Traditional Methods of Marketing

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal ran an article about businesses stopping direct mail campaigns due to budget concerns amid the recession. (See Article Here in New Window) This is just another reminder that sometimes you have to spend money to make money. And sometimes it is the traditional methods that work the best.

I am not suggesting that you unnecessarily spend money for the sake of spending money. You do have to be smart about it. But even in today's economy, with microscopic budgets in every aspect of the company, you still have to get the word out to your customers and potential customers. Your business is not a field of dreams, and the customers will not come because "you built it."

For small businesses, particularly in service industries, you are often selling yourself. This means that you have to do what politicians call "pressing the flesh." You have to network and meet people. Not everything can be done with social media interactions. Attending a live, in-person event can be the best thing that ever happened to your business.

For all businesses, whether providing a service or a good, traditional methods of marketing, like the direct mail campaigns mentioned in the WSJ article, are still viable methods in today's economy. You still see real agents putting out signs in front yards. You still see insurance agents giving out pens with their names and phone numbers on them. Why? Because these are tried and true methods that get their names in front of their potential customers.

Don't forget that you have to market offline as well as online.