There has been an appreciable change in the marketing strategies for small and big businesses alike in the past couple of years. From the traditional modes of marketing such as print media and television advertisements, the marketing style has now shifted almost completely to digital marketing.
But how can you determine that your marketing strategy is the right one for your business and will give you a good return on your investment? After all, both traditional marketing and digital marketing are equally important in their own right and have several advantages and disadvantages associated with them.
This is why Revolution Productions is here to provide you with a quick insight on each of them. Check out.
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What Are Traditional and Digital Marketing?
Marketing a product through traditional modes of marketing include printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines along with television and radio commercials as well as billboards, flyers and so on.
On the other hand, when you market your product online, that is, through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or when you create a website for your business and promote the products or services through a dedicated website, it is called digital marketing. Some other components of digital marketing include pop-up ads, promotional e-mails, blogs, and business networking websites like LinkedIn.
The Good and Bad about Traditional Marketing
Although the focus is more on digital marketing nowadays, traditional marketing has its own advantages as well. Firstly, it is the most well-known mode of marketing and the kind that people are comfortable with. We have been reading advertisements in newspapers and magazines and watching commercials in between our favorite TV shows since as far back as we can remember.
For a major section of the population who are not so tech-savvy, traditional marketing is still the best way of introducing and promoting a product. It is also easier to understand and if you are relying on print advertising such as flyers or magazine ads, it also enables your prospective customers to retain a hard copy of the advertisement for future reference.
On the other hand, there are several areas where traditional marketing falls far behind when you consider the cost efficiency and effectiveness. There is no direct interaction with the customers. Thus, you can only wish and hope that your advertisements find their way to the right audience.
The costs involved in traditional marketing are significantly higher as for an impactful advertising campaign, you will have to commit for a long term investment. Also, there are a lot of restrictions regarding space in the print media and time in the television commercials such that there is very little scope left for customizing the advertisements.
Why You Should Go For Digital Marketing?
The reason why digital marketing has become much more popular is simply because of the major role that internet plays in our lives. We may not realize it, but we rely on the internet for more than 70 to 80% of our daily activities. Whether it is researching for a project, reading the daily news, catching up with our friends on Facebook or watching the latest uploads on YouTube, the internet has a significant presence in many aspects of our lives.
Moreover, at least 90% of shoppers prefer to research the product they are buying online first before actually purchasing it. It is little surprise that marketing of a product through the internet proves to be much more effective as compared to traditional marketing.
Some other advantages that digital marketing enjoys over traditional marketing are as follows:
- Less expensive
Traditional marketing requires a considerable upfront investment and has, therefore, remained the preferred domain for big businesses who have huge marketing budgets. Digital marketing requires very basic expenses and is much more affordable. It is also more suitable for small businesses such as start-ups.
- More scope for interacting with customers
Through digital marketing, you can introduce surveys, Live Q&A sessions, and webinars which not only promote your product but also help your targeted customers in getting back to your with their comments or queries. The spate of marketing through e-mails, messages and social media also ensures that you are constantly connected with your target customers rather than leaving it all to chance.
- Results are quantifiable
With digital marketing, you can actually get real-time results on how effective your marketing strategy is. For example, you can easily count the number of visitors who access your product’s web page, the time that they spend on browsing the page and the number of customers who finally buy the product.
- Bigger audience group
TV commercials, as well as print advertisements, suffer from geographical limitations because they are accessible only to people living in a certain area. However, with digital marketing, you can expand your reach across the world as the internet has no boundaries. You can customize your campaign to address the specific requirements of target customers living in different cities or even countries.
Which Should You Choose?
Digital marketing should definitely be the preferred mode of marketing, especially if your business is a bit cash-strapped. Since it is significantly less expensive than traditional marketing and has a wider reach of audience, it is bound to give you a better return on investment. On the other hand, in the long term, a mix of both traditional and digital marketing styles would give your business the best possible marketing strategy for the most effective product promotion.
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