The O2O2O2 Marketing Concept’s Key Ingredients

Is it hard for you to build relationships with prospects and clients? Do you have trouble gaining enough trust and confidence in your brand? Perhaps too many of your interactions are confined in the online world.

Over the weekend, I decided to switch off and have some downtime. It’s because I wanted to give myself some space to breathe. I still posted some updates on social media to remain consistent, but that was about it.

I didn’t stress about work and even managed to sneak in a very short nap.

The results were amazing, to say the least. It helped spark my creativity and helped organise my thoughts better.

Giving yourself a chance to breathe from time to time is very important. You need that rest in order to get into a natural flow. And it does great things in regards to how you squeeze out your information to your audience.

It was also during my downtime that I started thinking more about the O2O2O2 marketing concept. If you’re not familiar with it, it stands for online, to offline, to online marketing.

I started considering all the benefits that this strategy can bring to a business. And I find it especially useful for accounting firms and business owners with little marketing experience.

It’s a powerful tool that covers a lot about what you need to do to grow your business and build your audience.

What Is the O2O2O2 Concept?

Let’s take a look at it in terms of how you build and manage your audience.

First of all, you start collecting your leads online. You get those leads into your database and then you start creating an online audience.

Usually, you do it by collecting the email address and other information regarding identification.

But by using the O2O2O2 concept, you commit to going one step further. You’re no longer satisfied with the email address. Now, you also want to have the physical address in your database.

The reason for this is direct mail marketing. 

For example, you can send a physical copy of your ebook. You can also send a letter that offers an exciting update about your business. Or, you could send an invitation to a live event, whenever that’s possible.

The idea behind O2O2O2 marketing is contacting your leads, prospects, and clients across all channels.

Your goal is to get their contact information online, contact them offline, and get them back online. That’s why it’s essential to only send relevant material that generates excitement through traditional mail.

Another way to look at the O2O2O2 concept is this: 

The first O (online) is where you initiate contact. You get your prospects to take notice of you. 

Then the second O (offline) is where you send them a personalised message. Send them one of your books, or guides, and attach a letter. Let them know who you are and what you can do for them. It’s one of the key stages where you can present your firm as VITAL to your audience.

The third O is for getting them back online and continuing that relationship. It’s about challenging their thinking and getting them closer to buying your services.

Why Does This Work?

The O2O2O2 concept is something that many firms use. And that’s even if they don’t realise that this strategy has a name.

But the reason why others fail to capitalise on it is that people don’t understand how to maximise their opportunities.

Why does it work? How do you make sure that it works?

Let me give you an example of the O2O2O2 concept in action so that you can better understand how it builds relationships.

About three years ago, I met Nicola at an event. She runs a UK Facebook group for accountants and bookkeepers. And she was following me online at the time.

We hit it off from the outset, talked, and took some pictures together. We continued conversing online and built a much stronger connection.

Why?

Because we met in both the online and offline world.

So what does the O2O2O2 concept do in a nutshell? It helps you forge stronger bonds with your audience members. And it enables you to connect better with your ideal prospects and clients.

You don’t always have to send something through the post. Yes, that helps, but it’s not mandatory. For Nicola and myself, a face to face meeting acted as a substitute for that. It was something that connected us in the offline world.

Taking people from online, to offline, to online is transformational. 

If you manage to take people on that relationship journey, you can build more trust. You can change the way they value you, your brand, and your services. People can see you as a person and not just an online presence. 

This whole relationship journey has the power to boost someone’s confidence in you. It can get them over the edge, to the point where they want to reach out and speak to you.

However, this is by no means a mandatory strategy you have to use in your business. But it’s one of the most powerful marketing concepts available.

If you want to build that community and earn people’s trust, it does a great job of that. It helps you position your firm as VITAL and inspires confidence. And it basically gets people much closer to buying.

It does a lot of good for maintaining brand loyalty and long-term relationships.

Extra Tips on How to Implement the O2O2O2 Concept

At Oompf Global, we also send out various physical goods. But we can’t do it all over the world just yet. We have no problem sending hard copies through the post here in the UK. But in other countries, such as South Africa, the US, or Australia, we can only send digital copies.

A lot of this has to do with balancing costs and managing finances. So, be careful when you try to engage in building offline relationships. Don’t pour all your resources into that if it’s not something feasible for you at the moment.

Also, as previously stated, sending physical goods is not the only way to nurture the offline relationship. It’s also not enough at times to only send a copy of your book or a brochure to your prospects and clients. You don’t have to stop at a single offline interaction, either.

Perhaps it’s time to consider some alternatives, such as hosting a live event. But only when the times allow it, of course.

Maybe you don’t have the funds to send something through the post to all your audience members. If that’s the case, consider prioritising those interactions.

Focus first on ideal prospects and high-value clients. Make sure that you cement those relationships as they are likely to be the most lucrative for your business.

Offline Interactions Help Build Stronger Communities

During these challenging economic times, it’s natural to want to move your business to the online world. And it’s actually mandatory in many cases.

Using the online medium to your advantage is great. You can probably grow your business more than ever now. And leveraging your content marketing for lead generation and conversions is amazing.

If you want that VITAL positioning for your firm, this is the way to do it. But there’s more to growing your business than offering the best services for your ideal clients.

Your audience members need a relationship with you before they trust you enough to buy your services. They need even more than that if you want them to stick with you for years to come.

If you offer high-value services, your clients make a significant financial investment. But it doesn’t mean it always comes easy for them to do it. It may not even be enough to be the best in your field for you to develop a freedom business and have lots of clients.

That’s why community-building is so essential. And maintaining a visible online presence is key in nurturing relationships with your audience members.

People want to know that you listen to them and that you care. Sure, they need to know that you can help transform their businesses. But they also want to know that you take a personal interest in how they’re doing.

So, this is where the O2O2O2 concept starts working its magic. By taking that slight detour from the online to the offline world, you can increase that trust. You can get your prospects and clients to see you as a real person, not an online presence.

It doesn’t matter if it’s an encounter at a meet-and-greet or sending a book or an update through the post. Small interactions in the offline world help strengthen your online presence and relationships.