Despite what skeptics may think, there is a very real return on investment for offline businesses that are spending marketing dollars on online marketing.
A big part of what's driving that success?
Social media.
Businesses that are leveraging the Internet to extend their reach and engage with their online audience are beginning to see some nice boosts in their bottom lines according to this infographic from KISSmetrics. They've done the research and have some case studies that back up their findings. This reinforces the fact that offline businesses CAN profit from online marketing strategies when they're well thought out and implemented properly.
One of the things I found interesting about this infographic was how a food cart in San Francisco used Twitter to communicate with the locals to let them know where they were going to be located and when. They now have a Twitter following of over 12,000 followers. This also resulted in over 224 Yelp reviews and a 4.5 star rating.
I also really like the example of how a new dentist office used Groupon to attract 320 new patients in a very short period of time. Although there's very mixed opinions about using Deal sites like Groupon and Living Social, I think if it's well planned and done right, it can be an incredible way to attract new clients and customers.
The other point that is driven home is the necessity of having a good search engine optimization strategy in place. Over 20% of the searches on Google are location specific. That means people looking for terms like "Edmonton chiropractor" or "chinese restaurant in Edmonton".
Creating a successful online marketing or inbound marketing strategy for your business involves 4 major components: social media marketing, search engine optimization, blogging and a solid content strategy. This infographic does a great job of showing the impact that online marketing can make for offline, bricks and mortar businesses.
