Obviously, there was no such thing as "online marketing" in the 17th century (probably due to
incredibly low bandwidth), but you can still learn something from marketing methods in that time period...specifically the town crier.
When someone takes their business online, and especially if they have an online-only business, the impulse is to promote it online. That's an effective idea, but there's something you may be forgetting about your customers.
They're not "traffic", "hits" or "vistors"...they're
people. Your goal isn't to get more "traffic" to your website, it's to get more
people to your website. And that's who you need to market to...people,
wherever they are.
Here's a question...how many ways have you tried to drive traffic to your website
that don't involve the internet in the last six months? If you answered "Ummmmm....none?", then you're literally selling yourself short.
There's a reason eBay spends millions of dollars on print and broadcast ads...they want to reach
everyone. I'm not saying you should go ahead and place you bid for a slot in next year's Superbowl broadcast, but there are some simple methods you can use to promote your online business offline, which brings us back to the town crier.
Town criers were, for a long time, the best way to get a message out to everyone in a community...they were one of the first "broadcast advertising" methods. And today, word-of-mouth is still an incredibly effective way to advertise.
Use it!
Tell your friends, your relatives, your acquaintances...heck, tell the guy you're standing in line with at the theater. Have business cards on hand to help direct people to your website, and scatter them around like confetti. Hang fliers in high-traffic areas. Heck, hire a skywriter. It doesn't matter
what method you use, it only matters that you
do it.
Don't get caught up in thinking only in terms of online marketing for your online business. There are potential customers around you every day...who knows how many of them might never find you unless you tell them in person?
I'd love to hear what offline methods you use to market your online business...share them below!
