Online or Offline? Ever since we have ventured into digital marketing this is one of the most important questions we have faced. However, the simple fact is that it cannot be online OR offline marketing, it should be online AND offline marketing.

Let us first review the advantages of online marketing

• Market reach: As of 2016, India was the second largest online market in Asia-Pacific with more than 460 million internet users, ranked only behind China. Of the millions of internet users in India, 38 percent of those who use the internet at home or at work belong to the 25-34 age bracket, a percentage which was higher than any other age group surveyed. (Source www.statista.com) So, using online marketing you can definitely reach a bigger audience as compared to distributing pamphlets or putting up billboards.
• Quick changes/updates: Online advertising campaigns offer the advantage of constantly monitoring the impact of the campaign. Based on the statistics, you can modify the content, target audience or the budget of the campaign. This kind of flexibility and agility is not available with offline marketing.
• Social Media: Across India, there are 191 million users of social media and this number is only growing. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. offer a good platform to interact with your current and prospective customers. These interactions can provide great insights about how your product or service is perceived by the customer and also help you to accordingly tweak your marketing campaigns.
• Email Marketing: This can be utilised by a business of any size since the cost of running an email campaign is much less as compared to print ad, pamphlets or billboard. A compelling email can help businesses see the positive impact within a few hours of sending the email.

It's true that as human beings, the desire for a personal touch exists and offline marketing channels such as trade shows or presentations to the customer are essential. But complementing your offline efforts with online marketing can help your sales team generate quality leads and also build trust for your brand in customer's mind.
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