What is Below The Line (BTL) Marketing?
Below the line marketing is typically described as promoting your product to a more limited amount of people using smaller, more targeted channels – compared to big channels like the newspapers, magazines, television, radio, cinema and outdoor advertising.
What are the Examples of BTL Marketing?
A more recent example of BTL is email marketing where you can directly email filtered customers or potential customers – traditional methods include sending flyers, participating in fairs, events and exhibitions. Press releases also fall under this category.
Photo: IKEA Australia
IKEA is famous for a type of BTL marketing called experiential marketing where they would set up a mock up of your home using only IKEA furnitures so you can experience it rather than just imagine how it would look like it catalogues. Think of something similar in a smaller scale that works for your business.
Photo: justkosme on Instagram
There are other more creative options to do your BTL marketing – for example a makeup seller recently held a sleepover event where new and current customers can try out new products.
What Makes it Different?
Below the line marketing targets customers more specifically to create more personal relationships with customers. It is generally cheaper than above the line marketing as you can target potential customers extremely specifically. The measure of effectiveness is also different as BTL marketing is more towards creating connections and conversions rather than mass awareness (which you can’t always measure effectively).
BTL marketing is also great to get word-of-mouth out, but arguably it won’t go as far as ATL marketing due to the reach intended.
Who Should Do BTL marketing?
BTL advertising can benefit everyone but some businesses can do especially well with a well crafted below the line marketing campaign. Companies that would benefit from customers experiencing a product first hand, like food, make-up, clothing, or even specific niche products like babycare can convince potential buyers easier if they can get them face-to-face or have direct contact that addresses their specific needs and problems.
It’s also a great engine to get feedback for your products or services as you can target people who have used your products/service before. BTL marketing is highly measurable because most digital marketing is considered under this category. Thus, you can measure website visits, engagements, click through rates, and cost per acquisition. Businesses with strong digital presence can take great advantage of this.
Photo: Ijmaki on Pixabay
How Can You Maximise BTL marketing?
Where do I start?
- Figure out who you want to connect with – BTL marketing can be very personal, or you can target a group of similar individuals/companies, it depends on you how personal it gets, and this depends on how well you research and understand your market
- Have a great copy and design – because BTL advertising is meant to be scrutinised more, put more effort into your writing and design because your target audience will pay more attention to the details. Make sure it draws attention.
- Collect the data post marketing – every little detail counts – it will eventually add up so you can make bigger, better decisions next time
- Make sure you are reachable – Have a plan on how your customers can reach you should they want to. make sure your websites and social media channels are up to date and filled with relevant information
Lastly, BTL marketing is meant to be a cheaper way to market your products thus you should make sure the cost is sustainable – although there are obvious exceptions, for example joining an exhibition, or placing your banners at big events.
We hope you now understand more about below the line marketing and how you can do it better! Don’t forget to share this article if you find it useful and ship with malaysia’s favourite shipping platform, Matdespatch! 😀
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