Paulina Romero HIn our previous blog, we talked about the reasons to invest in marketing. Now we are going to talk about the differences between traditional and digital marketing so that based on this information, you can decide on which one to invest, according to your company's resources and needs.
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Traditional or Digital Marketing
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing is the kind of advertising that was done before the internet arrived: Television, radio, brochures, billboards, cold-calling ... all those ways we had to reach the customer when the internet was not a reality. This advertising is still done and yes, it helps to immediately broadcast your message to a lot of people. However, it does have some downsides compared to digital marketing:
- The cost of production and distribution of the message is very high.
- The campaign is broadcasted to the entire public, so you are investing large amounts of money in audiences that most likely will never become your clients (think of menstrual pads that half the population will never buy and yet, companies pay for everyone to see these ads).
- Sales and marketing work separately. Millions are invested in advertising that works separately from sales. Big strategic mistake.
- Analyzing the actual impact of campaigns can cost more than advertising itself.
Digital Marketing
On the other hand, we have digital marketing. This marketing is the one that was born to make the most out of the internet boom. The difference is that companies no longer need to broadcast very expensive messages to thousands of people, hoping that some of them will end up becoming customers.
Campaigns are now aimed at real potential customers. How? Each potential buyer looks online for what he or she actually wants to buy so, by having an online presence, companies attract those visitors who will very likely become customers. A digital marketing strategy - especially attraction marketing:
- Is less expensive than the production and broadcasting of traditional marketing campaigns
- Allows you to invest in visitors who have a high possibility of becoming clients, since they are already looking online for what you offer. In other words, you optimize your investment.
- Each digital marketing campaign can be linked in the end, to an online sale. Your sales and marketing teams work together, joining forces.
- You can analyze the impact of campaigns in real time, allowing you to adapt your strategy in good time, in case something is not working as expected.
Which is best for you?
That will depend on the needs and resources of your company. We now know that traditional marketing requires a very large investment and that it won't target your potential customers as a digital marketing strategy would, specially, as an attraction marketing would. On the other hand, it does broadcast your message immediately, to thousands of people, so if you need lots of people to watch it, as soon as possible (whether they are potential customers or not), it's definitely the option that will solve your problem.
On the other hand, a digital marketing strategy is less expensive, targeted and measurable, but it can also take longer to reach a large number of people than with a traditional campaign, since it requieres to rank your site well on search engines so that the company's site is offered as a reliable answer.
Now, facing the need to immediately reach a large number of people, you have three options:
- Pay for traditional advertising
- Use both strategies (digital and traditional) since if you broadcast your message on traditional media, but don't have an active website to land this message and turn it into a purchase, the investment looses its potential of turning your efforts into sales.
- Pay for being advertised on the internet. This option (such as Google Ads) is different from the attraction marketing that we suggest to work with, but it's definitely an option if you want to reach more people in less time, on digital media. The problem with this advertising is that:
- Its cost is based on auctions so the price may end up being very high.
- As soon as you stop paying for it, your ad disappears (just like it does on traditional media when you stop paying the broadcasting media).
Betting on a digital marketing strategy to attract customers takes time, but in the long run, it allows you to grow exponentially without having to pay more for it. One same platform (your active website) will be used to handle marketing and sales over time, regardless of the increase in customers that you will have.
If you want to learn more about digital marketing and the options that DataBranding can offer, contact us! We'd be glad to help.
