8 Traditional Marketing Strategies That Have Shockingly High ROIs To Offer Your Clients

If one more person tells me that traditional marketing is dead, I’m going to lose it. Of course, you need to keep up with marketing trends and continue to offer new strategies. But let’s not discard traditional marketing altogether.

As agency owners, we sometimes get fixated on shiny new marketing strategies to offer our clients. But, if you take a step back, there are some traditional marketing strategies that are extremely effective and earn you and your clients a high ROI.

There are 8 traditional marketing strategies that bring in the bucks. Let’s explore all of them and how you can offer them to your clients.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is making a comeback. It makes sense if you think about it. Our inboxes are flooded with emails from brands, and it’s likely your clients’ emails are getting overlooked.

Direct mail adds an extra layer of engagement by sending special offers and featuring new products or services. 

When you implement a direct mail program for your clients, be sure that the asset has a CTA like visiting their website, signing up for something, or redeeming a discount. This allows your direct mail strategy to be trackable.

In order to add direct mail to your agency’s service offerings, first start by identifying a white-label solution that automates your efforts. My favorite is Postalytics.

Print Ads

Yes, more people view ads online, but print isn’t dead. Especially with an audience over 35 years old. 

With the fact that more people than not use ad blockers, print ads are a great alternative to gain visibility for your clients. The reality is that there are no ad blockers for print ads.

Identify publications that your client's target audiences would read, like newspapers, magazines, and local publications. 

A good print ad has minimal but quippy text and is visually driven, so be sure to work with a designer.

Speaking Engagements

Humans love in-person communication. Not to mention, speaking engagements do wonders for thought leadership.

Identify conferences that align with your clients’ industries. Find events that their target audience would attend. Once identified, pitch your clients to speak. If they get accepted, it’s important that you help them with their presentation.

Going to conferences to network is good. Going to conferences to speak and then network is great. Attendees love talking to speakers, and your clients will gain instant credibility.

In fact, 68% of brands think they get the most business from speaking engagements. So leverage this fact when you add speaking engagements to your list of service offerings.

Billboards

Whether you want to see them or not, Billboards can’t be ignored and, with the right approach, can get your clients a ton of visibility. 

Be sure to use minimal text and exceptional imagery. Billboards are great for getting an audience to take immediate action, such as getting off the highway at the next exit to get food, or the visual is so intriguing that people take out their phones and Google the brand. 

This service is obviously pricey but you can mark up the rate and make a good amount of income by providing this service.

When getting your clients featured on a billboard, use a third-party source like this one so that you have access to billboards all over the country, and they can even help with the design.

Television

TV advertisements and commercials seem old school but actually reach 98% of households in the US.

Television is great for both local and national campaigns. Though a commercial is pricey, the average cost is $20 per 1,000 consumers.

This strategy is great for clients with big budgets. And because so much work goes into television advertising, you can make a good income by adding this to your strategies.

If television is going to be a new offering, you may want to reach out to an agency like this one that specializes in this type of marketing.

Transit Advertisement 

If your client’s target audience lives in cities, transit advertising is still very effective. This form of advertising reaches 83% of commuters, and not all marketing strategies have that sort of reach.

Think of ads on the side of buses, signs in train stations, posters in the subway, etc. The point is these ads can’t be ignored.

I was honestly surprised at the cost of transit advertising. The rates for placements are quite reasonable.

To add this to your list of services at your agency, I recommend partnering with this agency that just does transit advertising. Meet with them first and get their rates so that you can put together a transit advertising package for your clients.

Flyers and Brochures

Flyers and brochures are fantastic if your clients are localized. They can be distributed to local businesses and at networking events.

Use a designer if you have one in-house. If you don’t, you can find an affordable one on UpWork. These printed materials will be the first impression people have of a business.

To add this service, consider that you don’t just need to design awesome print materials. They need to also be distributed. However, distributing flyers isn’t really a skill you have to pay a lot for, just make sure you work it into your fee. 

Product Placements

For your clients that sell a tangible product, product placement is still a thriving strategy to gain brand awareness from millions of people.

Keep in mind that with product placements, they are incorporated in a show or movie, not advertised. But they still gain a ton of awareness. 

During a show or movie, characters will show how to use or get you to want the product featured.

To add product placements to your services, contact this company so you can discuss logistics and costs. Once you’ve established the partnership with a product placement company, you’ll know how to mark it up for your clients.

Final Thoughts: How to Implement These Old New Strategies At Your Agency

Old services are new sources of revenue for your agency.

Be strategic in the implementation. Update your website, create a landing page for each new service, train your employees to implement these services for your clients, promote your new services, and create an email campaign to upsell current clients.

I actually wrote a complete guide on adding new services at agencies, and you can read it here.

Of course, the implementation and promotion of a new service can be quite time-consuming if you do it the right way. Adding new services to an agency’s offerings and promoting the new service is one of the many things my agency does, so you can contact me here if you want to discuss how I can help your agency add any of the services I listed in this post.

Out of all the traditional marketing strategies that I discussed, which one are you most excited about implementing at your agency? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below!