Are you wondering what kind of marketing is best for your type of business? Choosing between digital or traditional marketing can be a daunting task if you don’t understand the differences between the two. While some businesses may only need one kind, others will likely need a combination of both. With a properly drafted marketing strategy you can determine your business’ needs and better understand when to use each one to benefit your brand and increase your sales.
So let’s start by defining the main differences between digital marketing and traditional marketing, as this can help you decide which one to invest in.
What is Traditional Marketing?
As its name suggests, this is the most traditional, long established and most recognizable type of Marketing. It’s a rather broad category that incorporates many forms of marketing and advertising such as print, TV, radio, events, direct mail, telephone and others. It’s pretty much all marketing before the internet and social media showed up.
What are the main benefits of Traditional Marketing?
Having a long history, traditional marketing is well-researched with proven methods of getting your message out to the customer. Even with the advent of the internet and social media, it’s still effective if it’s done right.
Although there’s been an increase in the use of smartphones, there’s still a large population that can be better reached through print, events, television or radio. It all depends on your products and services, target audience, the time of the day, and of course your location. So to have better results, it’s crucial to first define who are your customers and prospects, and determine what type of communication media they engage with.
It’s common to think that the traditional marketing is outdated or that it’s too expensive, but the truth is, with a strategic marketing plan you can reach specific users that are not on the internet without breaking the bank.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital Marketing is all the strategies applied to the digital world. It’s relatively new compared to traditional marketing, but it’s no less powerful. On the internet there are several possibilities to deliver your message and reach an enormous amount of people with lower investment. Some examples of digital marketing are: Social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), affiliate marketing, and others.
What are the main benefits of Digital Marketing?
This form of marketing is gaining more influence because of its large audience and fast public reach. Not to mention that it’s much easier to measure its ROI (Return of Investment) than in traditional marketing. For example, with the proper tools, your marketing agency can precisely analyze who has accessed your website, what pages they’ve read, when they clicked a button and where they’re coming from. This enables you to understand your buyers’ behavior and make any necessary adjustments.
Digital marketing also allows for segmentation, specifically targeting prospects by age, gender, areas of interest, industry, and so on. Not to mention that it’s easier to make adjustments to campaigns online than it is to a printed ad for example. This allows your business to launch a campaign much quicker, analyze its performance and make changes as you go.
Which one should your business use?
The truth is that both are unique and there are some strengths and weaknesses to each one. Also, it highly depends on your type of business, the size of your company, your target audience, etc. However, chances are that traditional marketing and digital marketing should walk side by side with an integrated marketing strategy. You heard that right! By using both together you can reach your far and near clients, while also increasing your visibility, your brand, and your ROI.
Learning more about the terms and the differences between the two is the first step. But chances are that when it comes down to nailing it down, it’s easy to get stuck. If you want to start off your marketing or need help bringing it to the right track, schedule a free strategy session with us today!