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OFFLINE ADVERTISING
Offline promotion encompasses a vast array of possible options using traditional media, and this is covered more extensively than can be managed here by many standard marketing texts.

However it is worth listing the main offline methods available, and briefly reviewing how some of these relate to online promotion:

Word of mouth
Printed stationery, company literature etc
Trade catalogues and directories
Press releases § Mail shots
Sponsorships § Printed ads - magazines and newspapers
Exhibitions, trade shows and conferences
Billboards, bus shelters and other external sites
Radio
Television

It is interesting to note parallel functions between some traditional methods and the online techniques discussed above. For example, word of mouth and stationery/literature above correspond very approximately with viral marketing online; catalogues and directories are similar to search engines; press releases and mail-shots correspond to newsletter and bulk email, and of course physical ads correspond with banner ads. This relationship between the physical and virtual worlds of advertising should not be forgotten when it comes to planning a promotional programme.

As Bayne (4) emphasises, there is a synergistic relationship between traditional and online media, and they must be married in a complementary way to be effective. It is worth noting that online advertising expenditure is likely to increase as Internet access is made available to a growing proportion of the population.

The Myers Group in New York, as reported by ZDnet.co.uk, (US Ad Spending: Net To Surpass TV) forecasts that global online ad spending will surge from $5.25 billion (£3.62 bn) in 2000 to $45.5 billion (£31.38 bn) by 2005, and USA advertisers will spend more on the Internet than they will on television. This is only to be expected as the audience reach balances out between television (97% penetration in the UK according to Forrester Research - M7) and the Internet (currently 35% penetration, by many estimates). Already, Forrester report that 39% of the UK Net population are watching less television.