We have two things that remain unquestionable: death and taxes. The original version of this statement appeared in 1789 through Benjamin Franklin’s letter, yet today we should modify it to read: “The only absolute things in our world are death, taxes, and marketing”.
The entire world feels the influence of marketing which has established itself as a global superpower. According to dictionary standards marketing exists as “the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services coupled with market research and advertising activities”. A wide range of products that people eat use, purchase, and view in Western societies receive marketing influences to some degree.
The basic elements of marketing include various approaches and operational dynamics. People must determine how different marketing methods perform for distinct audiences and products. Marketing consists of two distinctive approaches – traditional and digital marketing. Both of these require comparison across different aspects. This article reviews both advertising methods with a breakdown of their advantages and disadvantages – so let’s dive in!
Traditional Marketing as a Stepping Stone to Advertising
Traditional marketing stood as the sole promotional approach at the start.
This type of marketing represents all promotions that people detect through their physical senses in the actual environment. The real world exists with its nature-visible grass and fresh air together with the norm that people wear pants. There exist four basic categories of traditional marketing practices. Broadcast includes advertisements that play on airwaves both through radio broadcasts and cable outlets. All three advertising methods – including radio, television, and pre-movie tether ads – fall under this category. Then, traditional print advertising represents paper-based promotional methods. Traditional marketing’s oldest technique dates back to 3,000 BC and includes billboards, brochures, magazine advertisements as well as print newspapers. Today, fascinating innovative direct mail printing changes the whole game for good. Also, telemarketing involves making telephone calls to reach marketing targets. Also referred to as telephone marketing. This controversial marketing method exists despite its low profile recognition.
The practice of mailing advertisements to customers directly stands as direct mail advertising. You receive an endless stream of (un)wanted fliers, catalogs, and postcards among many other items which keep showing up at your doorstep.
Traditional marketing served as the leading marketing strategy during the early days of marketing. It took this position as the sole existing marketing method. However, the advent of the internet in the 1990s changed everything. The arrival of the internet introduced the era of digital marketing to the world.
Here Comes the Competition – Digital Marketing
Internet-based promotion of goods and services represents the fundamental concept of digital marketing. Seven distinct categories make up digital marketing:
- SEO – Such optimization makes a company appear first in specific search engine results pages (SERPs) for targeted keywords.
- Social Media – Advertising content appears on Instagram and Facebook through ads and other native platform content.
- Content Marketing – Through it companies produce digital materials including websites and videos for building customer relationships and driving sales intensity.
- PPC – The pay-per-click methodology allows companies to advertise their promotions across websites and search engines, as well as social media portals and Amazon.
- Email Advertising – The digital delivery of promotional messages to users constitutes email advertising. Users can access the newsletter in addition to receiving both drip campaigns and promotional messages.
- Influencer Marketing – Companies pay influencers directly to conduct promotional activities about their business through influencer marketing.
- Affiliate Marketing – Your business can participate in it by working with other promoters who receive commissions as payment for their promotional work.
The key distinction between conventional advertising and online advertising exists in their different platform operation where the latter functions solely through digital means while the former exists outside digital domains. Who could have known?
Everyone, that is. This is not a revelation. Even though it adds sufficient value to the process, establishing explicit norms is still crucial. Should your business rely entirely on digital marketing, or should you still include some traditional marketing tactics in your marketing efforts?
What Gave Rise to the Dramatic Shift in Advertising?
Traditional methods faced two main disadvantages which included expenses and the challenging nature of achieving measurement results. Through budget advantages, large organizations secured massive success by obtaining dominance in traditional advertising routes. However, the development of the internet marks a turning point in how things are conducted.
Modern technological developments have brought about fresh obstacles to deal with. People nowadays mainly access content through their screen devices. The majority of people have adopted Netflix and Amazon Prime as their primary streaming platforms. Let’s be honest, when we watch traditional television, we prefer catch-up services that let us bypass commercials.
Most people now prefer digital newspaper subscriptions over traditional physical newspapers. The fashion of listening to podcasts has replaced the practice of listening to live radio broadcasts for numerous consumers.
Modern consumer behavior patterns have eroded traditional marketing methods since the time of Mad Men when single catchphrases coupled with complete-page magazine ads remained effective.
An Ongoing Question: Will Digital Marketing Eventually Supersede Traditional Methods?
Yes. And no.
Traditional marketing faced serious setbacks in recent times but it continues to compete with online marketing activities. The Internet age makes traditional marketing obsolete since digital marketing provides stronger marketing capabilities. However, exceptional marketers do not view their offline and online marketing strategies as separate entities.
Two approaches go in. A single technique departs. The two marketing approaches will not cause mutual destruction. The Titandome formed between these two methods (with digital marketing taking a few successful hits) until they stopped their conflict to discover shared ground.
Traditional marketing can coexist peacefully with digital marketing, or to be more precise, they can function as one unified entity.
However, we must keep our final points straightforward. Traditional marketing solutions possess the advantage of delivering access to brand ranges of audiences across diverse markets. This method can build brands effectively yet major businesses with significant advertising funds tend to benefit from it most.
Digital marketing offers better benefits for small to medium enterprises that create an effective platform for expanding your business operations. Your website content alongside search engine optimization strategies should stand out as the main priority. Working with the proper knowledge base and time commitment leads to search engines becoming your virtual best friend. So, good luck with it! And don’t forget to take the best from both worlds.