03 May Offline marketing is just a new name for PR
I’ve been hopping into the internet marketing forums to learn more about SEO for blogs lately. Suddenly I started seeing all these online gurus touting the benefits of making loads of money in “offline marketing”. Huh?
So get this…the online marketers are now claiming that folks can make “5 figures in one deal” in offline marketing. Offline marketing, as far as I can tell, is basic public relations. Get on the radio, get on TV as an expert, get mentioned in a newspaper….it’s PR, folks. It’s like calling it Spanx, instead of a girdle. Same old thing it just SOUNDS better.
One “how to” article touted the amazing idea of getting your website mentioned in a…wait, you’re going to love this…CHAMBER OF COMMERCE NEWSLETTER. Boy that’s innovative. In fact, econsultancy.com has an article that displays the shocking news that most people find out about online sites through traditional means. They also have a one-day class on “intro to offline marketing principles” in which you also learn how to pitch tv, radio and print…all in just one day. Lord help all those poor journalists who get deluged by a new group of savvy “offline” marketers.
Pardon my sarcasm, but this is just the kind of thing that gives us all a bad name. What these guys are claiming is easy is what many of us have spent years learning how to do – integrate our traditional marketing and media campaigns with a strong online foundation. Those of us who have worked on integrated campaigns know that it’s the combination of marketing techniques that really accelerates results. And believe me, PR is not the type of thing that can be done by some guy on his computer in the middle of the night. I’m not saying it’s always rocket science, but it does take some work and a bit of know-how. Here’s an example of one of the new “offline marketing pros”. Be careful, it’s hard to leave the site.
Please excuse me, I need to go back to DigitalPoint and learn how to be an internet marketing guru now. They say it’s really easy.