Offline Marketing - Newspapers e.t.c

**Webguruwannabe** · 07-02-07

Hi,

Do any of you market your websites offline? My Mailing list is coming along but slowly.. and I wondered would it be worth the money advertising offline?

Anyone have any experience or collect any results from Newspaper or Magazine ads?

**drivetowin** · 07-02-07

Generally they are a waste of time, for a website you can get much more bang for your buck using Adwords than you can from magazine advertising.

Oh - and please lose the adsense banner from your signature - it's against forum rules.

**Webguruwannabe** · 08-02-07

Cheers. Oops.. saw a few with posts with adsense in them so put it in the message.. dont think i have put adsense in my signature cos basically dunno how - cant even get my url to show up lol.. newbie Sorry

**WillD** · 08-02-07

It really depends on what you are selling, your margin, your market etc.

However for a regular affiliate site with no hook or own product it would most likely be a waste of time.

**SimonDance** · 09-02-07

I would say offline is good for spreading the brand, but not really for direct sales. Saying that, it depends what media.. for example, fishersweekly might attract users to your fishing site, but a general street magazine, like Brighton's Source will probably yield a much smaller response. If any...

Webuser magazine on the other hand is very good, for webmasters etc... so if you are selling hosting or a good idea (for example) then you might get a lot of clicks from them.

Which takes me on to my next point. Have you submitted a press release/ products to them?

Also, check www.ebay.co.uk for advertising opportunities... you might be able to advertise on a stock car for about a fiver...

**SimonDance** · 09-02-07

Remember also that it is difficult to track the success of offline media, unless of course you us promo codes etc...

I have been advertising in a local street mag for the last 4 months, its cheap to do, but I havent got a clue on what users are organic and what are coming direct from the ad. The only thing I go on is the geographical location, but even that doesnt give me hard answers....

Hope this helps.

Si

**monk-i** · 09-02-07

I wouldnt write off offline advertising it depends what you are trying to achieve. If its a unique quirky brand which can stick in the mind go for it. Something generic I find has rarely worked in the past unless the actual logo/styling itself is spot on and outstanding. Can't be long niether.

Its good to get a logo out there though and in peoples faces so when it comes to them coming on your site in future they are far more comfortable to do business with you because they recall it. Often though I feel it takes deep pockets and its far more of an alongside thing to online advertising that is done in spurts. The benefits are really more for long term.

The main problem is tracking it.

Its different for all but its my 10 cents.

**RiskFree** · 09-02-07

Offline advertising is good but not directly for traffic. It works when trying to raise profile to a specific readership and increase confidence in that area.

Example, If you have a fashion website and you advertise/promote in Vogue, next time that vogue reader sees your ad online there is a greater chance of impact.

Re:Tracking. You can incorporate a short-code SMS into the ad requesting an email address: "find our more by texting your email address of 65651" for example.

However it is not suitable for everyone's budget and expertise to I suggest you advertise a website offline carefullt

**KatieKazimus** · 10-02-07

Hi there

I actually work full time in PR and run my website http://www.myguyonline.com in my spare time.

I launched late last year and given that I am brand new to affiliate marketing and online business I figured I'd try and promote the site the only way I knew how..by PR'ing it through my familiar channels in Shortlead Press ie: daily newspapers and weekly magazines see http://www.myguyonline.com/press.asp

Obviously this did not cost me anything financially but was achieved through already having the relationships with Journalists and therefore they were very supportive by way of 'mentions' and features. (Although there is nothing stopping you from contacting specific journalists with ideas and innovations for their columns or product pages if relevant...their email addesses are often on their aticles/pages and there always looking for new and interesting content.)

The result was a definite and rather large increase in traffic and great conversion rates, however it was the Christmas period and peak spend time for customers.

So yes offline PR can work and Katie Kazimus the charicature who features in her own column http://www.myguyonline.com/my_column.asp hopes to do a lot more at targeted times throughout the year as her numbers have now dropped again....considerably!

I have to say though that as an Offline PR I have had a lot of advice from someone in Online PR who says that in the Affiliate game, as a start up, the Online PR should be the main focus......

Good Luck!

Katie