Given my limited budget, is it pointless to advertise in newspapers, radio, etc when I’m an online-only business?

I’ve set up an online-based services business. I’m working hard on our SEO but am wondering if I should do any offline advertising. Given my limited budget, is it pointless to advertise in newspapers, radio, etc when I’m an online-only business?

With online marketing there is very little that remains unknown when you commit your marketing dollars.

The pros of offline marketing can be varied and IT can be an extremely effective in promoting online businesses. Online giants such as eBay and Google have built a fortune with a mix of offline and online marketing and advertising.

You only have to browse the business magazines at the newsagent to see flyers from Google that tell you go online to claim your offer.

I’m willing to bet that your market can be found congregating offline. All you have to do is find where your market spends their time, develop a way to reach them and then create a call to action to persuade them to go online and visit your service.

Online marketing is also an extremely powerful tool and offers analytics and accountability that offline marketing can only dream of.

With online marketing there is very little that remains unknown when you commit your marketing dollars.

You typically know how many people you are going to reach, how often they act upon your ad and how much the average customer spends.

Offline advertising scares most online-based businesses as it offers few assurances. It’s hard to measure reach and track conversions, but done right, it’s incredibly effective in creating brand exposure.

Smart offline marketers can get tens of thousands of eyeballs for virtually nothing so the potential is there.

Marketing offline also provides legitimacy to consumers that don’t trust businesses that only promote themselves online.

However, given your limited budget, I suggest that you look away from traditional advertising, as it’s a lot of risk and upfront cost for mediums that are losing value by the day.