Must have tools for the offline marketer

[marishal]

For those of you who have been doing offline marketing, can you please tell us about the tools of the trade and what you're currently using?:

Must have tools/services:

Nice to have tools/services:

Tools/services that you purchased and have not found useful or applicable to offline:

Thanks!

 

[C.S.R]

i am here with same question actually. I need to know what tools need to start an offline marketing?

 

[meinewelt]

a brain helps

 

[Rose Seo]

These kind of different secret technique.

 

[fad3r]

Places scout

 

[netmoney1]

Offline marketing isn't about tools...it is about using your brain and coming up with unique and different ways to capture attention...

You need...

1. Creative mind
2. Whiteboard
3. Red Bull

Seriously, if you are looking for a tool you will be sh#t out of luck. Your biggest tool in in between your ears. it is the only "tool" you need when it comes to offline.

 

[Reyone]

Offline marketing is based on your connections and your social power.

It totally depends on what you do, but contacts are surely one of the main tools...

Biz cards, a good sense of fashion and confidence can surely take you far.

 

[carlikito]

For those of you who have been doing offline marketing, can you please tell us about the tools of the trade and what you're currently using?:

Must have tools/services:

Nice to have tools/services:

Tools/services that you purchased and have not found useful or applicable to offline:

Thanks!

You need a phone and a spreadsheet.

Some sort of invoicing system and something to help you get organized. I like this guys: www.zoho.com

 

[Techxan]

What is so damn hard about answering a simple question?

I use:

Firefox with the "inform editor" plugin for manual directory submissions.
(I only do manual submissions)

VA for grunt research.

toodledo.com to create job s to me to keep in touch with the va's and other collaborators.

Evernote.com for grabbing content off the web,

Article Reviser for manually spinning content

Camtasia for video creation

photoshop for graphics manipulation

Thumbs plus for graphics management and light image editing .

"The logo creator" for creating logos and ads

Banner Buddy for creating image links

Stealth keyword competition analyzer, long tail pro, google adwords tool for keyord research.

Scrape box because it does piratically any kind of data mining you can think of

localizer lead tool, easy lead finder for scraping local leads

Rank tracker, accutracker, and yz tracker to track rankings

HTMLkit for coding

Dragon for content rough drafts

Market samurai for the SEO competition module, I owned it when it didn't suck, but I would not buy it today.

Adobe acrobat for document reformatting and PDF creation

Xenu for checking links on sites

PAD submit worker for PAD submissions

7-zip for compression/decompression

 

[marishal]

a brain helps

Offline marketing isn't about tools...it is about using your brain and coming up with unique and different ways to capture attention...

You need...

1. Creative mind
2. Whiteboard
3. Red Bull

Seriously, if you are looking for a tool you will be sh#t out of luck. Your biggest tool in in between your ears. it is the only "tool" you need when it comes to offline.

I think that the idea for the thread was pretty straightforward. It was meant to solicit and gather a list of tools used by offline marketers along with their feedback.

I don't see how helpful is your post considering that I did not ask for anything else. Whether you have "brains" or not you still have to use some tools and if you don't want to (or feel like) sharing then that's fine by me, I just don't see any added value in your comments in the context of this particular thread.

 

[marishal]

What is so damn hard about answering a simple question?

I use:

Firefox with the "inform editor" plugin for manual directory submissions.
(I only do manual submissions)

VA for grunt research.

toodledo.com to create job s to me to keep in touch with the va's and other collaborators.

Evernote.com for grabbing content off the web,

Article Reviser for manually spinning content

Camtasia for video creation

photoshop for graphics manipulation

Thumbs plus for graphics management and light image editing .

"The logo creator" for creating logos and ads

Banner Buddy for creating image links

Stealth keyword competition analyzer, long tail pro, google adwords tool for keyord research.

Scrape box because it does piratically any kind of data mining you can think of

localizer lead tool, easy lead finder for scraping local leads

Rank tracker, accutracker, and yz tracker to track rankings

HTMLkit for coding

Dragon for content rough drafts

Market samurai for the SEO competition module, I owned it when it didn't suck, but I would not buy it today.

Adobe acrobat for document reformatting and PDF creation

Xenu for checking links on sites

PAD submit worker for PAD submissions

7-zip for compression/decompression

Thanks Techxan,

I'm planning on hiring appointment setters, do you use anything on the sales/CRM side?

By the way I've used TimeDoctor with VAs before, it captures their screen shots keeps them honest.

 

[Techxan]

Thanks Techxan,

I'm planning on hiring appointment setters, do you use anything on the sales/CRM side?

By the way I've used TimeDoctor with VAs before, it captures their screen shots keeps them honest.

I have found a couple of good VA's. I don't have to watch them, their productivity is consistent. Right now I just use them for an hour or two at a time as I need to delegate things.

CRM...

I don't really advertise, I have my company websites and word of mouth. I deal with customers personally. and generally use MS office products to keep up with a lot of it. Me and Excel go way back.

When I get more volume, I will have to find a solution just for the efficiency, I suppose.

 

[imperial444]

1. Nice and bright Mind.
2. Ambition is the way of living.
3. Persistence and constant

 

[MrBeastsOnToast]

Your biggest tool in in between your ears. it is the only "tool" you need when it comes to offline.

My biggest tool is inbetween my legs...

(lol sorry could not resist..)

But yeah. There is no set of "tools" you need.

Open office. Firefox. And your brain.

 

[netmoney1]

My biggest tool is inbetween my legs...

(lol sorry could not resist..)

But yeah. There is no set of "tools" you need.

Open office. Firefox. And your brain.

Exactly, I wasn't trying to be a dickhead with my answer.

Give me my standard tools: whiteboard, internet connection, phone, paper, pens, printer, envelopes, stamps, red bulls, and my mind....and it is game over.

OP - what are you working on. Give some insight on that and I will do my best to help.

 

[marishal]

netmoney1,

My goal is not any different than most offline consultants. I just want to offer basic SEO optimization to offline small and medium businesses. Offer different packages of services as a set monthly rate for new clients AND rank other keywords using my own websites and rent them. I've dabbled with offline back in 2009 but for me it was a side project and I never took it seriously. This time I'm approaching it differently and wanted to have a good process in place (not perfect but good). I noticed that a lot of SEO "consultants" (at least where I am) are flying by the seat of their pants and I figured that by having a consistent and organized approach in obtaining new clients and delivering the service would be huge leg up. Hence my question about the tools of the trade.

I appreciate the advise on using my head and taking action, I'm not minimizing the importance of that, I just wanted to get a better idea on what others are using.

 

[netmoney1]

netmoney1,

My goal is not any different than most offline consultants. I just want to offer basic SEO optimization to offline small and medium businesses. Offer different packages of services as a set monthly rate for new clients AND rank other keywords using my own websites and rent them. I've dabbled with offline back in 2009 but for me it was a side project and I never took it seriously. This time I'm approaching it differently and wanted to have a good process in place (not perfect but good). I noticed that a lot of SEO "consultants" (at least where I am) are flying by the seat of their pants and I figured that by having a consistent and organized approach in obtaining new clients and delivering the service would be huge leg up. Hence my question about the tools of the trade.

I appreciate the advise on using my head and taking action, I'm not minimizing the importance of that, I just wanted to get a better idea on what others are using.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Tell me what methods you are going to use in order to attract potential new clients and I will do my best to give you some solid advice.

 

[marishal]

netmoney1,

Thanks for your help. Considering I have 0 clients right now my focus is going to be on my immediate contacts and network. I'm going to be reaching out one-on-one to my dentist, accountant, lawyer etc. and whether they work with me or not I'll still solicit 2-3 referrals from them. My goal is to have 3 reference clients in one month.

In the long run I will outsource cold calling/emailing to VAs and will meet clients face to face. Have a sales funnel in place where I will touch the prospects 9-12 times (call-email-newsletter-meeting), sometime that's how long it takes to close a deal. It's a sales focused approach with no distinct "method" per se. I might throw in some dice (excuse the pun ) or customize the sales call/letter to each client.

 

[WayneInc]

Must be good Project Manager ..

 

[netmoney1]

netmoney1,

Thanks for your help. Considering I have 0 clients right now my focus is going to be on my immediate contacts and network. I'm going to be reaching out one-on-one to my dentist, accountant, lawyer etc. and whether they work with me or not I'll still solicit 2-3 referrals from them. My goal is to have 3 reference clients in one month.

In the long run I will outsource cold calling/emailing to VAs and will meet clients face to face. Have a sales funnel in place where I will touch the prospects 9-12 times (call-email-newsletter-meeting), sometime that's how long it takes to close a deal. It's a sales focused approach with no distinct "method" per se. I might throw in some dice (excuse the pun ) or customize the sales call/letter to each client.

Since you are just starting out I would focus on "hitting the streets" and "pounding the pavement" to secure a few clients. This will help by getting the money rolling in monthly, which will allow you to grow - and then hire people to put together mailers for you and do follow up calls.

Also, showing a more personal approach to these clients will lead to referrals as long as you deliver good results.

A few questions:

1) Do you have a website already?
2) Do you have business cards?

If you do, are they the most bad ass they can be? I say this because starting out these are going to define you and your brand. Make sure your site looks like a million bucks. And have business cards that are so unique that they could start a conversation. (example: I have business cards that have a bottle opener built in that I use when I hit happy hour) - because you NEVER know who you will run into and meet. The "what do you do" question comes up all the time - and when you break that out - BOOM - instant conversation - and you have their full attention. Point being, make sure you make an immediate impact.

You might want to pick a radius around your location and then locate potential clients - get real organized and make calls, set appointments - and make visits (or have them come in to your office - just get in front of them)

Once you have those first few it can continue to grow. It will take a ton of work, but if you put in that hard work you can grow a nice business.