The war between Digital Marketing and Traditional Marketing continues as companies fight to establish the superior among the two while others try hard to bridge the gap and maintain a balance between Traditional Marketing practices and Digital Marketing techniques. With online publishing almost completely overtaking offline news and magazine publications, the question arises whether the global audience has really gone wholly digital and whether Television and Print Media have indeed gone obsolete as marketing mediums. This article clearly allows you to identify Traditionally and Digital Marketing practices and discusses the benefits and disadvantages of each.
Traditional Marketing:
Travel back in time to the days when laptops and smartphones didn’t exist. The only way in which consumers would become aware of products and services was through
- Television,
- Newspapers, and
- the radio.
Of course,
- Flyers,
- Posters, and
- Billboards along with
- Promotional Events Nearby
contributed to ensuring that we were sufficiently Marketed to. Print Media played a major role in getting the word out by way of flashy ads on half the pages of magazines. Thus
- Television,
- Radio, and
- Print Media
were the three main channels for Brand Promotion. Although Traditional Marketing means appear outdated, the fact remains that Television and Radio are still sought-after and are strong mediums for Marketing. In fact, Television is very much digital with on-demand streaming and subscription-based packages available for TV viewing at your convenience. Print Media has also not completely vanished from the face of the Earth and shouldn’t for good reason. Another important thing to note here is that Digital Billboards have replaced the traditional stagnant ones and every one of us is constantly bombarded with flashy ads as we drive past on highways and on busy streets. So, it seems that Traditional Marketing has slightly changed its face by going digital although the essence remains the same.
Pros:
- Traditional Marketing is like the progenitor of Digital Marketing and acts as its foundation. Digital Marketing tactics are largely based on Traditional Marketing methods.
- Traditional Marketing is unconcerned about customer targeting and is kind of a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy wherein promotions are put up for all to see in places highly viewable by all.
- Traditional Marketing feels very real compared to staring at ads online. The highest form of traditional marketing involves promotional events and stores where products and services are marketed face-to-face and customers get a real-world feel rather than just virtual insights.
- Traditional Marketing focuses mainly on catering to the local market. It establishes a brand’s presence as a strong local contender.
Cons:
- Traditional Marketing is limited when compared to the immense opportunities for engagement offered by Digital Marketing. It doesn’t allow direct communication with customers and has little room for establishing trust among target customers. Through Traditional Marketing, you can only keep your products and services before customers and hope for conversions since there are fewer ways of engagement.
- Traditional Marketing campaigns by way of television ads, billboard ads, and radio broadcasts are expensive and not feasible for SMEs seeking to minimize marketing budget and maximize conversions. Besides, Traditional Marketing campaigns are short-lived and cannot be sustained for long periods of time without incurring heavy costs.
- There is no way of accurately measuring if your campaigns have yielded results since measuring ROI in Traditional Marketing is difficult. You can analyze and assume but you cannot accurately measure the success of your Traditional Marketing campaigns. But here we can note that since television has gone digital there are methods of measuring outreach although the effect is not the same as Digital Marketing Analytics tools.
Digital Marketing: Digital Marketing is brand promotions and ads online on:
- Websites,
- Social Media Platforms, and
- Mobile Phone Apps
meticulously placed so as to be viewable by a company’s target audience and result in maximum sales and conversions. Digital Marketing is the brand-new marketing sphere that has brought the world closer for companies to target audiences from different countries. The Internet is its main channel and the major marketing techniques in Digital Marketing are:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Pay Per Click Ads
Pros:
- Among the seemingly endless advantages of Digital Marketing, the most important is the ability to take your brand global right from where your company is based. You can easily create Digital Marketing campaigns that target customers across different countries on specific platforms.
- Directly interact with your target customers in an engaging, conversational tone thus eliminating a sleazy marketing approach and building trust with your consumer base.
- Posting online will get your brand instant recognition and fame, especially if you have something mind-blowing to offer. Your chance of becoming insanely viral on the web is also high.
Cons:
- Digital Marketing leaves your brand’s reputation vulnerable to opinions, perceptions, and comparisons online which you must regularly keep in check and regulate in order to maintain a positive image. Since users have complete freedom to post whatever they like about brands online, there is a high possibility that your competitors or individuals with malicious intent may try to tarnish your brand image, requiring your Digital Marketing team to assume the role of the Internet vigilante.
- Digital Marketing requires skill and expertise. You will need to set up a dedicated team of professionals to attend to the minutest aspect of your Digital Marketing campaigns. This involves hiring skilled employees at high pay scales.
- Digital Marketing is never constant since the Internet is always changing with search engines regularly modifying their algorithms and new trends cropping up in the blink of an eye. To keep up with the pace, your company needs to regularly educate itself about how best to stay in tune with these changes.
In every way, Digital Marketing seems to be the clear winner, but Traditional Marketing has a lot to teach us. At the heart of both lies customer service which must be the top priority for all companies. That said, we cannot deny that the world has become increasingly digital, and traditional practices alone will not result in the global outreach expected. Although the prevalence of Print Media has significantly reduced in Marketing, companies cannot completely ignore traditional marketing instead must intensify their Digital marketing strategies while ensuring that they do not stay behind in Traditional Marketing.
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