As the human timeline evolves ever so slightly, it is observed that major and minor changes both serve as a stepping stone to the age of development. This is seen in every field of study and expertise with the various talents of the world being present in their own generation pool.
When we talk about marketing, we know that historically origins always start off as foundations of a particular field or subject and then may later grow or continue with the same method of procedures and protocols. Traditionally, marketing started off as featuring physical prints and channels of medium for various other brands and companies. Think of this as the singular method of marketing, where all and every business, if they wanted to market their goods or services had to go with the option of traditional marketing. That is, until the introduction of the Internet.
Through the advent of the internet as the main medium of connectivity through digital mediums and channels, marketing trends led to be inclined toward digital marketing. Here, the tools of marketing used are websites, social media platforms, social media applications, and so on. To know more about the tools of digital marketing find more information through sites and articles of the tools of digital marketing.
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Traditional Marketing
This is the type of marketing that isn’t done online, which means physical services and ads on the run. Such examples include print, broadcast, direct mail, phone, and outdoor advertising such as billboards. There are involvements of newspapers and radios for marketing purposes, the main result of this sort of marketing is that it reaches the target audiences in a much easier manner since the approach is direct and quite on-the-face.
When a new player enters the field, it’s often the old ones that feel threatened by the change but this isn’t the case for both Marketing trends that is, traditional and digital. Clearly, marketers are now trying their hands-on digital marketing rather than traditional Marketing however, the traditional way of marketing hasn’t left it is much preferred by the older generation and even works well for the younger generation. It all depends on how well the budget for a traditional marketing campaign is maintained, this also applies to digital marketing.
Channels of traditional marketing are,
● Marketing outside such as placing billboards, posters, wraps on public transport and so on
● Broadcast media platforms such as the radio, television, and so on
● The use of print as a medium such as in magazines, monthly issues, newspapers, and so on
● Direct Mailing system such as catalog, newsreaders, and so on
● The use of telecommunications in marketing that is, telemarketing through phones, text messages in the form of SMS
● Then there is window displays and signboards
Let us look into the pros and cons of what traditional marketing has to offer,
Pros
● Smooth and Effective: it is easier to understand a visually appealing image on a billboard or even a tv commercial that attracts attention. These contain everyday elements which the viewers can relate to, and the factor of entertainment is observed. Simple yet effective fonts used on billboards or signs are easier to take in rather than wordy sentences.
These are simple yet impressive implementations done by professionals in the fields of visual communication, marketing, design, and many more. In traditional marketing the fields of expertise are vast, the same goes for digital marketing.
● Physical Materials: traditional marketing is popular for its print services and the mass distribution of physical materials reaches out to almost all households in a target-specific area, some people have an interest in collecting these magazines or readers because they contain information and appealing images.
Due to its past history and how people have depended on materials such as newspapers, notices, and so on for news and information digital marketing has been the predecessor of traditional marketing. The factor of credibility is seen to be more responsive in traditional marketing rather than digital marketing.
● Better to Recall: there is a difference between simply viewing a product and feeling and viewing the product itself, similarly when a person views an ad through a social media feed the impact is short-lived whereas when a national broadcast advertisement makes its way into your tv channel the entire ambiance changes and the attention is worthwhile.
Physical materials prove to be a better reminder of a message or product display because of their effect on people’s sense of touch and view. The effect of attention plays a bigger role in determining if the campaign was a success or not.
Cons
● Tougher to Measure Campaigns: there may be solutions to measure traditional marketing campaigns such as a brand tracker however it is not as intricate and well supplied as the ones we see for measuring digital marketing campaigns.
Due to its traditional trends and strategies without the use of digital tools, the methods of measuring campaign effectiveness is not as impressive as the ones seen for digital marketing campaigns, it is easier to measure due to its control over digital tools and media. And you can find more information on these methods through sites, articles, or blog posts.
● Take a Toll on Your Funds: for a bigger space or picture, the more it takes a toll on your finances, since it’s physical spaces that is being leveraged by brands or companies, they will need a stable budget for marketing campaigns which are traditionally powered.
It usually takes a lot more money to launch a major campaign which is why a company that wants to use traditional marketing has a fixed budget set out for its execution. Although the result is impactful, the cost of its size and mass distribution is heavily dependent on the budget and funds of the campaign.
● There’s No Direct Interaction: the journey of traditional marketing more or less ends with the distribution of the print or material throughout the designated area, we do not really have a reliable way of reaching out to the audience to see their responses to the recently distributed ads or campaigns.
Interacting with customers on short notice is better in digital marketing through the use of social media channels and applications. This means it is not available for traditional marketing strategies.
Digital Marketing
The business practice of selling or promoting products and services through using tools of online marketing such as marketing in social media, search engine, and email. It is marketing at its core, however, the medium being digital or virtual. It is also called Internet marketing due to its reliance on the internet and online-based devices or technology such as computers, laptops, and mobile phones used as platforms to promote products and services.
Let us look into the pros and cons of what digital marketing has to offer,
● Social Media channels that are used for boosting connectivity without face-to-face interaction
● Websites of the company or the relating marketing campaigns or services
● Content Marketing is the form of marketing whose main task is to work on the creation, publications, and distribution of content to the target audience digitally.
● Affiliate Marketing is a form of marketing where the performance of a certain benefactor or customer encourages rewards in the form of affiliates
● Inbound Marketing is a method of the art racking customers through the creation of worthwhile content or experience personalized for their greater interest
● Email Marketing is a method of marketing where customers are being sent commercial emails or messages, with the aim of informing, advertising, or requesting business, sales, or donation.
● PPC (pay per click) is a model of digital marketing specifically through the internet. Here, when an ad is clicked the advertiser pays a fee. Basically, each visit to one website is bought instead of getting customers in a natural manner
Native Advertising is all about showing ads relevant to the content being searched.
● SEM (search engine marketing) is another form of digital marketing where the more visible a website is in the result of a search engine better promotions in line for that website, this goes on with the process of paid advertising.
Pros
● There are Multiple Ways to Reach Out to Target Audience: The ways through which one can reach out to their audience in a discrete manner would be through social media applications, channels, platforms, and even forums. When there is an interaction between a consumer and a provider, the consumer gets to know how the company treats its target audience and plays a great role in maintaining long-term relationships with its products and services.
Through active social media engagement, the providers are also given feedback, reviews, and testimonials by customers upon using their product or service. This further improves the performance and popularity rate of the website and the overall image of the brand. There are instances where the image may be poorly represented due to bad rapport during customer interactions and engagements.
● Easier to Manage Campaigns: Since there are many specific methods of tracking measurements of digital marketing campaigns, the management of campaigns comes by easier than in traditional marketing.
This proves to be a good thing when it comes to the managing team, it keeps a record of tracks and past campaign demographics to compare and study the difference between what works and what doesn’t.
● Specific Targeting: Through digital marketing, the task of specifying a product to a target audience or individual becomes easy. Everyone has got access to the internet nowadays, and this has helped marketers to better track the type of customers they cater to on a regular basis. This includes having in depth analysis and research on consumer behavior through navigating the content they consume on a daily basis.
Certain mobile applications or platforms encourage this as an open tool to know what kind of content a specific pool of customers are interested in, through which the product or service providers channel the advertisements and use other digital marketing methods to gain traction to their website way or the other.
Cons
● Digital Ads: Digital ads often pop up in users’ feeds and this can get annoying at times, thus leaving a bad impression of the brand in general. Most customers are tolerant of these pop-ups and sidetracked distractions, but it doesn’t mean that they would encourage them.
In digital marketing, placements of ads shouldn’t be done in the same fashion as traditional marketing, instead, try to find entertaining or smart ways of presenting an ad without distracting the user’s timeline.
● Temporary Imprint: With the growing popularity of digital ads, you can see ads in every corner of a website. It’s become a norm now, and sometimes people tend to simply ignore the space of content to go about with their own work relating to the website they just visited
Compared to the impact traditional ads have, digital ads do not make a bold impression unless it’s a big and visually captivating advertisements or posters.
● Ever Changing: Digital marketing is not constant like traditional marketing, part of the reason why finding the right specialist is getting more difficult. Companies have to find the right candidates through agencies and contractors and so most of them also go for local agencies such as the digital marketing agencies near me. By searching for digital marketing agencies near me one can find out how many firms and agencies are present in and around their neighborhood.
The Difference?
The differences are clearly stated above but another common difference would be the age range of the customers of both types of marketing strategies. The older generation who grew up reading newspapers and signboards would much prefer traditional prints and materials however, the younger generation prefers digital ads and services due to their instant performance.
Which To Use?
Both types of marketing trends have their own pros and cons, it’s up to the professionals of your company to carefully execute your marketing plan by choosing the best favorable option which would suit your current status and situation.
According to the demographics of the target customers, learn to choose the right forms of marketing strategies to boost your business performance and goals.
