| Technological advances in business and marketing | | | | actual world, rather than making virtual connections |
| show no signs of stopping or slowing down. | | | | only. Though Facebook is clearly a massive online |
| Everything is online and if a product or service can't | | | | success, without the offline social graph, the website |
| be accessed on the internet then the assumption is | | | | is redundant. |
| that there is something wrong with that product or | | | | The following hypothetical example of a company's |
| service, rather than the medium. | | | | plan to have a stand at the Motor Show in the NEC |
| Perhaps in such progressive times it is easy to forget | | | | demonstrates the various ways to market and |
| that a good offline marketing strategy not only | | | | promote an event with online and offline integration |
| compliments what is online, but is necessary for its | | | | for an SME: |
| success. A combination of the traditional and the | | | | First on the event organiser's to-do list is creating an |
| modern is without doubt the best recipe for success, | | | | event on Linkedin, inviting contacts and updating their |
| no matter what the business. | | | | status accordingly. Then contacts will be exported |
| A case study of Facebook's early stages illustrates | | | | from Linkedin and an email sent to them along with |
| the importance of online and offline integration: | | | | other relevant contacts to encourage visits to the |
| Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg in his | | | | stand. |
| dorm room and originally called Facemash, later The | | | | So far this all happens online. |
| Facebook. The site was intended to be a means of | | | | But next the organiser sends out a press release to |
| establishing connections between students at Harvard | | | | industry journalists, writes an entry for the |
| University - previously students had been given a | | | | exhibition's programme and takes out advertising |
| book of photos to get to know one another, from | | | | space in specific and targeted publications. Also it is |
| which The Facebook took its inspiration. | | | | recommended for an organiser to call their key |
| Within twenty-four hours of The Facebook going live | | | | customers to let them know where they will be and |
| membership stood at 1500 students and after the | | | | at what time. |
| first month over half of Harvard's undergraduate | | | | Then at the event, the combination of a strong and |
| student body was on The Facebook. Soon after its | | | | interesting stand, complete with sample products (if |
| initial success the site branched out to include more | | | | applicable), prize draw to attract interest, sponsorship |
| universities, then companies and schools, before | | | | of workshops and/or other material connected to |
| finally becoming what we know it as today. | | | | the event and face-to-face meetings will encourage |
| Facebook's offline advertising and marketing was | | | | potential customers to give their contact details. Not |
| hugely impacted by word of mouth. But it wasn't | | | | to mention keeping existing customers interested and |
| only people talking that transformed the site from a | | | | excited. |
| college network into a business worth over $15billion. | | | | When the organiser is back in the office they make |
| Student centred events were advertised online and | | | | their follow up calls and add the contacts they made |
| held offline, so maintaining a real-world presence for a | | | | at the exhibition to their email address book, make |
| distinctly online organisation. | | | | more contacts on Linkedin and make sure new and |
| In recent years the online/offline integration has | | | | old customers alike are being kept up-to-date online. |
| continued for Facebook as several companies use | | | | By integrating offline and online like this you get more |
| television advertising to promote their Facebook | | | | bites at the cherry. |
| pages (Smirnoff and Lynx are two familiar examples). | | | | You will get more opportunities to be seen on |
| Facebook is relevant to the concept of integration | | | | different days and times by different people and |
| because without the offline structure already sat in | | | | customer segments of your market. Also always be |
| place and supplemented by events and discussion, | | | | aware that not everybody in the business world |
| the online company would not exist. For Facebook | | | | checks Linkedin updates and messages regularly. As |
| the website depends on the offline community, what | | | | research shows, the larger the company, the smaller |
| Zuckerberg calls 'the social graph.' This is one of the | | | | the current strategy for social media, although it is an |
| central aspects of online and offline integration with | | | | expanding platform. |
| regards to marketing: one cannot exist without the | | | | The traditional forms of marketing that establish |
| other and, to put it simply, the whole offer is more | | | | person-to-person connections via engaging dialogue |
| than the sum of its parts. | | | | and meetings are so important that if they are |
| Unfortunately it is easy to fall into the trap of | | | | effectively handled, any online work will be made |
| thinking of marketing in terms of online and offline, as | | | | much easier in virtue of them. So the offline is just |
| if they are two separate entities. To do so in any | | | | as important as the online, and by integrating the |
| business is akin to Facebook forgetting that their goal | | | | two and remembering how one relies the other, a |
| is to establish connections between people in the | | | | marketing plan has a great chance of success. |