Digital vs. Traditional Marketing:
5 Minute Guide
The differences between digital marketing and traditional marketing are obvious: one focuses on the web and the other focuses on media like print, television, radio, and direct mail.
Both share similar goals. Digital marketing and traditional marketing are used to attract qualified customers and build brand awareness in your market, and they work together to power successful marketing results.
The right mix of digital and traditional marketing is better than the sum of its parts. Suppose your goal is to sell a certain number of products this month. You could start with a strategically placed television ad during a program watched by the demographic that prefers the specific type of product you have in stock.
In your spot, you would include a call to action that motivates viewers to visit your website, where they could schedule a demo, get a coupon, etc. By combining digital and traditional marketing, you put the right ad in front of the right people and give them a reason to visit both your website and your physical store.
Some businesses think of digital and traditional marketing as being at odds with each other, when in fact they complement each other to meet your unique goals. If you're skeptical of digital marketing, here are some reasons to learn more about it and let it work with your traditional marketing to get the best possible results.
Digital Marketing Is Cost-Effective
Digital marketing is more cost-effective than advertising in traditional media like television, radio, print media and the Yellow Pages. A well-executed digital marketing strategy, for a reasonable monthly investment, gives your business the power to advertise effectively against larger competitors, reach a wider audience of qualified customers, generate new revenue, and get the data you need to accurately measure your return on investment (ROI).
Online is Measurable
It's not easy to know how many people heard your radio spots or read your newspaper ad. But you can find out exactly how many times your digital marketing messages were displayed to local customers actively researching a purchase, how many times they were clicked, which web pages they visited after clicking, how long they looked around, and more.
This online marketing data makes it easy to measure your progress against your business goals, and quickly adapt your entire marketing strategy to take advantage of what’s working best.
With digital marketing, you can also learn things like peak days and times for visits to your website, and see how many conversions occurred (a visitor took an action you specified) signaling an intent to purchase from your business.
Digital Is Terrific for Brand Development
A well-designed, regularly updated website with high quality content is one of the best local brand-building investments you can make. Today’s reality: even if you don’t sell online your business must be found online when a qualified local customer is researching a purchase.
When your website adds value by giving your target audience the information and answers they seek through a blog or other posted information, you can generate more leads and build a sense of trust with your local website visitors.
You’ll get maximum results when you couple a great website with a consistent monthly online marketing investment, strengthening your visibility with potential customers so they swing your doors and buy from you over the competition.
With Digital the Potential for Exposure Is Tremendous
Your online marketing campaign has the power to drive hand-crafted marketing messages on to the digital devices your local customers use everyday, including laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones.
Face it: when was the last time you heard of a printed sales flyer going viral - spreading around your target market like wildfire? Digital marketing has the potential for reaching exponentially more customers than your traditional marketing.
When your website content and digital ads appear on Google, bing and Yahoo, plus social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. your message and brand can be seen by many more potential customers, stretching the effectiveness of your total marketing investment.
Digital Lets You Reach Qualified Consumers
With the widespread exposure digital marketing produces, and the many ways you have to target digital marketing campaigns, you're more likely to reach people who are interested in your products, and less likely to annoy those who aren’t interested.
Online you can target your marketing campaign to show marketing messages only to prospective customers who are ready to buy today, which is much harder to do with traditional marketing.
NancyIsabel