Looking at doing some tailored marketing towards Tradies for my virtual PA services. Any low-cost ideas? I think I need to go 'old school' with a bit of offline marketing as SEO and social media isn't right for this target. I've joined some local networking groups to get the word out there and have designed some pricing packages specific for this niche that I am ready to go to market with.

Despite what the SEO people say, and based on gut feel rather than fact, I tend to agree with you that large parts of this market may be behind the curve in openness to 'digital' generally. Then again, if you're trying to be a virtual assistant via online, those laggers may be quite resistant to your service offering anyway! My online approach would be to tackle them where they are being most driven to online, so where they are competing on quote sites and where they are buying supplies online. Some ideas would be: 1. If you're getting leads from a directory or Yellow pages or something, do a small test of email versus snail mail. At least 100 of each though. Then decide which, if either, work for you. 2. If you google 'tradesman quote' or something like it, you'll get a load of sites like servicecentral / 1300alltrades / find-a-plumber / etc. Try contacting them and see if they'll give you access to their database, either directly or through them. They might want to charge or they might be willing to do it on a cost per acquisition basis If you can set it up so what they are sending is a 'special offer just for members of xyz site' then you can sell it to them as a benefit for their customers and building their profile. Or maybe you can put an ad on the bottom of every 'request for quote' notification email they send out for a month or so? 3. Try the same thing any association for a specific trade. You may find you need to have some clients in the trade to get any traction though. Or try someone who is selling to tradespeople already and offer them a cut. Bunnings and other hardware stores, air conditioning suppliers, white goods spare parts suppliers... 4. I'm not an expert, but I understand tradies often contract and subcontract, so should have good networks with others across various trades. If / once you have a few clients, a referral programme could work really well (eg 'for every new customer you refer to me who signs up, I'll give you two hours free') 5. Also as soon as you can, get a couple of tradie recommendations / testimonials so they can see that others like them are using you and finding value.

You come up with a brilliant idea for a campaign for a large public company. Something they're not *asking* or advertising for. But something you're pretty sure they'd engage you to work on for them, if you could just get the idea in front of the eyes and ears of the right person within the company. You put together a pitch proposal. How do you proceed next? How do you approach a potential new client with a pitch? Who within an organisation or company do you target, and what is the etiquette surrounding pitching an unsolicited idea, politely and respectfully, but with confidence?

Hi Kealey Actually, you might be surprised how often companies get pitched new creative ideas. More often than not, big businesses have a policy on unsolicited ideas. Just ring up their Communications Dept and ask. You might also be surprised how seldom an idea gets implemented as a result of a cold call. No-one, but no-one will spend money on a solution for which there is no problem. So what's so different about an ad agency pitching for an account, you ask? See above. There MUST be a perceived need on behalf of someone within the client organisation for the pitch to be invited. Of course, that may simply come down to knowing someone who knows someone, but that's what personal networks/social media connections are for. You won't get in the door unless you have a willing audience. Find out which people within the organisation are those with either 1. a vested interest in improving their own standing in the eyes of their superiors, or 2. their superiors. Those in decision-making positions. Then engineer a chance meeting across a crowded cocktail bar... But please bear in mind: an idea by itself isn't worth much. An idea put into action, tested, and proven is worth a lot. The truth is that creative in and of itself has little value in most cases. Implementation is what counts. You have to prove that the concept works first and show the ROI in order to get it developed and refined. That's why the ad agency wins the account based on what seems like simply showing a bunch of pretty pictures. They actually win based on their capability to implement the idea. I'd be interested in what other Savvies like David Price and Anne Miles have to say on "how to win pitches." Here's a link to a very good book which might save you a lot of time and trouble dealing with this subject in future: http://www.winwithoutpitching.com/manifesto

Offline and Direct Marketing in 2021

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Can anyone recommend techniques for effective marketing to tradies?

Looking at doing some tailored marketing towards Tradies for my virtual PA services. Any low-cost ideas? I think I need to go 'old school' with a bit of offline marketing as SEO and social media...

9.88K views

Rob Jennings, Director at We Push Buttons

Tradies are on their phones all day long. Whether it is answering phone calls, booking a sub contractor, finding prices on materials and all the rest. So concentrating SEO efforts (or Adwords) on local geographical specific mobile search means you aren't wasting time and money.

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Prince Kapoor posted a new article about Offline and Direct Marketing

Offline and Direct Marketing

7 Offline Marketing Strategies That Your Online Brand Must Adopt

Your marketing strategy is incomplete without incorporating offline strategies. Networking, speaking engagements and trade shows are old-school tactics that still work brilliantly. Print media is...

661 views

Narine Poghosyan commented on this article

Offline and Direct Marketing

Someone Said Old School Marketing Is No Good? Total Lie

Newest trends in marketing have taken over the old school and experts often give up the outdated and obsolete marketing methods, trying to concentrate on up-to-date marketing toolboxes.These...

901 views

Narine Poghosyan, Community Manager at SavvySME

Top 10% App Development Get quote

I agree with Tom we need balancing the old and the new for the best result.

Narine Poghosyan added an answer to this question

Offline and Direct Marketing

Do you utilise letter drops for professional services?

I was just wondering if you've found success with them. I'm not talking millions here, just if they generated much interest?

739 views

Narine Poghosyan, Community Manager at SavvySME

Top 10% App Development Get quote

I have used several services including Elastic Email, Mailchimp, SendInBlue, Mailshake, and Hubspot.
If you want to generate much interest there are several key points to remember before choosing sending automated emails.

Get personal, use their first name when contacting
Choose an interesting subject line
Write the message as short as possible
Follow-up to them

In case you want to get more options to understand who are your subscribers, I would suggest using Hubspot.

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When is traditional marketing better than online marketing?

What are the common factors that make traditional marketing such as print advertising, direct mail, telemarketing a better choice than online marketing?

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Beau Ushay, Owned Media & Marketing Specialist at Ushay Consulting Group

Top 10% Social Media

The key is to not think of them as disparate practices. The words 'online', 'digital' or 'traditional' are redundant if you're focused on the meaning of the operative part of the practice - marketing.

Focus on finding who your best customers are, why they buy and why they should buy from you. Once you have a clear idea of the answers to these questions, you'll be well placed to start looking for where they spend their time and how you can influence their behaviour.

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Brian Dorricott added an answer to this question

Offline and Direct Marketing

How do you pitch a creative idea to a client?

You come up with a brilliant idea for a campaign for a large public company. Something they're not *asking* or advertising for. But something you're pretty sure they'd engage you to work on for them,...

1.78K views

Brian Dorricott, Business Specialist at Meteorical

Top 10% Startup

Before you even start putting your pitch together, take a look at the potential client and see what they are doing. By understanding what is driving them to do what they are doing you can put together the pitch to nail the problem they have. Only if this nails the problem would I suggest you go to the effort of creating the solution.

Saves $100K and lots of time.

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Richard Forrest posted a new article about Offline and Direct Marketing

Offline and Direct Marketing

Telemarketing for Sales Success

We are often asked how many telemarketing calls our call centre agents make in a day/week/month. Here's the answer! Let's talk about the magic formula behind making a telemarketing success. Is...

710 views

Francesca Peskops posted a new article about Offline and Direct Marketing

Offline and Direct Marketing

4 Tips for Organising Big Launch Events with Small Price Tags

Your product launching event can be just as a grand as a corporation's by following these four tips, the first of which is setting the right scene for your launch. By hosting a launch, you're...

2.16K views

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What is Offline and Direct Marketing?

As online marketing has grown, marketers have come to term traditional and direct marketing as ‘offline marketing’. This term captures all marketing techniques which do not utilise the internet as a platform. Offline marketing is a broad field made up of a number of different strategies and channels and it requires the combined input of many different specialists, from designers, to writers, to printers, media outlets and distributors. Market research is typically the first part of this process and direct marketing can be used to gather data to further this end.

What is offline marketing?

Offline marketing strategies utilize offline media channels to reach an audience and attract customers. These campaigns can include any number of the following:

Television
Radio
Signs
Promotions
Brochures
Flyers
Banners
Newspapers
Pamphlets
Posters
Direct marketing

What are the benefits of offline marketing?

Offline marketing is one of the best ways to reach local audiences. While the costs can be higher per reader than online marketing, the audience is clearly targeted. In many cases, businesses can plug into an established platform like a state or national newspaper or radio station, which puts them alongside their competitors and gives them credibility.

Offline marketing is also the only way to reach people during certain parts of the day. If marketers want to communicate with commuters, the only real option is standard radio advertising. Similarly, local businesses can generate interest right around their premises by using signs or communicate with people while they read their day’s news through the paper.

What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing revolves around reaching out to the audience individually to communicate with them in a more personal way. There are multiple channels to conduct direct marketing through, which includes:

Mail
E-mail
Phone
In person

Direct marketing is distinguished from other forms of marketing, because the audience can respond immediately - whether it is by sharing their opinion over the phone, telling a door-to-door salesman or replying to an email.

What are the benefits of direct marketing?

Direct marketing produces an immediate response and therefore it’s a fantastic way to get immediate feedback on the marketing messages a business puts out. This makes measuring marketing success easier and contributes to the effectiveness of later marketing efforts. By speaking to their audience one-on-one marketers can be more personal and work to address individual concerns. Direct marketing efforts also give marketers more space, as they are not sharing their advertising platform with other businesses. This makes it ideal for longer sales messages.

The final benefit of direct marketing is the ability to catch qualified contact details for future marketing. By establishing which individuals are open to receiving further communications, companies can build a database of qualified prospects who will be receptive to new offers.

What professionals are involved in offline and direct marketing?

Because there are many different forms of offline and direct marketing, there are many different professionals who go into producing the material. They are not all necessary for every form, but they include:

Copywriters
Graphic designers
Printers
Media booking agents
Mail distributors
Market researchers
Radio producers
Filmmakers

Offline and Direct Marketing

Can anyone recommend techniques for effective marketing to tradies?

7 Offline Marketing Strategies That Your Online Brand Must Adopt

Someone Said Old School Marketing Is No Good? Total Lie

Do you utilise letter drops for professional services?

When is traditional marketing better than online marketing?

How do you pitch a creative idea to a client?

Telemarketing for Sales Success

4 Tips for Organising Big Launch Events with Small Price Tags

What is Offline and Direct Marketing?

What is offline marketing?

What are the benefits of offline marketing?

What is direct marketing?

What are the benefits of direct marketing?

What professionals are involved in offline and direct marketing?

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