Online web site promotion techniques such as search engine marketing and banner
advertising often take prominence when discussing methods of traffic building. But we
start with using offline communications to generate site visitors since it is one of the
most effective techniques to generate site traffic and the characteristics of offline media
are such (Figure 8.4) that they often have a higher impact and are more creative, which
can help explain the online value proposition. ‘Offline promotion’ refers to using com-
munications tools such as advertising and PR delivered by traditional media such as TV,
radio and print in order to direct visitors to an online presence.
Despite the range of opportunities for using new online communications tools, tradi-
tional communications using offline media such as TV, print and direct mail and others
shown in Figure 8.1 remain the dominant form of investment in marketing communica-
tions for most. As we will see in the section on the communications mix at the end of
this chapter, even organisations which transact a large proportion of their business
online continue to invest heavily in offline communications. Consider the travel sector
where both travel suppliers such as BA, Thomson and easyJet and intermediaries such as
Expedia and Opodo transact an increasing proportion of their sales online, but are still
reliant on offline communications to drive visitors to the web to transact.
When the web analytics data about referring visitors is assessed, for most companies
who are not online-only businesses, we find that over half the visitors are typically
marked as ‘No referrer’. This means that they visited the site direct by typing in the web
address into the address bar in response to awareness of the brand generated through
real-world communications (others may have bookmarked the site or clicked through
from a search engine).
So offline communications are effective at reaching an audience to encourage them to
visit a site, but are also useful as a way of having an impact or explaining a complex
proposition as Mini Case Study 8.4 shows.CHAPTER 8· INTERACTIVE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Offline promotion techniques
Offline promotion
Using traditional media
such as TV, radio and
print to direct visitors
to an online presence.
UK-based online dating company, Match.com has over 1.5 million members and in 2004 was responsi-
ble for 200,000 marriages around the world. Match.com and partner company uDate.com compete
against Yahoo! Personals, Dating Direct, traditional players and a host of smaller players. Given the
intense competition, Samantha Bedford, UK MD believes it is essential to invest in offline communica-
tions for continued growth. In Autumn 2005, Match.com spent over £3 million on a TV advertising
campaign since they wanted to generate brand awareness given that they estimate that by 2008 the
value of the online dating market will double. In addition to achieving reach and brand awareness, offline
advertising is important because it enables Match.com to communicate a fairly complex message to
potential customers. Focus groups showed that many singles felt they didn’t need an online dating serv-
ice and didn’t realise how Match.com could help as part of the overall dating experience.Source: New Media Age(2005a)Mini Case Study 8.4
Offline communications vital for finding the perfect
partner at Match.com