Marketing is in constant motion.
That’s why any serious business owner should keep up with the latest marketing trends to stay ahead of the curve.
There are two main categories of marketing for business – traditional and digital.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the two, the benefits of each and which one should choose.
Keep reading…
What Is Traditional Marketing?
In layman’s terms, traditional marketing refers to any marketing strategy that happens outside the internet. In other words, this form of marketing isn’t online.
Examples include:
Print media such as magazines or newspapers
Billboard advertising
Direct mail
Broadcast
You must have come across or used traditional marketing at some point in your business. After all, it is the oldest form of marketing.
The primary reason many marketers use this form of marketing is that history and statistics show that it works.
Think about it… You see billboards on your way to work every day, right? And then there’s that ad on your favorite magazine. Traditional marketing is part of everyday life.
Advantages Of Traditional Marketing
Easy to Digest
Let’s talk about that billboard you saw on your way to work this morning. You can remember the vibrant photos and bold text, right?
What about that advert that runs on your television a couple of minutes before prime time news? The point is, traditional marketing is easy to understand, remember and relate with.
Great for Local Audience
Traditional marketing is ideal if you want to reach a bunch of local customers. It is also the best type if you’re going to pass a quick message.
A radio advert, for instance, will reach your target audience instantly. You only need to make sure that the ad gets aired at the right time when the audience is likely to be listening.
It’s Permanent
A magazine advert will last for as long as the magazine it is printed on is still intact and hasn’t been recycled.
In essence, this means that such an ad can deliver the intended message to the targeted audience years after printing.
Besides, you can keep the magazine as a collector’s item to remind yourself how far advertising has come years down the line, such as this vintage cigarette ad.
Disadvantages Of Traditional Marketing
Limited Interaction
There’s no interaction between business and target customers when an advert air on radio, for instance.
As a business owner, you’re not sure how the audience will react to your advert on television. You can only hope that the ad will catch the customer’s attention and motivate him/her to buy.
Limited Control
You cannot “update” an advert once it gets published on print media. The same goes for billboards and TV commercials.
If anything changes regarding your product or service, you have to do a whole new ad altogether. Now that’s super inconvenient.
More Costs
The fact that you have to create a new advert when you need to update content tells you that traditional marketing is expensive.
Moreover, you have to pay for advertising space or airtime to make sure that your message reaches the widest audience possible.
On top of that, you must have a solid strategy to achieve the results you’re hoping for, or else, you’ll end up losing money.
What Is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is …you guessed it right …digital!
It is the direct opposite of traditional marketing. More specifically, it is any form of marketing that happens on the internet.
Examples include:
Email marketing
Paid social media ads
PPC advertising
Digital marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most preferred methods of advertising. With the rise of the internet, digital marketing is proving to be the future of marketing for small businesses and large corporations alike.
It is reasonably cheaper when pitted against traditional marketing and more effective when you want you to reach your target audience directly from any corner of the world.
Advantages Of Digital Marketing
More Engagement With Your Target Audience
Remember, when we talked about traditional marketing and its lack of interaction with target customers?
One of the benefits of digital marketing for business is the high level of engagement you can achieve if your ad content is on point.
Sidenote – Did you know that social media is the most effective advertising channel? Up to 50 percent of Gen Z and 42 percent of millennials are likely to buy if they see an advert on social media.
Tell If Your Marketing Campaign Is Working
It is almost impossible to estimate how many people will see your ad once you place it on TV. With digital marketing, however, you can track the number of visitors clicking through your call-to-action button.
Most notably, you can know how a potential customer landed on your website and where they proceeded to if they didn’t convert.
That way, you can make adjustments to boost your marketing efforts and by extension, increase your conversion rate.
Reach A Bigger Audience
Facebook, one of the best platforms for digital marketing, has a user base of 2 billion people every month.
What does this tell you?
Well, it indicates that you can reach many people with one ad more than you would, with television ads, for example.
The best part is that digital marketing isn’t bound by boundaries. As long as you create a focused campaign, there are no limits as to how many people you can reach with digital marketing.
Lower Costs
With digital marketing, you can increase or reduce your budget depending on the results.
In other words, you’re in control of who much money you’re putting into your campaign based on the return on investment.
One more thing…
You can customize your digital marketing campaign to suit your specific needs from time to time, which is not possible with traditional marketing
Disadvantages Of Digital Advertising
Some of the downsides going digital with your advertisement campaign include:
The target audience can ignore your ads
You may need some technical know-how to run a successful campaign
Privacy and security problems
Negative customer feedback
Which Way To Go?
Let’s face it…
The world is going digital.
Further, businesses are moving online where they can reach more customers irrespective of their location.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense in this day and age to lean toward digital marketing if you want to reap the benefits of technological advancement.
What Do Stats Say About Digital Marketing?
Numbers don’t lie. Every indication is that businesses and marketers are embracing digital marketing, and you shouldn’t be left behind.
Mobile advertising spending is set to hit a staggering $280 by 2022
Marketers are spending more on social engagement videos
The number of people using social networks will reach 257.4 million in the U.S alone by 2023
Social media ad spending surpassed $27 billion in 2018 in the U.S.
18 percent of marketers belong to at least one Facebook Group
The scale will continue to tip in favor of digital marketing. It’s time to hop on board!
Work With A Digital Marketing Expert
Digital marketing is vast and complicated.
The last thing that you want to do is to waste your time concentrating on strategies that don’t work.
Consider hiring a digital marketing expert to avoid common mistakes, especially if you’re a beginner.
Think of the expert as someone to hold your hand as you learn the hang of things.
Other benefits of working with a digital marketing professional include:
It Saves You Time
You don’t want to wait ten months before your marketing campaign can start to yield results.
With a digital marketing agency by your side, you’ll get right into the game, applying what’s working right away.
The ripple effect is that your path to success becomes short, saving you valuable time that you can use to implement other growth strategies.
Access To Advanced Insights
When you pay a digital marketing expert to run your campaign, you will gain crucial insights about your target customers, SEO, and overall performance of your efforts.
In short, you’ll have a clearer vision of the direction your business is heading.
Before you go…
Where Should You Spend Your Money?
The best way to get the most out of your digital marketing campaign is to spend your money on ads. Why?
So you can customize your ads to be in line with your marketing goals if your target audience changes.
Google Display Ads, for example, will charge you per click instead of per impression. In essence, this means that your cost per impression can be zero in some instances – and that’s good if you’re on a tight budget.
Bottom Line
You must have a well-thought marketing campaign for your business from the get-go.
While the choice of the type of marketing depends on your goals, the benefits of digital marketing far outweigh those of traditional marketing.
And, as stated, you’re better off with a digital marketing expert as part of your campaign.
Remember, as a rule of thumb, your chances of success are higher if you get the marketing bit right from early on.
If you want to learn more, visit our blog page or services page to see how we might be able to help your business.