Since the boom of the internet, marketing is becoming more and more digital for brands and companies all over the world. As each year passes, companies are spending more and more on digital marketing than ever before.
Marketing today comes through avenues such as social media, robust websites, content creation and pay-per-click advertising. Digital marketing makes a lot of sense especially for small businesses. There are many cost effective ways to market your brand digitally which is appealing to brands both big and small.
This does beg the question, is traditional marketing dead? With the shift in focus to digital channels it is important to examine whether or not traditional marketing channels are still effective for brands to pursue. Below we are breaking down the channels of traditional marketing and if they are truly dead.
What Is Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing is outreach done through channels such as Outdoor, Broadcast, Print, Direct Mail, Telemarketing and Signage. These traditional methods of marketing center themselves around a mass effect of a bigger population of potential customers.
Outdoor marketing is messaging that comes through avenues such as billboards, vehicle wraps, posters and more. Broadcasting primarily focuses on TV and Radio. Traditional marketing like print handles magazines and newspapers. Direct Mail consists of catalogs and postcards. Telemarketing is done through phone calls and occasionally text messages. Finally, signage usually messages through window displays and other large surface areas.
For decades, these marketing practices have carved out the entire framework for brands looking to grow their customer base. With digital marketing increasing more and more each year, there is fierce competition over which channels to primarily focus on. There are pros and cons to traditional marketing. Check them out below.
Traditional Marketing: The Pros
The most apparent appeal of traditional marketing is that it is impactful and easy for potential customers to comprehend. Billboards are all over the country with large surface area. Also, TV commercials are extremely normal to everyone’s daily life. Therefore, with an exciting message on a billboard or a funny TV commercial, these are often very easy for consumers to digest.
However, while making an impact is important, another pro of traditional marketing is that these methods and materials are more permanent than others. For example, print marketing materials have “staying power” in magazines, newspapers, catalogs and more. Whether there is a recycling effort or print materials are a constant in your dentist’s waiting room, there is a valuable permanence.
The last major pro of traditional marketing is that they tend to be more memorable than other methods. Think about how many ads you scroll through each and every day never to be thought of again. It is overwhelming how redundant some ads can be. On the other hand, every year the Super Bowl runs traditional commercials that have just about as much anticipation as the actual game itself. These legacy marketing methods provide a sense of memorability during a time where attention spans are growing shorter and shorter.
Traditional Marketing: The Cons
One of the most glaring cons of traditional marketing is the difficulty in measuring campaign success. In a nutshell, the tools for digital marketing that are available to assist in measuring campaign performance significantly outmatch traditional marketing. For example, with a billboard or TV commercial the only way to truly measure the success of those methods is to survey your customers in hopes they relay how they heard about you. The hope is that customers will reply saying they are buying because of your running commercial or billboard. However, this is often inconsistent when comparing against digital marketing tools.
Often, brands run into the next major con when deciding on traditional marketing methods which is that they are much more expensive than digital marketing alternatives. Ad buys for magazines, billboards, commercials and more are usually way too expensive for an up and coming brand to sink resources into. Almost every form of these traditional methods will set back a company a lot of money.
Finally, one of the biggest cons when dealing with traditional methods is the lack of direct interaction with your potential audience. With digital marketing methods, you are able to see a very detailed journey that a singular consumer takes in order to get to your website and patronize your business. This makes room for ambiguity about how your audience is reacting to a certain advertising effort. The value in marketing is knowing how and why your potential customer base interacts with content. Traditional methods lack that.
Traditional Marketing: Is It Dead?
The short answer? No, traditional marketing methods are not dead. In fact, many of these methods are still extremely valuable in today’s marketing landscape. There are currently rural areas of the country that respond positively to direct mailings. Whereas other areas are big proponents of billboards.
No method of marketing is ever “dead” because it is all about what works for your specific brand. No two companies are exactly the same, so why would we try to make sure their marketing efforts are identical? You shouldn’t and being able to understand how your audience responds to certain avenues will directly guide your marketing methods.
Both traditional and digital marketing efforts working in tandem allows your brand to grow in a variety of ways. Gathering data and allocating a healthy marketing budget will give you the flexibility to try multiple campaigns to see where you are most effective.
MKT Can Help You Get Started
Are you looking into either traditional or digital marketing efforts for your brand? If so, you are in the right place. MKT is a full service digital marketing agency that makes your brand’s vision our mission.
Our goal is to create a collaborative effort between us and your brand to identify the goals that you have and how we can best assist you in achieving them. Whether it is creating a billboard, print ad, or direct mail campaign we can help elevate your marketing efforts.
Contact us today and we can start outlining the goals you have in mind for your brand. We promise it will be worth it!