You may be wondering how to spend your marketing budget to get the most out of your campaign and maximise your ROI. There are benefits to both traditional and digital marketing, and we will explore both types in this blog.
Read on to gain a greater understanding of both marketing types and discover which will be most suitable and beneficial for your business.
What is Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing can be considered ‘offline’ marketing. It is a marketing strategy that does not use the internet, but instead makes use of marketing techniques that have been around before the internet was a marketing option.
Traditional marketing methods include:
- Print.
- Broadcast.
- Direct mail.
- Billboards.
- Telephone and text.
We are surrounded by traditional marketing every day, so much so that perhaps we don’t even realise how much of it is out there. It is commonplace on pretty much any street you walk down, in the form of posters or billboards.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is technology-based and is an ever-evolving marketing type. Given its ability to reach a global audience in a short amount of time, digital marketing rarely follows the same formula.
Digital marketing methods include:
- Web content.
- Email newsletter.
- Content marketing.
- Social media campaigns.
- Ads.
- Affiliate marketing.
- SEO.
Traditional Marketing: Pros and cons
Traditional marketing methods help you reach an older demographic. Unlike younger demographics, this age group spends considerably more time in contact with newspaper and television-based marketing campaigns.
Local businesses seeking to reach a larger audience benefit from traditional marketing as billboards, posters and events serve to increase awareness within communities and with less competition. This is not to say that local businesses can’t benefit from digital marketing – many small, local businesses run successful social media posts, helped by those who believe in the importance of supporting local businesses as much as possible.
Traditional marketing campaigns generally last longer than digital. Given the labour involved in creating the materials and placing them in different locations – as well as paid air time on television and radio – traditional methods tend to have a longer shelf life.
However, flyers, postcards and pamphlets can all be pricey and are typically distributed to a general audience, which means the recipient may or may not be even remotely interested in what your business has to offer.
Though traditional marketing methods have a longer shelf life than digital, the results can also take much longer to see.
Digital Marketing: Pros and cons
Digital marketing methods allow you to keep up to date with your audience and to see how effectively you are reaching them, whilst gaining insight into their online habits. The access to information that digital marketing offers is unrivalled. Web analytics provide valuable information about customer activity, from the most read content, to the time of day users are most active online.
The cost of digital marketing campaigns is generally lower than those in traditional marketing, even more so considering the vast potential reach of the campaign.
To get an idea of how important digital marketing is today’s marketing climate, consider the following statistics:
81% of shoppers/buyers do their research online before investing in a product/service.[1]
90% of B2C businesses report social media as being the most effective content marketing tactic.[2]
However, some online users have the choice to block ads – either through the use of ad-blocking services or by paying for premium subscriptions to their favourite sites.
Re-assessment and adapted strategies are needed on a regular basis, unlike traditional marketing where there is a greater level of permanence.
Traditional vs Digital Marketing
As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages to both types of marketing. Choosing which type of marketing is best for you will ultimately come down to your business goals.
How wide is the audience you want to reach?
Are you aiming for local brand awareness or awareness on a much larger scale?
What is your target demographic?
Digital marketing generally offers greater opportunities to reach a wider audience, while keeping cost relatively low. Also, the information gained from insightful analytics can be invaluable in assisting other elements of your campaign.
Yet, traditional marketing methods can create strong, successful campaigns – as long as you connect to the right audience. As mentioned earlier, older demographics in particular still use television, newspapers, and magazines regularly. This makes these outlets very useful for selling a product or service oriented towards these age groups.
Overall, one marketing type is no better or worse than another and it would probably be most effective to incorporate a balance of the two in your business strategy, providing you have the budget and resources. It really depends on your business, but it should be easier to identify how to proceed once you have clearly outlined goals and understand your target audience.
The Future of Marketing
As we move forward through the coming decade, there is no doubt that digital marketing will continue to develop and progress. Through innovation, new and exciting methods of marketing will evolve which will go beyond the limits of what we know today. Digital campaigns show a lot of promise in the future of marketing so it is worth bearing this in mind when mapping out your business goals and strategy.
For more information or support to find the right marketing strategy for your business, get in touch with Mint Content.
Sources:
[1] Businesswire.com. 2013. GE Capital Retail Bank’S Second Annual Shopper Study Outlines Digital Path To Major Purchases – 81% Research Online Before Visiting Store. [online] Available at: <https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130712005396/en/GE-Capital-Retail-Bank%E2%80%99s-Annual-Shopper-Study> [Accessed 31 July 2020].
[2] Content Marketing Institute. 2013. Business-To-Consumer (B2C) Content Marketing Adoption On The Rise. [online] Available at: <https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/about/mediaroom/latest-press-releases/business-to-consumer-b2c-content-marketing-adoption-on-the-rise/> [Accessed 31 July 2020].
