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Traditional Marketing vs. Digital Marketing: Why Not Both?


Traditional marketing versus digital marketing has become a hot topic among marketers.

traditional marketing vs. digital marketing

I intended to find out the pros and cons of each and come back with my findings so you can make an informed decision about marketing your brand.

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I will go through what the two terms mean and how they work together. Next, I’ll dive deeper into traditional marketing, which sometimes doesn’t seem to be doing well in the current digital media-dominated landscape.

But if you’re trying to choose between the two, I’ll give you the ending before we even begin: the answer is both.

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What is traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing is all marketing that takes place offline. This includes print, broadcast, direct mail, telephone and out-of-home advertising such as billboards and posters.

It’s called the traditional method because it’s the way marketing was done before the Internet. But even though the modern market has included newer methods, traditional marketing is not disappearing.

traditional marketing versus digital marketing, billboard

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What is digital marketing?

On the other hand, digital marketing is any marketing that is done online. Examples here include paid social media ads, email marketing, and PPC advertising, along with content marketing, SEO, and more.

This post won’t go into all the details, but if you want to dive deeper into digital marketing, check it out What is digital marketing: Everything you need to know.

traditional marketing vs digital marketing, spotify ad

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As the world becomes more digital, the way we sell has also evolved. Not only is digital marketing sometimes more cost-effective than traditional marketing, it’s also a more direct way to connect with your target audience on a global scale.

Digital marketing has now surpassed traditional marketing as the primary way to reach consumers. But in fact, these two strategies coexist and mixing methods are becoming the norm.

traditional marketing versus digital marketing

In today’s environment, it’s no surprise that digital marketing is an increasingly important revenue driver. Actually, 78% of companies who use social selling outperform those who do not.

However, the disadvantages of digital marketing do exist. Chief among them are privacy and security issues. According to the same 2024 report, online data privacy is valued as a human right 74% of survey respondents.

In response, the tide has shifted towards additional safeguards, with 84% of marketers saying this has impacted their strategy. Additionally, digital marketing faces the challenge of people saturated with distracting adslike pop-ups and videos, while conveniently viewing offline ads.

What about artificial intelligence?

In 2024, according to us Marketing Status Report85% of marketers say generative AI has changed the way they create content, and marketers who use AI are “95% more likely to say their marketing strategy was very effective this year than those who don’t .”

AI is, of course, a game-changer for everyone—including the marketing industry—and it remains to be seen how it will affect the relationship between traditional and digital. But one thing’s for sure: it’s the single biggest trend driving industry growth right now.

Types of traditional marketing

Now that we understand both sides of the coin, let’s take a deeper look at traditional marketing. It can take many forms, but the main types are as follows.

Print media

Print media uses newspapers, magazines and other printed materials to advertise to potential customers. This option is scalable, from locally to globally read publications.

A now-infamous example of an attention-grabbing newspaper ad is Norwegian Airlines’ “Brad is Single” campaign, which capitalized on the celebrity couple’s breakup. I’m not one to gossip, but if you want to get some eyes on your low, low prices, that’s the way to do it.

traditional marketing vs. digital marketing, norwegian airlines print ad

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Broadcasting

This applies to TV and radio commercials and aims to create brand awareness. Broadcasting relies on repetition because the same ad will play over and over again.

The ad I always remember is for Wendy’s hamburgers – where a woman examines a competitor’s offering and asks, “Where’s the beef?”

Originally aired in 1984, the ad later became so iconic that I can still conjure up a woman’s voice in my head — even though I didn’t see the ad when it came on. Forty years later, I’d say that’s good advertising.

Direct mail

Direct mail is when marketing materials are sent straight to your door.

These can be letters, postcards, flyers, catalogs or even gifts, and the point is to connect directly with the individual — unlike print or broadcasting, where the goal is to reach as many people as possible.

An example of a direct mail campaign where the mailing was fit for purpose comes from Ikea. To sell one of its side tables, a small pop-up version of the table came into Ikea’s catalog.

It caught my attention because of the perfect parallel between Ikea’s flat furniture and the paper miniature that was supposed to advertise it.

traditional marketing vs digital marketing ikea deskless direct mail ad

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Phone

Telemarketing, which involves cold calling, is another traditional method for reaching potential clients directly. Direct telephone marketing goes one step further than direct mail in order to create a connection with a potential customer.

I’ll admit I had to look up an example for this one, and it’s hard to find much information because the calls are so short-lived.

But I found a leading telemarketing campaign from Microsoft in 2009 when sales reps called to sell Office Suite software. Sources let’s say the company generated $1 million in revenue from this campaign alone.

Out of Home (OOH)

OOH marketing means it takes place outside your home, primary examples being static billboards, posters, bus signs and painted wallscapes.

This is a form of visual marketing that most often uses images to convey its message. OOH is location-based and targets the market to people passing by a particular location.

As someone who has spent most of my life walking around cities as an urban explorer, this type of marketing is most likely to get my attention.

A clever example that comes to mind are the Coca-Cola billboards that appeared in European cities in 2019. The image takes the brand’s signature white ribbon and turns it into a hand, with the hand pointing to a recycling bin on the street.

The campaign refers to Coca-Cola’s promise to fully recycle its bottles. I personally love this kind of interaction between the ad and the urban environment.

traditional marketing versus digital marketing, coca-cola billboard

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The importance of traditional marketing

It may already be pretty clear from the examples above, but I want to break down some of the reasons why traditional marketing is still important alongside digital marketing.

Confidence

Connecting with potential customers is at the heart of marketing. AND recent research show that when asked about their most trusted advertising formats, traditional marketing channels fill the top spots, with print ads in first place.

So even if it seems like we live in a digital marketing landscape, when it comes to trust, the tried and true works better.

Loyalty

Given that I hardly ever receive mail anymore, I was surprised to learn that direct mail ranks third in the same trust polls.

In addition, according to a 2024 post from the Data & Marketing Associationpersonalized mailers are poised to make a comeback among modern marketers because of their ability to convert into long-term loyalty.

Reach

Watching the broadcast, I was skeptical about how effective radio ads could still be, but when I got my hands on 2023 Edison Research resultsit turns out that if you spend some time in your car, you probably listen to AM/FM radio (76% of listeners).

This makes you the perfect audience for ads on that channel.

Cold calling was another one I wasn’t sure about. But just like direct mail, the effectiveness of cold calling is on the rise—and again, I was surprised by the numbers.

Cognism’s State of Cold Calling Report 2024 reported that the success rate of B2B cold calls doubled from 2023 to 2024 (from approximately 2% to 4%).

Pros and cons of traditional marketing

Compared to digital marketing, traditional marketing has both advantages and disadvantages.

Pro: local audience

Traditional marketing is great when you want to reach a local community or local community. If you operate in a small market, very specific ad placements can help you reach the right people.

Pro: Repetition

Another advantage is the repetition of ads. And it’s not just the TV commercials or radio jingles that might get stuck in your head. When we think about OOH, it’s easy to imagine how walking past the same bus stop every day increases visibility and brand awareness.

For: Credibility

And that brings me to credibility. With brand recall, especially in the public spaces we occupy every day, ads begin to seem familiar, like any other part of the environment, and contribute to credibility.

Cons: Cost

Traditional marketing can be more expensive than digital marketing. 2024 average newspaper ad could be more than 750 USDwhile online ad 3-5 cents per click.

In addition, part of the budget will be spent on expanding the network and showing your ad to people outside of your target.

Cons: targeting

This brings me to precision targeting: it’s an integral part of the digital marketing world — and one that traditional marketing really can’t compete with. If you need detailed segmentation, none of the above marketing channels will provide it.

Cons: measurability

With the impossibility of precisely zooming in on a specific target audience, measuring the results of ad campaigns is not as simple as with online marketing.

No real-time results or optimizations. And the process of changing your ad will take longer if you realize it’s not performing well.

Cdo traditional and digital marketing really work together?

Absolutely. My biggest takeaway after digging my teeth into the stats is that not only is there room for both strategies to exist, but there can be an advantage to doubling up and using them together.

Although traditional marketing can capture a local audience, it does not offer a detailed way of targeting. This gap can be filled with digital marketing.

And with the marked differences between the two methods, I’d say it’s more a matter of multiplying the options than pitting them against each other.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.



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