Chances are if you are a local business in the service industry you are engaging in offline marketing activities. Leaving flyers on people’s front porches, your business card in the windshield of the local supermarket, or a billboard on a busy highway are all great ways to spread the word about your business. But how do you track your efforts? And are these tactics enough to grow your business for the long term?
An often overlooked way to build your business in an offline to online strategy is more simple than you may think. But if you want to do it effectively all you need is a smartphone with a great quality camera and a knack for connecting with people through pictures and videos.
It’s pretty simple actually… take photos of your daily work, your routine and your lifestyle. Trust us, people will be interested more than you know! After collecting these photos add them to social media. Incorporate them into your online persona. If you are a local business it will be a memorable way for people to know exactly what you do and what your business is all about. This visual content will also be the basis of social media accounts for your business when you are ready to start one or start adding content to the ones you already own.
Here are a few offline to online social campaigns that we love.
- #viewfromtheoffice – The Window Dude, a Los Angeles-based window washer is awesome at incorporating his passion for washing windows into his social media footprint. He has a campaign he calls the “View from the Office” where he takes a photo looking at the views of the city or country or whatever. That way he protects the privacy of his customers while also showing the world the cool part of what he does – enjoying the views while he is hard at work. It’s a brilliant way to pull the two elements of his job together and leave a lasting impression to his friends, connections and local people in his town.
- A selfie in lieu of a tip – Recently a Chinese taxi driver decided that instead of a tip he wanted a selfie with people, and it led to an amazing reaction on social media. You may think “he’s crazy, that’s a lot of tips”. But you are the crazy one my friend! He is thinking big picture and it paid off. He is now one of the most famous taxi drivers in his town and has amassed over 30,000 selfies with passengers. People want to ride with this guy just for the chance to take a selfie with him. You could literally do this with any industry you want and it would be effective. Just give it a hashtag, give it some time to take off and give it a try!
There are so many ways you can market offline to effectively grow your business that it can be overwhelming and difficult to choose which direction to go. But the main idea is to just try something. Social media is an awesome and free way to spread the good news about your business. If you do have ideas share them with us! We love to brainstorm awesome marketing campaigns with our tribe! Email eschurtz@freshlime.com and let’s connect!