Innovative uses of QR codes can help you blend your traditional and digital marketing efforts.

By Emma Miller

Digital marketing is an effective tool that can govern your marketing strategy. After all, we live in a digitized world, and $60 billion were spent on digital advertising in 2015, according to eMarketer. No matter how large or small, brands and companies are thinking about how they should allocate their marketing budgets. The key lies in the combination of digital and traditional marketing techniques, because choosing between investing in the former or the latter is one of the biggest mistakes a brand can make. Both of these marketing directions create a brand image.

The message that your company conveys needs to be delivered to your audience through different mediums. If you manage to reach them through multiple channels, you can convert them more quickly while at the same time reinforcing the impact of your messaging.

#1 Events

Events are still one of the best and most effective ways for engaging people. By hosting an event, you can attract more people, which is especially true for pubs, bars, and local businesses that can rely heavily on event marketing. For example, a local pub owner can have a great band or live music act performing on stage and it will get people excited more than a Facebook promotion or a meme. However, social media marketing can be used for getting the word out about the next event.

#2 QR codes

If you want to successfully bridge your digital and traditional marketing strategies, using a QR code can help you. QR codes can be used in your marketing efforts in a number of ways, while the most popular option is offering discounts. Sharing them for a special promotion on your Facebook page or website, for example, will enable your customers to use those QR codes to get special discounts at your brick-and-mortar stores. Give away promotional products to show appreciation along with every purchase – anything from a pen, cap, T-shirt to USB sticks or coffee mugs. Whatever it is, it should have your brand’s logo printed on it.

#3 Cross-device marketing

Cross-device marketing includes, for example, interacting with customers who use their mobile or desktop devices while watching television. It can be a powerful way to boost engagement and conversions, according to a Google study that says that a boost of 16% can be reached by using this type of marketing.

#4 Market research with social media

One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing is having access to real-time information and big data. It enables you to track almost anything you want, and the information collected can be used for optimizing your campaign. What would any smart marketer do is incorporate the data collected through their online marketing campaign to improve and direct their offline marketing strategies.

The lynchpin of every marketing campaign is market research, because it provides you with the information about your potential customers, their personal interest, and what they are most interested in buying. Conduct polls on Facebook, your website, and other social media platforms to get to know more about your customers. Then, use the collected data to improve your traditional marketing efforts. Split test audience demographics, landing pages, ads and targeting options to find out which marketing messages and customers convert the best.

Creating a social media marketing campaign is also effective for encouraging customers to subscribe to your newsletter or selling products through your own online store (online conversion goals). The data you collect can be used for selecting mediums that suit your best-converting audience and for creating more effective print ads.

#5 Advertise your social media presence

First, savvy small business owners started including email addresses, websites, and social media info on their business cards. Now, they tend to find other different places to show their presence on social media. What are the best places to publish your social media information? You can promote your FourSquare, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter profile using flyers, business vehicles, and menus. Which platforms do your core customers use the most? It’s simple – find out and choose the ones they are using and advertise those social media profiles.

These are some tips to consider if you want to leverage your traditional marketing campaigns online, and vice versa. With your traditional marketing strategy, not enough can be learned due to limited data. Thus, using data from your digital marketing campaign as a foundation for your offline advertising efforts is a pretty logical step. Have an overall marketing strategy for both your digital and traditional marketing campaigns. Your message has to be consistent and strong to resonate with your target audience across multiple mediums.

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Emma Miller is a marketer and a writer from Sydney. Her focus are digital marketing, social media, start-ups and latest trends. She’s a contributor at Bizzmark blog.