Old-School Marketing Tactics That Still Work Today

by Business Published on: 05 February 2021 Last Updated on: 17 September 2024

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In the age of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, marketing your business or product requires even more creativity.  

From paying small-time influencers for an Instagram post or a shoutout on their story to writing quick and witty Facebook advertisements, there is a whole new world of marketing to take advantage of. 

But sometimes, going old school is just as effective as new-age marketing tactics. You may even stand out from your competition if you revert to old school marketing tactics because you’ll be doing something different. 

These are the classic marketing tactics you can still use to promote your business or product today. 

Direct Mail Marketing

David Ogilvy, the king of direct response marketing, would be horrified if he learned that direct mail marketing has taken a seat on the back burner in the 21st century. 

The post office is still in service, and people check their physical mailboxes. Using direct mail marketing may work even better than before because people aren’t used to receiving items in the mail anymore. 

It’s a great chance to send your target market a sample, personalized brochures, or classic sales letters. 

Branded Promotional Items

People should be proud to show off your brand, especially when they receive free promotional items.  

Whether it’s a valuable tote bag perfect for grocery shopping or a thumb drive to back up digital files, your customers will advertise your brand using the promotional items they gifted. 

Include these items as a bonus to their purchase or simply as a giveaway if they sign up for your emails or catalogs. Gifts go a long way in the eyes of a customer. 

Billboard Space

There are still a lot of cars on the roads, which means billboard advertising isn’t dead just yet. Imagine how many thousands of people you can reach on an interstate highway. 

Maybe a billboard isn’t your cup of tea, though. Instead, buy some advertising space at an entertainment or sporting event. You can target your customers even better with the help of sports market research to see which events your customers are likely to attend. 

Coupons

Who doesn’t like getting a good deal? Offering coupons to your customers is a classic marketing tactic that will always be effective. Whether you offer a coupon when a customer subscribes to your newsletter or send it in the mail as part of your direct mail marketing, it will always be appreciated. 

Product Demonstrations

There is no better way to prove that your product is practical and valuable than demonstrating it to an audience. The best way to do this is in front of a live audience. This works best for cleaning products, food, and kitchen appliances and utensils. 

Set up a booth in a store that carries your product or at a trade show and demonstrate how to use it in front of your potential customers. This gives them a chance to see the product in person and ask your sales rep specific questions before they purchase it.

Modern Marketing Technique You Must Also Know

Even though old school marketing tactics still hold up well to today’s standards, they are not enough. The aforementioned techniques can help you reach customers forever. However, today’s world is all about intimate marketing.  

This variant of marketing makes sure that your marketing endeavors reach the right audience. Therefore, this is called intimate marketing.  

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the newest and most effective means of marketing. This is primarily because using social media is free. This feature has catapulted the phenomena to a different level. 

As a marketer, you can reach your audience from anywhere in the world.  This makes it an effective means of marketing. Therefore, social media marketing is an intrusive means of marketing that goes to the audience actively.  

Email Marketing

Another means of intrusive marketing is email marketing. Unlike social media, this is not an in-your-face kind of marketing. This form of marketing collects data like the audience’s email.  Subsequently, uses that data in order to reach out to the audience. 

This form of marketing has a vast scope for engagement and can really help marketers in each audience. However, the overall bounce rate of these emails is also high. As a result, this form of marketing is adequate but not as effective as social media marketing.  

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing has had a bad rep for a long time now. The whole system is touted as a make-believe system that ‘wantrepreneurs’ have created. However, this is not the case.  

Regardless of the optics, affiliate marketing is actually helpful and really helps people make money. Affiliate marketers are often seen as annoying, but they do drive a massive force ahead. As per studies, affiliate marketing is the best marketing strategy for introducing newer products.  

Internet Ads

Advertisement has always been one of the most prominent forms of marketing. However, the dawn of the internet has changed the rules of advertising. According to studies, people currently consume more internet content than cable TV content. 

As a result, this form of advertisement primarily focuses on internet content.  These advertisements are best suited for the Internet format. This is why these advertisements have a sense of intractability.  

Product Placement

Finally, the most common and helpful means of marketing is strategic product placement. This is a great way to market the product and keep the audience engaged. A well-placed product can genuinely help a brand to get ahead. 

This is why more and more brands are making their way into this foray. Brands are paying content creators and media houses to strategically place their products in these creator’s work.  

The Final Thought

In summation, these were some of the new as well as old school marketing strategies that you can follow if you are looking to expand your business to newer heights.  

However, you want to remember that marketing is a nuanced business. Therefore, you might want to mix and match in order to get the best results for your business. Keep following our company for more such content.

Additional Reading:

Ariana Smith is a blogger who loves to write about anything that is related to business and marketing, She also has interest in entrepreneurship & Digital marketing world including social media & advertising.

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