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By Darren DeYoung
When deciding how to promote your business, the big question often comes down to this: digital marketing vs traditional marketing. Both have their strengths, but the right choice depends on your goals, audience, and budget.
According to recent studies, over 70% of businesses now allocate more funds to digital than traditional methods. Still, that doesn’t mean traditional marketing is obsolete, it simply plays a different role. Let’s break down the benefits of each approach and help you figure out what’s best for your business.
Advertisements in magazines, newspapers, radio ads, billboards, etc. still have some currency and people do take notice of them. Traditional marketing allows you to easily reach a local audience. Mailbox flyers can be sent to a specific zip code or a radio ad might play on a single location. Targeting a group of local consumers can be done easily with traditional marketing.
Traditional marketing is easy to understand as people have been exposed to this strategy for many years. It is familiar and comfortable.
Digital marketing methods, on the other hand, are constantly changing. There is a new approach, tactic, or strategy every few months nd many businesses are investing heavily in digital. The continuous change and unfamiliarity can cause discomfort, and this approach does not sit well with every segment of the population.
But with change comes advancement, greater sophistication, and new ways to market your business. Whether through video, images, infographics, short-worded messages, bots or augmented or virtual reality, keeping up with the changes is difficult but it is important so you are not left behind.
Just like traditional marketing, digital marketing can easily target a local audience, but it also can target an international one, a gender-specific one, one that reaches homeowners, or one that has an affinity toward the organic care and treatment of their lawn.
If you can think it, digital marketing can probably reach it. And instead of sending a single marketing message to each target market, each digital marketing message can be changed and catered to each group.
The audience has more control over how their content is consumed in the digital space. Instead of receiving an unwanted stack of flyers or phone calls soliciting a product or service, digital marketing is often relevant because people are searching for that content in the first place. Additionally, some people enjoy reading blogs, while others like to watch YouTube videos, and still, others like to scroll through Instagram or Social Media. Digital marketing messages are served in these spaces--where people enjoy consuming content.
With digital marketing, you create an attractive marketing piece, craft multiple messages that connect with different audience segments, select your audience based on a multitude of factors (gender, location, age, interests, etc.), send it out through the selected mediums, and collect data on how the audience interacts with the messages.
A click, comment, page like, impression, online chat conversation, phone call, purchase or a multitude of other actions can all be measured by digital interactions. Traditional marketing methods are restricted to just a few interactions that can be measured, and they are limited at best. Since digital interactions are easily recorded, data is provided and insights can be gained at any time. Whether watching real-time interactions take place, or analyzing a decade’s worth of information, collecting and assessing digital marketing success can be done in just a few clicks.
One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing is that it gives small businesses a fighting chance against big competitors.
A startup can run a highly targeted Facebook campaign for a fraction of the cost of a TV ad, and still reach thousands of potential customers. With SEO, even a small local business can appear above national brands in search results if their content is optimized correctly.
Traditional marketing methods need to support digital marketing efforts. The two should not operate in exclusion from each other and a local strategy should be integrated with a digital one. Reach your target audience digitally, then strengthen the relationship with hard copy materials. Leverage the unique benefits of traditional marketing with the convenience and accessibility of digital to perform the best.
The debate around digital marketing vs traditional marketing isn’t about one being better than the other. It’s about choosing the right mix for your business.
If you’re still wondering what is best for your business—digital or traditional marketing—our team can help you create a strategy that fits your goals and budget.
Get in touch and let us provide you a free digital marketing audit. We can assess what is right and what is wrong, offer improvements and help your business be successful online.
📅 Book a free consultation today.