The growth of digital marketing has come at the expense of traditional marketing, for many companies. This is because, whilst they put time and importance on discovering, learning and then working on these new forms of marketing they put less and less time into the older forms of marketing.
But, the companies that do this are less likely to have a successful campaign, because although digital may be new and exciting and it may seem like every single person spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on their phone, they don’t. There are of course many benefits to digital, but there are still also benefits to traditional methods – and the most effective marketing strategies are actually those that combine the two.
Traditional marketing refers to promotion, advertising and campaigns that have been used for many, many years and take place offline. This could include print advertising – newsletters, billboards, flyers, posters, business cards and newspaper print ads, plus TV and radio adverts.
So, here are 5 reasons why you really don’t want to be overlooking this form of advertising.
- It can be a cost-effective way of marketing
Many people believe that traditional advertising is extremely expensive, whilst digital is much more cost effective. However, this is not the case. Traditional can be much cheaper than you think – Poster Printing, for example, can cost as little as 27.95 for 100 A2 posters. Likewise 100 business cards can be purchased for 4.99!
- Traditional marketing can reinforce your digital marketing
One disadvantage of traditional marketing is that you can’t interact with your audience in a way you can with digital. However, an advantage is that you can use it to direct people to the digital side of marketing and then start the interaction. These are people who may not have seen your digital advertising if it hadn’t been for the offline advertising directing them there.
The best way to do this is to add a digital call to action – TV adverts may ask people to like their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter, for example. Often, Colorado marketing agencies or an agency local to you, will encourage encoporating social media into their adverts, to use all platforms to advertise a product or website. Once here they can provide them with additional details and information.
3.Not everyone is online
Since the rise of smartphones it does appear that people stare at their phones 24/7 – but firstly not actually everyone is online, however secondly, because so many people are, that means you are fighting to get their attention.
Traditional marketing is put within a space that is accessible to everyone and can be seen by anyone. It also provides those people with something physical that they can keep as a reminder – such as a business card to put in your purse or a poster to attach to the fridge. This is information that won’t disappear and get lost amongst a constantly updating timeline.
4.People are accustomed to traditional advertising
People expect traditional marketing, it has been around for so many years that if they were not seeing your advertising within this medium they may question why. Even corporate giants such as Coca Cola don’t overlook the benefits of traditional advertising!
5.It can target a local audience
Digital marketing is ideal for reaching an audience that traditional marketing never could – but, the beauty of traditional marketing is that it can target a local audience. A poster outside a pub advertising a karaoke night will capture passing trade that online advertising may not have!
So, whilst you definitely shouldn’t overlook traditional marketing, you also don’t want this to be your sole form of advertising. The most successful campaigns will use traditional alongside digital marketing to reinforce and back up each other.