsive website design and social media, you may be asking whether there is any real need for flyers and posters. Whilst there are signs that most businesses are decreasing spend on passive offline content, there is still little doubt that a hand-shake and an impressive business card can have much more impact on generating sales than a great deal of online marketing.
With modern printing technology, business cards and flyers have progressed far beyond the boundaries of simple rectangles. With more interesting and engaging designs, potential clients are consistently impressed, and often share these designs online, bring your business more clients.
Ensure that you always include all of your contact details, and your online details, such as your website address and social media links. This will increase traffic to your online presence, which will be full of your current work for potential clients to view.
Word-of-Mouth
For all the online marketing, content creation, business cards designs and social media posting, word-of-mouth relationships with clients and other businesses is still arguably the most powerful way to generate new business. It’s quick, free, and, for better or worse, relies on your ability to work well.
Gaining clients from social media or from an online directory is a useful starting point, but if these working relationships can be maintained, and you can form a network of local contacts, you’ll likely see a rise in the amount of high quality work coming your way.
Your Opinion
What do you think about traditional marketing? Do you think it still has a place in today’s business world? Would you still invest in a billboard, or cinema ad, campaign? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
