Should a business spend its marketing budget on traditional marketing, with its long and successful heritage, or digital marketing, a relative newcomer? Or does a blended approach make the most sense?
Print was the first form of traditional marketing
If you don’t count the “Town Crier,” history tells us that print was the first type of traditional marketing. Newspapers, magazines, catalogs, brochures and flyers evolved in Europe from the Middle Ages onward and became the accepted way of drawing buyers to sellers. Newspapers and magazines then and now received the bulk of their income from advertisers, not subscribers. They were and still are a viable way to tell the public about your product or service.
Radio and television marketing was a product of the first half of the twentieth century. They are called broadcasters because their marketing couldn’t differentiate between households and their messages had to target everyone. Both are still a very effective way to establish a brand and reach a wide audience.
Traditional marketing is based on an outbound strategy
A retailer sends out broadsides of information using one or more media types hoping that customers will come into his store. Or a wholesaler may advertise to his target market and count on his direct salespeople finding prospects who have heard the advertisement.
Traditional marketing is expensive because it requires not only a message, but also the medium to carry the message to prospective customers. Traditional marketing is intrusive: the message is delivered without regard to the prospects’ schedule or interest.
Digital marketing, on the other hand, is an inbound strategy
Digital marketing depends on prospects going online to see the marketing message. It works because the Internet is unparalleled in its ability to provide information. Going online lets you buy or learn about a product on your schedule, and on your terms.
Over time, businesses have found websites, social media, email, and podcasts as ways to attract visitors and deliver messages. Successful businesses deliver creative content, images, and video to attract and inform their prospects with a low-key sales message.
Digital marketing has its advantages:
1. Digital marketing is not intrusive
Information is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But looking for information is up to the visitor who will make the effort at a time that is convenient to him.
2. Digital marketing costs less
Businesses still have to develop their marketing message, but the delivery medium is nearly free. Granted, the infrastructure that inbound marketing rides on has costs, but it is minuscule compared to what’s required for traditional marketing.
3. Digital marketing levels the playing field
For the first time, small businesses can compete with any business as long as they have a solid marketing approach and operate in a niche market. They can operate effectively where they won’t be overwhelmed by reputation, capital, or advantages assembled by large businesses over a long period of time.
4. Digital marketing provides measurement
Digital marketers have learned to evaluate traffic to their websites and make adjustments to the message they present to their prospects. Smart marketers are using these analytics to constantly fine-tune their message to reach maximum effectiveness.
5. Digital marketing provides flexibility
Businesses using digital marketing can take action based upon their ability to measure. That action isn’t limited to the marketing message but also with the business itself. Staffing levels or products can be fine-tuned. The analytics suggest almost immediately the necessary action to take.
6. Digital marketing supports direct sales
Marketers work to inform and educate visitors in a helpful, non-salesy way. For instance, marketers often provide ebooks or case studies to visitors to get more detailed information about the visitor. If the visitor believes this material (such as an ebook) has value, he provides his contact info to receive the free resource. Based upon the material he requests, the company can begin an e-mail dialogue and turn a visitor into a prospect.
7. Digital marketing provides information that prospects seek
Just as marketing supports sales, smart marketers get information from sales about what questions or objections the prospects have and can make adjustments immediately.
Integrate digital with traditional marketing
If you have an established business, your community and customers have likely learned about you through your use of traditional marketing. Don’t forget that current customers and prospects are only one of your audiences. A sudden move away from traditional marketing could leave a vacuum that a competitor might fill. You should continue to use advertising in the way it has worked in the past.
Because of the number of websites and social media pages coming online every day, it will take some time for you to establish your Internet presence. If you come to mind when someone is thinking about your product or service, it is likely because of past traditional marketing. Don’t cut that connection! Rather, build upon it by first moving a portion of your budget (and a bit more) to the inbound project. Some even suggest that you start with a minimal (but high-quality) effort to build your online presence and then add to your presence after analyzing your traffic. See what people are looking for first, then augment your effort as you learn what things may be missing.
As you analyze the effect of your digital marketing on visitor traffic, time on your website, etc., also analyze where your revenue comes from. Website visitor traffic is only important when it boosts revenue. Over time, you may want to reduce traditional marketing in favor of digital. Do it carefully. It may be that your digital marketing is successful because of careful spending on traditional marketing. And if your joint budgets are exceeded by increased revenue, don’t change anything.