Regarding digital marketing and traditional marketing, it’s important to remember that technological changes can happen quickly, but it may take time for some people to get used to them. For example, not everybody accepted these changes readily when the automobile substituted horse carriages. Many people, including the makers of carriages, took some time to get used to the idea.
The same happens with new ways of communicating and their implications in the daily lives of people. Traditional media benefits many brands and companies, but it’s no longer an exclusive game. Today I’ll explore some essential thoughts on digital vs. traditional.
They seem to be two different fields
In my experience as a professional marketer & advertiser, and blogger, I can tell you firsthand that digital marketing has been a world of its own for a long time. Before the dot com boom, many business founders believed the internet didn’t obey the laws of economics and business. Although this gave way to significant innovations, business-wise, this was a huge mistake for most of the people involved.
My observation is that most traditional marketers are aware of the potential of digital media, and they often work with specialized firms or professionals who know the digital world like the palm of their hands. But, on the contrary, most digital marketers couldn’t care less about what is happening in the traditional world.
Digital marketing is technically oriented
You’ll often see that ads on TV and on the radio in newspapers are, of course, sales-oriented, but you’ll also see a large group of ads focused on building brands. This process requires the intervention of many creatives who don’t see themselves as creating “content.” Instead, they have a self-image of being the creators of commercial art that will stand the test of time within reason.
Digital marketing has an excuse for being data- and technically oriented: You can transform large amounts of data into insights, specific words people search for, and keywords. However, the digital world is about platforms, APIs, interfaces, and software.
Content is a bad word for many advertisers
A few decades ago, creatives created elaborate drawings essential to an advertisement or a campaign. Along with copywriting, these illustrations conveyed an idea or a concept. As you can imagine, these graphics took some time and strategic thinking. A campaign could last several months, years, and even decades.
Today, you can create content for social media in minutes. But, if you think about it, it often doesn’t make sense to post elaborate commercial art if it will not reach your desired audience in the quantities you wish. You can empathize with creatives who don’t want their hard work to go largely unnoticed.
Benefits of digital marketing over traditional marketing
Next, I will mention some benefits of digital vs. traditional.
1. Reaching more people
It seems like everybody is online nowadays. This ubiquity is true not only in America but all around the world. The search business and social media businesses are booming. You can find new mass media through digital marketing.
2. Which type of marketing is more interactive?
The fourth wall is a term used in theater, and you can use it to break the barrier between the performers and the audience. You can say the same with digital media. Ads don’t go one way. Instead, you can choose to click on them or do something, such as play a game or decide how the story unravels.
3. It’s all about the data
Just a generation ago, a brand didn’t know what traditional tactic brought the most profits. It wasn’t an exact science. Today, with the digital tools available, you have loads of data you can analyze to provide you with the knowledge you need to make your brand thrive.
Cost
Good luck with appearing on TV if you were a small business in the 80s. Lack of availability meant a limit to many of the opportunities traditional advertising brought and was limited to a handful of players. However, today you can create and run an ad in minutes on almost every digital platform, no matter the size of your business.
Benefits of traditional marketing over digital
No matter the buzz of digital, traditional marketing is here to stay. Next, I’ll show you some benefits of traditional vs. digital
1. Credibility and trust
“The medium is the message” is a well-known phrase in advertising. When you advertise through traditional media, you gain instant credibility. It means you don’t have to work hard to demonstrate authority. Because of this, you can focus on effectively spreading your message.
2. Accessibility and reach
You can get too many local people through traditional media and even reach them nationally. However, traditional media, such as TV and the radio, can reach real people in real time. These avenues are the perfect way to communicate the news and other critical, timely information.
3. Demographic targeting
Through traditional marketing, you’ll be able to reach segments of the population not easily found online. Higher reach is especially true if you’re targeting a wide range of countries. For example, you can target gender, age, education, income level, and geographic location.
4. It’s tangible
Digital marketing happens mainly on screens. On the contrary, you can base traditional marketing on tangible materials. For example, you can pass along a brochure, a newspaper, a magazine, or a piece of direct mail. This physicality is attractive for a market segment and can benefit you as a brand or company.
Awareness and branding
In some direct marketing circles, the term branding is not well received. However, the truth is that a strong branding campaign can provide excellent results. Not only that, but branding also doesn’t only focus on short-term sales. It also considers the future value of the company. And a brand isn’t built upon direct marketing tactics alone, except by chance.
You’ll find that there is no winner. Instead, you can mix the digital part of the equation into marketing and advertising. In the beginning, digital marketing was the wild, wild west, leading to exciting experimentation. This transformation gave way to what digital is today, where you will find standard processes based on what people wish to see and experiment online.
Traditional advertising is not going anywhere. Its use depends on what brands need to satisfy their audiences and customers. Traditional media is constantly evolving, and today you’ll see how you can reach many people with a mix of online and offline. The future is here, and it looks brighter than ever.
