In the past, businesses relied heavily on traditional marketing methods to reach their target audiences. However, with the advent of digital marketing, businesses now have a new way to reach consumers.
This has many companies wondering where their focus should be: digital marketing or traditional marketing. Each marketing method has its pros, and there are a number of factors for a business to consider when choosing which route to take.
If you’re on the fence about which marketing strategy is right for your business, keep reading because in this article we’ll discuss the advantages of each, as well as look at what the statistics show.
How Does Digital Marketing Differ From Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing focuses on print media such as newspapers, magazines, and direct mail. It also includes broadcast media, such as television and radio. Digital marketing on the other hand, relies heavily on the internet and mobile devices. Digital marketing encompasses a wide range of strategies including SEO, paid ads, content marketing, social media marketing, and email marketing. Websites, blogs, social media, and email are all digital channels that can be used to reach potential customers.
So let’s take a look at the advantages of each marketing strategy.
Traditional Marketing:
- Builds Brand Awareness
Even in the digital age we live in today, traditional marketing methods such as print ads, television commercials, and direct mail are highly effective for building brand awareness. Most consumers are exposed to traditional forms of marketing on a daily basis. As a result, this type of marketing can be a really great way to reach a large audience and increase brand awareness.
- Builds Trust
Traditional marketing methods are also highly effective at building trust and credibility with consumers. Take TV commercials for instance— when consumers see a brand on TV it automatically builds credibility. Companies that are advertising on TV have bigger marketing budgets and are investing in their brand and seeing them on TV, or in a magazine, or hearing about them on the radio, makes them appear legitimate.
Another successful traditional marketing method that can be used to build trust and credibility with potential customers is using celebrity endorsements. When potential customers see that a company is endorsed by someone they admire, they are more likely to have trust in the quality of the product or service.
Digital Marketing:
- Highly Targeted
One of the main advantages of digital marketing is that it can be highly targeted. With traditional marketing, businesses typically cast a wide net in the hope of reaching as many potential customers as possible. However, with digital marketing, businesses can use data to identify their target audience and tailor their campaigns accordingly. They can adjust their marketing message to address specific customer groups. This allows businesses to avoid wasting time and money on advertising that isn’t likely to be seen by their ideal customers.
- More Cost-Effective
Digital marketing is often significantly less expensive than traditional marketing methods, making it a more viable option for businesses of all sizes. As we just mentioned, thanks to advances in technology, businesses can now target their online advertising to reach specific demographics, interests, and locations. This ensures that your ad dollars are being spent on ads that are more likely to reach your target customers.
Digital marketing is also often less expensive to produce than traditional marketing materials like print ads or TV commercials. As a result, businesses can get more bang for their buck with digital marketing.
- Easier To Track
Digital marketing is generally more trackable than traditional marketing. Thanks to tools like Google Analytics, businesses can see exactly how many people are seeing their ads, engaging with, and clicking through to their website. They can use these findings to fine-tune their campaigns for maximum results.
- Easier To Update
Traditional marketing methods can be updated, but it’s more costly to do so. If you’re running a tv commercial, radio ad, or printed advertisement, it takes a lot more work to make edits to it— not to mention the costs associated with producing new materials.
With digital marketing, you can make edits and updates to online campaigns with minimal effort and costs involved, which allows you to continually optimize for better results.
- More Customer Engagement
One of the key advantages of digital marketing is that it allows businesses to engage directly with their customers and potential customers. It’s a more interactive way for companies to reach their target audience. Through digital channels, companies can engage in two-way communication with their audience.
This also allows them to get feedback from their audience in real time. As a result, businesses that use digital marketing can build stronger relationships with their customers and better understand their needs, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.
- Builds Brand Awareness
We previously mentioned that traditional marketing is great for building brand awareness, but digital marketing is very effective at this as well.
There are a variety of digital marketing techniques that can be used to build brand awareness, from online ads and social media campaigns, to influencer marketing and content marketing. By creating engaging content and running targeted campaigns, businesses can reach a wider audience and create a more recognizable brand.
- Builds A Positive Reputation
The majority of consumers today go online to research a company before doing business with them. This is why companies who actively work on building their online reputation have a huge leg up. The way that this can be done is through a digital marketing strategy called Reputation Marketing. You can learn more about how to attain a 5 star rating online through Reputation Marketing in this article.
Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing: Statistics
We’ve looked at key differences and advantages between digital and traditional marketing, but let’s look at what the stats show:
- Over 80% of consumers research a business online before purchasing a product or service.
- More than 80% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
- More than 90% of B2C businesses have reported that social media is one of their most effective content marketing channels.
- Over 70% of consumers want to learn about products and services through digital content, such as blog posts.
- SEO B2B marketing has a close rate that is almost 8 times than that of traditional marketing.
Is Digital Marketing Better Than Traditional Marketing?
Both digital and traditional strategies have their place in the marketing world, and that will continue into the future. Is digital marketing better than traditional marketing? The answer to that question is going to be specific to each business and their needs and goals.
For certain companies, digital marketing methods may be the best solution for them, and for other companies traditional marketing may be best. And some companies will have the most success by implementing a combination of both traditional and digital marketing methods.
With that being said, it is important for businesses to have an online presence in today’s digital world. Companies that don’t build an online presence will likely lose out on market share to their competitors that do.
Have Questions? Are you interested in growing your online presence but aren’t sure which combination of marketing channels will work best in helping you achieve your goals? Chat with one of our experts here at The Alchemy Consulting Group.
We understand the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing and have a proven track record of success helping companies of all sizes and across a variety of industries grow their companies through online advertising. We are also well-versed in traditional marketing methods and have helped our clients get into TV and radio advertising, as well as implement direct mail strategies.
Contact us today by calling 877-978-2110, or schedule a call at a time that works for you: https://calendly.com/gordonvanwechel/15min.
