Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing

Traditional vs Digital Marketing has always  been one of the most debated topics. Traditional Marketing is defined as the Offline Marketing that does not need the Internet for advertisement purposes. This method has been evolving since time immemorial, for decades. However, owing to technological developments its popularity as well as usage is on the wane; particularly with the advent of Digital Marketing.

We often hear and notice advertisements on the TV, in the Newspaper, or on the Radio (though not much in use now-a-days) during day-in and day-out of our daily routine life. When we go out of our home our eyes cannot but capture conventional ad media like Hoardings, Kiosks, Flex Boards, Posters, Banners, Wall Paintings, Glow Signs, Scrolling Ads on the top of Subways etc. dis-played by companies to draw the attention of the passersby so that sales leads are generated thereof.

The languages also play a vital role and this differs from region to region. For example, if we take Kolkata, the ads might be either in English or in Bengali or in both. So that is how traditional marketing harnesses its effectiveness. The ultimate objective is to strike in the minds of even the most common men who do not know the use of the internet or the modern multimedia devices like androids and all.  

For many businesses, the strategies for traditional marketing give better results depending upon the type of products/services the company deals in. Their target  audiences favour traditional marketing when questions of option come up: Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing.  

* Traditional marketing  is a very effective tool if one wants to target an older population. In this respect a lot of research and surveys have been carried out and it is seen that people over 50s watch and read newspapers double in numbers as compared to ones in their 20s and 30s.

*This is a very suitable marketing strategy if someone wants to flurish or develop a business, an institute, school or a firm with the assistance of a larger section of the local audience. Small businesses can be grown better using Flyers, Billboards, Posters, Kiosks, Banners etc. Why because this type of Ads draw the attention of local audiences who reside in the city or in that locality. 

*One of the biggest advantages of this type of traditional advertisements is that the target audiences come across time and again as they remain displayed on their way to home or office or market. Whereas in the case of digital marketing people may avoid or skip them easily.

TRADITIONAL MARKETING METHODS :

The followings are some of the methods of Traditional Marketing:-

*TV Commercials: One of the forms of traditional marketing is broadcasting Ads on television screens. Millions and millions TV viewers come across these ads and the entities harness a good deal of benefit out of that.

*Radio Commercials: Previously Radios played an important role in the late 20th century. A section of people who could not afford to buy a TV Set opted for radios and CD cassettes in those days. There were a wide variety of advertisements that used to be broadcasted through radios.

*Flyers: Many business owners and entities still use printing flyers to promote their products and services. Flyers are also called Handouts.

 *Billboards: Billboards contain pictures of products or services for the advertisement purposes and they are usually found in the prime locations of highways or at junctures of more than one roads so as to easily come in the notice of commuters. Usually brand or top companies use this type of ads since they are a bit expensive.

*Magazine and Newspaper Ads: Newspaper and magazines served as one of the finest sources of collecting information about any products or services.

*Telephone and SMS Marketing: These include phone calls and text messages .Of course now-a-days WhatsApp messages play an important role in catering information about any products or services.

*Referral: Referral is the term used when the organisation asks its employees and customers to recommend their products or services to their friends, relatives or neighbours.

* Direct Mail: Many entities still mail their ads pertaining to their products or services in postcards or notices to the people in the company’s target area or city for the purpose of nurturing.

Pros and Cons of Traditional Marketing:-

When it comes to comparing Traditional marketing vs Digital Marketing, the traditional methods are assumed obsolete and irrelevant. However, many of these techniques are still believed to be useful and effective even today due to some obvious reasons.

Depending upon the type of business and target audience, traditional marketing methods are still thought to be the better option. However, the following are some of  the Pros and Cons.

Pros:

*If one wants to target an older demographic, traditional marketing is the better choice.   Because it has already been researched and surveyed that audiences aged 50+spend almost twice the time reading the newspaper and watching TV as compared to youngsters aged 21-34. 

*This type of marketing renders best results for businesses looking for building larger local consumers. A small business may harness much through responses resulting from billboards, kiosks, flyers and events rather than competing for digital space against brand businesses.

*TV or Radio Commercials display a number of times from morning till late night reminding the audiences about product or services .Whereas digital marketing initiatives may be skipped through or blocked on the part of the people aged 50+ who are the actual decision makers.

Cons: 

*Sending printed postcards to local audiences can be expensive, moreover there is no guarantee that the recipents will show interest in the products or services that are offered.

*Traditional marketing methods may take weeks, or months to bring results. One can not say someone has read the newspaper ad unless they come forward. Even if they follow-up, one can not say, without any survey, that it was a lead following that ad.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing or Online marketing is the process by virtue of which brands or products or services can be promoted using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web based advertising but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.

Common Digital Marketing Methods:

*Website Content

*Email Campaign

*Content Marketing

*Social Media Posts

*Clickable Ads

*Affiliate Marketing

*Search Engine Optimization(SEO)

Now-a-days these strategies have undoubtedly wide popularity because of the fact that the consumers use the internet and mobile devices more frequently than before. According to a survey report there are 4.95 billion active internet users globally and 4.62 billion active social media users. Obviously it makes a lot of sense.

Benefits of Digital Marketing:

With the advent of new technologies in this fast moving world digital marketing has become very popular. Now-a-days people can do shopping using the internet and smartphones without moving anywhere in person and thereby curtailing transportation,inventory, and other related expenses.

Due to the current technological advancements, digital marketing methods and strategies will continue to grow further. There are plenty of ways to in for digital marketing. Since the technology is the latest one, it is essential to acquire maximum knowledge regarding latest technologies and their tactics to apply properly.

Following are the benefits of digital marketing over traditional marketing:-

*It is quite simple to track and collect the data of the audiences involved in viewing the digital ads and the same can be used for nurturing in future.

*Business owners can advertise for their products or services at free of cost on many platforms.For example, it is possible to send and receive mail without incurring any cost. Whereas in traditional marketing, it will involve a lot of cost to print and send individual postcards or letters.

*It is due to the fact that digital marketing has a vast and wider scope and possibility, it will help businesses acquire the attention of the audiences globally.

Forms of Digital Marketing:

*Social Media Marketing: Since Social Media Marketing is gaining popularity by leaps and bounds particularly amongst the youths, many business owners and startups place their advertisements in the form of posts,videos and stories on almost all social media platforms.

*Email Marketing: It is one of the forms of digital marketing where business owners send electronic mail to the target customers.

*Content Marketing: It helps  do advertisement in the style of storytelling to the audiences.

*PPC ( Pay per Click): It is a paid type advertisement method. It lasts for a short period. The moment payment is stopped, no ad will be shown.

*Mobile Marketing: It provides ads on smartphones,laptops, and tablets to the target audiences.

*Search Engine Marketing (SEO): SEO is an organic type of digital marketing and is used by many entities. Its main objective is to do ranking for the website of the organisation. The moment it is searched, it should come on top of the SERP. Of course, it needs customers’ support to get a high rank.

*Affiliate Marketing : Affiliate Marketing is an advertising model by virtue of which a company compensates  third party publishers to generate traffic or leads for the companies products or services and the third party gets some commission for that  and thereby promoting the company’s brand name.

Pros and Cons of Digital Marketing : Digital marketing strategies are in a continuous process of developling with the advent of new technology and trends like voice search and social media use. These strategies comprise the most modern and latest techniques. The following are the pros and cons of Digital Marketing.

Pros:

*Data and traffic involvement can be traced and tracked instantly. When any audience participates on one’s site clicking a link or reading an email or following on social media, the information are captured instantly. One can get a number of insights from the data. This also indicates which type of content works best  for a specific type of audience, which medium gives the most effective results and even what time of the day the best engagement can be achieved.

*Digital marketing is very cheap and it is very cost effective to reach many people at a time. For instance, sending out an email campaign involves very low cost as compared to printing individual postcards and postage charges.

*Digital marketing is highly customisable, so one can tailor one’s campaigns to reach the target.

*It is a great way to build customer relationships, as one can communicate directly with the customers.

*Digital marketing works well for global or scattered audiences due to the fact that it has a vast scope.

Cons:

*One needs to have a strong online presence in order to get succeeded in the field of digital marketing.

*Customer attention spans of duration are shorter online, therefore, one needs to be very creative and engaging.

*Some internet users have ad blockers, so they skip pop-ups or banner ads. Besides, ads can be skipped or removed if premium services are adopted.

*Being new technology, there is every possibility for new trends to emerge very frequently and that is why the digital marketing techniques and strategies need to be evaluated and reevaluated from time to time for effectiveness.The reason being what works well today may not do tomorrow. However, this can be fought with strong foundation and observation.

So, the question arises- which strategy wins over the other while comparing Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing ?

Perhaps Digital Marketing is the best option for most of the users. If one wants to reach a particular group of people irrespective of their location, keeping costs low, one should go with digital marketing. This will allow one to collect valuable information about one’s target audience and thereby help one take more effective marketing campaigns.

However, still there exists the importance of traditional marketing for the older or local audiences. That is why traditional marketing methods may turn out to be more productive and stand out better over digital ones. Although these methods seem to be “ old & obsolete”, in reality they turn out to work well.

When taking into account which marketing strategy is the best for one’s business, one should consider the audiences, their source of information and use the same to take one’s decision. While choosing between traditional marketing vs digital marketing, it is not necessarily correct that one is justly better than the other as they serve different likes. So the conclusion is that one needs to understand one’s own business and audiences to adopt the the strategy that suits better.