Taking it OFFLINE

No, I’m not going on another Facebook sabbatical.  For right now, one was plenty for me.  (lucky you, eh?)

I’m referring to one of the often discussed goals of social media marketing – getting Face to Face.

For the local small business, that’s getting people into the store.  For the real estate agent, that’s getting people into your office or car.  For a business like mine, that’s meeting them in their store or office.

I’m virtual and although I work on an international basis – I LOVE to work locally.  Recently I built three sites for local brick and mortar styled businesses and two for local agents.  BTW:  I love the polar opposites of the first two.

The DejaVu Boutique – a high end women’s consignment shop.  Prada, yes PRADA!

Tidal Marine – Hardcore construction diving stuff.  Remember the movie The Abyss?  Almost like that!

Senor Burbujas Laundromat - a brand new state of the art laundromat.

Walnut Creek Lifestyle – Kristin Lanham’s views of living the Walnut Creek Lifestyle

Dayna Wilson – Dayna is the Downsizing Diva!  Specializing in the needs of seniors.

But here’s the thing…

Four out of Five of these were the result of taking it offline, getting face to face with people.  (Senor Burbujas actually did a Google search for local web developers and I was the #1 that showed up).  For me – these results came from direct referrals from my local connections.  The path for each was similar but slightly different.  For instance, the referral for the Boutique came from my neighbor.  He’s a DJ.  I built a site for him, he was very happy and in his BNI group he recommended my services.  She called, we met over coffee and viola!

The Path Is The Thing

Paying it forward, I ponder how each of theses would “take it offline” to increase their business.

For the Boutique, they’ve already had wine and cheese parties.  We’ve discussed other options like supplying and sponsoring a fashion show.  Obviously the professional woman would be a great demographic for them to get F2F with, I suggested the local real estate marketing meeting as well.

Although they are a brick and mortar place, the Divers don’t sell to the public.  Large corporate and government contracts are their game.   Their networking needs to happen at conferences and trade shows.  Their site and the content legitimizes their business proposition.

The Laundromat is in a large latino community.  There are other laundromats close by.  They set themselves apart by having the largest and newest machines in town.  They are also going after the upscale community with a wash and fold service.  I could see them sponsoring local events and demos.

When it comes to both real estate sites – they both focus on the lifestyle but each in a different niche.  Kristin is very active in the growing family side of living in Walnut Creek.  She attends quite a few local events (F2F) and writes about local (LIKE THIS).   Dayna also attends and speaks at local events but does so with a slant on the local senor (LIKE THIS).

The moral of the story – the point of this post is this.  Getting to that F2F thing is the goal but the path travelled for each is going to be different.  Different demographics, different audiences and different styles.  Whatever your niche is, you’ll need to find your own path to get in front of those people.

Speaking of which – what is your path?  How do you do it?