I know what you’re probably thinking. It’s 2018; who isn’t online?
Who isn’t connecting with friends, shopping, and reading news? Well, you’d be surprised.
According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis of survey data, 11% of U.S. adults do not use the internet!
If you’re marketing a business or nonprofit, you’ll want to know who these people are so you can adjust your marketing tactics to them. Right?
Despite government and social service programs encouraging internet adoption in underserved areas,
- Seniors are the age group most likely to say they never go online.
- Roughly one-in-three adults with less than a high school education (35%) do not use the internet.
- Adults from households earning less than $30,000 a year are far more likely than the most affluent adults to not use the internet (19% vs. 2%).
- Rural Americans are more than twice as likely as those who live in urban or suburban settings to never use the internet.
Can you imagine how many organizations are spinning their wheels in reaching these specific groups? Take all the digital marketing channels you use including:
- Blogs
- Social media
- Websites
- Videos
- Images
and think of other ways you can reach these audiences if they’re part of your target market segments.
Consider these low-cost traditional marketing channels:
- Media relations: sending, and following up on, EDDM news releases
- Advertising in local newspapers
- Local radio spots
- EDDM (every door direct mail which is reasonably affordable)
- Outdoor (out of home) advertising: benches, transit shelters
- Sponsorship: local teams, schools
- Speaking: libraries, business networking events
- Direct mail postcards
Do you have any other ideas?
