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Comparing Traditional and Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing versus Traditional Marketing is one of the most heated new age debates that we often come across. While on one hand the tech heads give you the most obvious justification of fast paced digitization as to why digital marketing clearly surpasses traditional marketing. Corporate Executives, on the other hand, functioning in conventions, would more obviously than not justify traditional marketing. Before we ponder on this debate further,let us first understand what essentially distinguishes the two.

What is Traditional Marketing?

Traditional Marketing refers to the conventional methods of promoting a brand. This includes newspaper ads, magazine ads, billboards, brochures, hoardings etc. Traditional marketing also includes network marketing. In its most basic sense, Traditional marketing refers to a structured effort on endorsing one’s brand but without any reliance on online methodologies. Traditional offline media are often the channels that brands incorporate when it comes brand promotion.

The tools for Traditional Marketing are:

1.Print Marketing

2. Broadcast Marketing

3. Referral Marketing

4. Outdoor Marketing

5. Publication Marketing

Let us Look at a few examples of Traditional Marketing:

A. Vicks, a prominent brand in India came up with a campaign called Touch of Care. The ad film showcased a a daughter’s relationship with her transgender mother. This ad film that went viral because of how it truly the touched a chord with the sentimentality of the audience.

B. Dove, around mid 2000s came up with the idea of giving away free samples with morning newspapers. This strategy truly helped the brand popularize itself. This brand strategy completely worked in the brand’s favour.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing as the name suggests refers to the marketing efforts of a brand using online channels. It refers to how a brand handles it online reputation. Optimizing your brand forms the backbone in this case. The biggest channel definitely is the Internet. The sub channels include websites, blogs, Social media platforms etc. Digital Marketing includes a step of intricate procedures.

The tools include:

1. Facebook Marketing

2. Digital Campaigns

3. Search Engine Optimization

4. Content Marketing

5. Influencer Marketing

Let us Look at a few examples of Digital Marketing:

A. Kitkat hit it big with their influencer marketing strategy. Their challenge on Musical.ly which involved participants lip syncing to the new jingle was quite a rage. It brought great popularity to the brand image of Kitkat.

B. Kellogg’s launched their digital campaign using Stranger Things on Netflix. We saw in the series how Eleven was obsessed with Kellogg’s Eggo waffles. This online promotion that incorporated storytelling elements really brought about a string of desirable effects for the brand.

Which one Should you go for?

The market conditions are reflective of the cut throat competition that prevails currently. In a situation like this both offline and online presence count. While it is extremely important to maintain effective optimization and an impressive online reputation, it is equally vital to maintain a strong offline presence.

Despite having different channels,both traditional and digital marketing run on similar strategies. The Marketing Mix, the backbone of any marketing strategy, consisting of Price,Product, Place and Promotion,is essentially what goes into both traditional as well as digital marketing. Therefore a perfect marketing strategy should be the right blend of traditional and digital marketing.While SEO, SMM, etc are great ways of reaching people’s computer screens but there exists a world beyond that which can be reached through the facets of traditional marketing.

As you saw, Marketing can be quite a fix. They are services that call for expert advice and professional help. If done right, Marketing can have a sweeping influence which will bring about a string of beneficial outcomes for your ambitious brand.

How the Internet Affects Traditional Media

Traditional Publishing, REST IN PEACE

This is the headline that greets you when you land on a web page erected as a memorial to commemorate the decline of Traditional Media. A photograph of a man who seems to be in distress and who’s possibly just lost his job accompanies this headline. If this does not paint a bleak picture, go on to read the 548 headlines that all sing to the same tune as the following:

Bad Times: NYT Says Revenue Fell 13.9% Last Month
– Forbes.com
Men’s monthly magazine Arena to cease printing after 22 years
– Guardian.co.uk
Cosmopolitan UK publisher to cut 100 jobs
– Guardian.co.uk

There’s even a website entitled Newspaper Death Watch that chronicles all the publishing and newspaper houses that close down. All rather morbid wouldn’t you say?

The Deadly Spell

Let’s take a quick look at Traditional Media and how the Internet cast it’s deadly spell.

Back in the old days, we’re talking 500 years ago; Gutenberg revolutionized the printing industry by inventing the printing press. This meant bibles could be produced at a fraction the time it used to. This also meant more copies in a shorter time and the Word of God got further reach in a shorter time. Newspaper houses and Magazine publishers still use a printing press today (well thank you captain obvious).

Much later, shortly after the advent of electricity, the world was blessed with another few media breakthroughs, namely radio then a few years later, television. Marketers and Advertising agencies had it all figured out as they devised Integrated Marketing Campaigns with astronomical budgets. Ah, the good old days. Well, much to the dismay of many of these agencies, this media landscape started to change.

Behold! Enter The WWW

At first a website was seen as a cute way to put your company brochure online and on top of that the disastrous dot bomb era created skepticism that labeled the Internet as a bad media and business channel.

Fortunately, since then the Internet has matured. Now, in countries where broadband has achieved high levels of household penetration, the web has become the consumer medium of choice.

Why? Because people can do research, shop online, watch videos and connect with friends all in the comfort of their own homes. People can choose what media they want to consume, where and when they choose too, especially with mobile connectivity. Marketers can no longer dictate what advertising messages people get subjected too.

Social Media, The New Black

Then there is the phenomenon of Social Media. It changed the media landscape forever. Social Media websites have allowed consumers to connect with friends, family, colleagues and peers in ways that were never imaginable a few decades ago.

Technology has empowered the consumer to become the Prosumer. Prosumers are consumers who produce content such as videos, photos and blogs that can be instantly distributed and shared amongst millions of people via social media platforms. This is also known as user-generated content or UCG.

Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the reach of Traditional Media vs. the Internet and Social Media.

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 Million:

Radio – 38 Years
TV – 13 Years
The Internet – 4 Years
The iPod – 3 Years
Facebook – 2 Years

So How Does The Internet Affect Traditional Media?

The Internet has decreased the need for Traditional Media because it enabled consumers to join social societies within their neighborhoods, across their countries and internationally. It has empowered them to converse at their leisure, 24/7, with friends.

Considering all that’s been said, the demise of Traditional Media can largely be attributed to the following factors:

Decline in readership: The distribution of free news and information on the web has led to the decline in readership for traditional publications.
Decline in revenues: The decline in readership means advertisers will spend their money elsewhere and this leads to a decline in ad revenue.
Real-time updates: Traditional Media can’t compete with instantly updated user-generated content that’s immediately available for the world to see.
The rise of UGC websites: People have the freedom of unlimited real time commentary on content while Traditional Media is static and is a one-way communication tool.
Online Audio/Video channels: People can choose what they want to watch and listen, when they want to and where without any advertising interrupting their experience.

Simply put. The Internet has revolutionized the way things get done today. It has revolutionized the way we do business, the way we communicate and has broken down the walls of Traditional Media.

A recent example is the decision by Unilever UK to fire Lowe, their Ad agency of 15 years, in favor of crowdsourcing – which means it has thrown the brand creative pitch open to agencies and basically any person who can think of an idea, worldwide. This is done on the Internet of course.

Traditional Media will still be around for a while, but the Internet is getting more and more integrated into our daily lives.

Think about this. You could do without the Mail & Guardian or the MensHealth Mag for quite some time, perhaps live quite happily without it? But you just dare cut that ADSL connection…

Digital Media Vs Traditional Media – A Comparative Analysis

It is beyond doubt that social and digital media are significantly impacting consumer behavior. With the growth of the Internet, companies have realized the need to strengthen their online presence and, therefore, are spending ample amount of resources in digital marketing.

While earlier, advertising was primarily limited to newspapers, radio and television, today it has gone beyond them. Both the traditional and digital media have their own unique aspects. This article will offer a comparative analysis of both these media.

Reach

No doubt, advertising campaigns through traditional media reach a large chunk of the population. However, the message reaches an even larger number of people through online media. The Internet helps to reach a range of people within a short span of time. While traditional marketing is limited only to a particular geography, online media knows no barrier.

Cost

Digital media cuts costs significantly. Television, radio and newspaper ads are expensive. The price depends on the slot and space chosen. Using the digital platform is helpful for small firms who are tight on budget.

Media monitoring

Media monitoring is simpler in online media than traditional media. Companies can see and measure in real-time the effectiveness of their campaign and plan further activities. However, in case of traditional media real-time media monitoring is a tough task.

Dialogues and Monologues

Marketing through digital media allow dialogues between companies and clients. Through social media, clients can discuss their products and services online in real-time. Communication flows just one way in traditional media and this can lead to confusions and problems. However, in digital media communication flows both ways.

Engagement

Engagement is much higher in the digital platform.Through digital marketing, companies can encourage customers to visit their websites and test their products and services. Customers can also interact with company representatives and know more about the product. Call to action is easier through digital media as compared to traditional media.

However, it will be wrong to say that traditional marketing is dead. There are still many parts of the world, where the Internet is yet to reach and people are yet to be computer-friendly. In such cases, traditional media play a very important role in conveying the message.

Nevertheless, with time digital marketing is giving a stiff competition to traditional marketing. Digital marketing trends have changed the rules of the game and more and more companies are consolidating their online presence to stay competitive in the market.

Making Money Online: Traditional Print Publishing versus Online Subscription Website Publishing

If you want to see a traditional print publisher explode all you need to do is say “Print publishing is dead; it’s just old fashioned editors that are keeping it on a life support system!”

I don’t actually believe print is dead, but its fun watching the reaction.

Indeed online publishing should be a natural extension of traditional newsletter, newspaper and magazine publishing, but many of the publishers look at the web as it is persistent and unwanted veruca, which they can’t get rid of.

And they never will be able to get rid of it!

The web is here to stay and it will start eating more and more of the traditional publishers lunch…..and here are some of the reasons why.

If you are a traditional print publisher please take note.

Low cost of delivery at a time when postage and physical distribution costs are rising
No typesetting and printing costs. Editors and contributors can add articles and comments directly to the website as they are written
Archives of content can easily be made available in a simple, searchable format, adding great value for subscribers. Print publication readers rarely archive old magazines and newsletter as they are difficult to search, so the value of the information is quickly lost
Ability to constantly update and refresh content. No need to be restricted by publication dates. These opens up new areas of content that would previously not been possible. E.g. breaking news, investment advice, etc.
Online membership administration can be completely automated, avoiding the need for costly manual processing of cheques, standing orders, direct debits, etc.
Members can interact with each other through online discussion forums; this interaction creates a sense of community and engenders greater loyalty
Global reach enables niche subject areas to become commercially viable at little extra cost
Content can be provided in multimedia formats including audio and video. Podcasts are becoming an important way of distributing information
Different membership offers can be easily tested, tracked and tweaked
The publisher can observe in real-time what areas of the site are most popular and use this market intelligence to continually improve the offering. Print publishers have no idea what articles subscribers read and value
A website is always on and always available wherever a reader is
The cost of marketing will be reduced as the search engines starting listing a site on the search results pages
New members get instant gratification. They can sign up and be reading the very latest information within minutes

To finish off with I will leave you with a quote from one of the most powerful and influential publishers in the world, Rupert Murdoch:

“I believe we are at the dawn of a golden age of information – an empire of new knowledge. It is difficult – indeed dangerous – to underestimate the huge changes this revolution will bring to print media or the power of developing technologies to build and destroy companies”

“Companies that expect a glorious past in print to shield them from the forces of change driven by advancing technology will fail and fall.”

Advertising With Traditional Media Is Dead – SMS Marketing Can Revive Your Business

Times are changing and no longer can small businesses place an ad in their local newspaper and see any kind of noticeable results. Our population is changing and with it, so is the way that we need to be marketing our businesses.

Technology has killed traditional media and has made advertising with it as good as dead. The biggest killer is of course the internet. The World Wide Web has led to the drastic decline of most print media such as, but not limited to; newspapers, magazines and even the phone book. People want their information differently these days. They want their news short and up to the minute. The old forms of media cannot provide the people what they want, exactly when they want it and wherever they want it. Radio has been replaced with MP3 players and Television programs are now watched on DVRs so that people can fast forward commercials and watch their shows when they want. News is relayed primarily through Google searches, RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook to name a few. So with the new technology comes new opportunity for your business’s marketing. The companies that will be successful in their marketing attempts are those that market with the mediums that their consumers are using.

The great news for businesses is that changing our marketing strategies from the traditional media is easy, more effective and more economical. A business should never just rely on one source to market itself, but integrate many different outlets. Social media allows for companies to communicate with their current and future customers with little or no financial investment. Of course every business also needs to have a presence on the internet and a website would be the main source, but these days a lot of companies are using platforms such as Facebook or MySpace as their main presence on the web. Every situation is different, but a company website is still preferred by most and then is supplemented by driving traffic to it through the social media outlets. What all of these methods offer is recognition as well as interaction with customers that was previously unavailable using print media or television and radio.

To truly engage customers and offer instant information that is guaranteed to be read, look no further than SMS marketing. Since 86% of Americans have mobile phones and 95% of mobile phones are SMS capable, text messaging is one of, if not the most effective form of marketing that a business could use. Text messages have an open rate of around 97% and over 80% of texts are opened within 4 minutes of being received. Text message marketing is the way of the future. It is easy to use, very effective, measurable and has a very high R.O.I. Implementing a SMS marketing program is quick and affordable. Businesses will see almost instant results when they begin to utilize SMS marketing.

The limited length and design of the SMS text message is beneficial to both the advertiser and the consumer. A text is limited to 160 characters. Proper grammar is not expected and words are abbreviated in order to say as much as possible within the limits of the 160 characters. This ensures that a business will not “waste” the customer’s time because it can only be short. The business does not waste time by trying to find the right words and make everything look great. Just get to the point and that is it.

A text message is instant. Businesses know that when they send out a text message alert it will be read almost instantly by over 80% of the recipients. This technology allows for businesses to schedule the text message at the most opportunistic time. A restaurant sending a text alert about their lunch special at 8:00 pm would not accomplish too much, but sending the specials at 10:30 am when people are starting to get hungry and thinking about lunch will make for a very successful campaign. With text message marketing you can schedule texts to be sent at the perfect time even months in advance.

There are so many ways to utilize SMS text messages for your marketing. As long as you are mindful of your audience and deliver quality content, then you build better relationships with your current and future customers.