Is offline advertising dead due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
After seeing the situation worsening this year, we’ve asked ourselves: offline advertising is dead or not since we have a global crisis with covid-19. Read more about our vision in this blog post, where we take a look at brick and mortar stores—one of the industries which were hit the hardest in the pandemic. And make up your mind about offline advertising versus online advertising. Or is it “and” instead of “versus?”
What the pandemic caused so far
The year 2020 was quite difficult so far for many of us. With the COVID-19 pandemic as the main challenge for many businesses, we also have seen global changes in the digital world. The shift from offline to online advertising got a rapid boost due to these challenges and difficult circumstances.
But is offline advertising dead? We can not clearly say yes, but we see trends that audiences are even more on the well known social media platforms. And for many businesses, it’s not an ignorable fact at all. But offline advertising is still an existing alternative and might be still very important for some types of companies. For example, a brick and mortar store in a smaller city. If you reach your target audience via local advertising, let’s say a small newspaper or magazine, it’s still acceptable and essential to stick to this alternative.
Adapting your marketing strategy necessary?
And if you want to reach new clients in a broader radius as a local store? Online advertising via social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, etc.) or on the Google platform are tools that can help many businesses accomplish this. But this also means a tremendous shift in your marketing strategy. At least if there is one. How do you handle the social media channels organically? On which platform is your target group? All these questions need an answer in an adapted marketing strategy for your business.
But is this the only thing you need to do? How become more digital with a business in the long term? And what about the marketing strategy? With Skyfion, we are focussing on automotive & mobility with our services. And also, in this industry, we see this trend ongoing. Brands need to adapt their appearance and overthink how to reach the right target group even more. It’s getting noisier out there on social media. So a brand needs a great voice.
E-Commerce related to offline advertising
The other side of the story is that brick and mortar stores have to keep their doors closed due to lockdowns. And these lockdowns forced a move to e-commerce for a lot of brick and mortar stores with, for example, Shopify. Entrepreneurs who kept denying this would lose against their competitors. And e-commerce is closely going together with online advertising rather than offline advertising. A lot of Instagram or Facebook ads are about e-commerce companies and online shops. But makes this offline advertising dead? In the end-conclusion, we give you the final answer to this.
The Conclusion of the situation and the future
Online advertising is the future, for sure. Things like voice advertising are coming if we look at Alexa or Siri. The algorithms that recommend consumers products or services is an example that makes digital marketing indispensable for almost all businesses in the future. But it’s already here; the online advertising must.
That’s why we believe that if a business relied on offline advertising only, online advertising is a great combination. Why not using both (if the budget is there). Probably to reduce the offline ad spend and invest this in online advertising.
To help you prepare for the online advertising offensive, we created a free workshop. Here you can take the first steps in transforming your business into the digital world of marketing. Just sign up to request a seat.
