With more consumers utilizing digital platforms to learn about products and services, many businesses have switched their marketing efforts to the internet. Though digital marketing techniques such as social media, web content, and videos are all great ways to reach your target audience, neglecting traditional forms of marketing could work against you. While internet marketing is often a lot quicker and in some cases more affordable, there are some advantages to traditional marketing that digital platforms have not been able to replace.
What is Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing is best defined as any form of advertising that has been utilized by companies for many years and has a proven success rate. Some of the more common forms of traditional marketing might include:
Business Cards – business cards have been used for eons. It is an affordable marketing material that serves as a “mini introduction” to those you provide it to. With companies like Printastic, creating business cards with contact information is fairly easy to accomplish.
Direct Mail – Direct mailings are a big hit once again. Why? Well, because not too many people receive mail anymore. Paperless billing and online payment methods have reduced the need for mailed correspondence or invoices. Since customers don’t get as much mail as they used to, the chances of them receiving, viewing and responding to your advertisements are high.
Traditional = Tangible
Medical and scientific research has discovered that the average person can likely remember about seven to 10 things at once before they forget something. When you consider the amount of things that go on in a person’s day and the amount of time they spend searching the internet, the chances are pretty high that they could forget all about your company website or social media page. However, by providing them with a more tangible form or marketing like a business card, you’re essentially increasing the chances that they’ll remember your business in the future.
What’s great about traditional marketing resources like business cards is that they are very affordable and easy to customize. Now, not only will you have an interactive, mobile-friendly website and social media page, but you also have a business card that will provide them with the necessary information to reach out to you when they need your services. This makes it easy for consumers to remember and pass the information along to others that might be interested.
Traditional = Personal Connections
Building relationships with your customers is ultimately how you make a name for yourself in your industry. Though utilizing platforms like social media are great for developing a social connection with your target audience, nothing trumps the impact of face-to-face connections. Attending networking events, participating in community events, and other traditional marketing strategies will help you build better connections.
When people can actually put a face and a voice with the name, they feel more inclined to do business with you. Face-to-face conversations allow people to see the sincerity in your face and hear the passion in your voice as you talk about your brand and how you can service their needs.
Traditional Includes All Audiences
Here’s the other thing about online marketing – not everyone is tech savvy. In order for a customer to find your business, they’ll need to have a computer or mobile device and an internet connection. Not to mention they’d also need to be familiar with how to input the right keywords to generate search results with your company page on it, create social media accounts to interact with you through other platforms, and utilize online applications to do business.
Though the world is clearly relying on technology a lot more than in times past, not everyone is willing to or informed enough to utilize the internet. However, traditional marketing avenues such as flyers, postcards, direct mail campaigns, and so forth are sources that everyone can use without needing to take too many steps or learn too many “new tricks”.
Phasing out traditional marketing altogether could cause you to miss out on a lot of business. The key to building your brand and essentially growing your business is to stand out from the competition, build connections, and fulfill a need (or want). In order to get to that point you must first be recognized, and maintaining your digital marketing strategies while also incorporating traditional forms of marketing into your branding strategy will help you to do just that.
About Carson Derrow
