Has anyone had any success with purchasing lists for mailing out brochures for targeted markets. I have been in the web business for about 8 years and wondering what offline marketing options work well for advertising web design/development. Thanks!
I did this once for a local website I ran. It didn't work out. What I did learn however is that the community I did this website for was quite poor, and many of them did not have the internet, or at least a fast enough connection to view the site as it was mainly videos of community events. I may have seen different results if I knew this ahead of time.
It always depends on the product that you are promoting. I had some good experiences with mailing lists in the past but you have to be very careful. Hope it's useful. Cheers!
Newspapers is a nice offline promotion methods..well, I think the niche you are considering to promote is very hard to promote through offline methods. It will depend on which country and area you live in... You can consider dropping pamphlet at various good offices that could consider using your services.
Advertising web design and development services are best done online. Offline methods would simply be networking within the right environment. Have your business cards with you wherever you go.
Some stuff which has helped me offline is just telling people about my site. I run a cricket blog and forum which i put up a poster for at my club and told a few juniors about and now i have an active user base of 100+ in under a week who all know each other and post their opinions about things on the forum and have little debates. Everything in life is about who you know.
Locate local business and check if they have a website, how often it's updated, and who done the design, etc. Then call them, tell them about your company and what you can do to drive more business their way with your services. Remember in web design it's business you want to target, not individuals. If your area has a business to business bulletin or something like that , you can try to advertise in it or like JoesMillon says advertise in the . Using that phone book you can also get business fax and addy to send them a flyer.
I wouldnt use traditional forms of offline promotion like advertising on tv, radio or newspaper or local directories I would look at networking with local business clubs and chambers and linking up with other business you can cross promote e.g. a business consultant. Also look at newsletters and targetted mailings.
You waste your time if you want t advertise for web design and development offline. You should only advertise your business online.
We tried sending business cards and leaflets using a mailing list and I'd say we only got about 1% business out of it. I agree with JoesMillion advertising online is not the only option. We have spent alot of time and effort in handing out business cards and leaflets in key locations. It all depends on what your product is, in our case we advertise our stationary services in areas where there are lots of businesses. Its important to not just hand out material or send out an email that will only end up in someones junk mail, the key is engaging and talking to business owners or individual customers to understand their requirements, letting them know that its possible to create what they want and also that we are able to help them achieve their goals. I always prefer face to face unless you make your online marketing personal. Jenny