When the economy starts to fumble, we are all affected. Gas prices go up, you start buying the cheaper cooking oil and then before you know it, you’re cutting back on your marketing budget. Zero to a hundred REAL QUICK. Traditional marketing involves the use of newspapers, television and print media like billboards. Usually, you get to advertise a town or city at a time. The growth is gradual but a little slower than you would want .Traditional marketing mediums tend to also demand quite a penny and put a strain on your account. Enter: Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing pretty much gives you a much larger platform, the globe, for less. Amazing right? Digital marketing came with the technology era. It is heavily internet oriented and involves the use of Email marketing, social media marketing, display advertising, content marketing and many online publications like blogs. The internet, a vast place, turns into your market and you get to choose who and what to sieve out and keep. It gives you a better grip and control on choosing your target market.
Digital marketing was introduced in the late 90’s with the first online ad going on the internet in 1994. And as the internet got more advanced so did the ads. People started to market their services and goods on the internet and with the rise of social media marketing, it started to become quite clear that traditional ways of marketing were not just more expensive but not as efficient. At least not anymore. On average, there are about 4.2 billion internet users and the average internet user is exposed to more 4000 to 10000 ads a day. With giant companies like NIKE, Starbucks, Forbes and Coca-Cola on all social media platforms, it is evident that social media is a powerful marketing tool.
Traditional marketing usually demands a bigger chunk of your revenue. Which is understandable considering you have to pay for the printed ads on different platforms including brochures, leaflets, banners, billboards and anything else you would like you place your brand on from packages all the way to stationery. This digs into your budget and leaves you with way less than you thought you would actually have. No spare change. Traditional marketing also doesn’t make room for enough interaction and engagement with your customers and audience. While people will see a post on Facebook or Instagram and are able to comment on what they think the company could improve on, an ad placed in the papers or on a still billboard will not allow for that. Companies usually place toll-free numbers that they can be called on for compliments and/or complaints but the lines are usually busy and jammed. Now more than ever, people crave being heard and seen by their big brands and being available online at the push of a button or finger swipe brings you so much closer to the people that make your product fly off the real or proverbial shelf. Traditional marketing also does not allow you to track who your ad has reached. Publishing an article in a newspaper about your goods and services is all good until you can’t tell if someone has even read your article.
Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing lets you keep track of who has been following your posts, articles or updates. You are able to see the engagement, reach and reactions as well as conventions all from a computer screen. Through likes, shares, insights and retweets, social media marketing allows you to see what posts were most favoured and thus give you a benchmark for future posts. Digital marketing involves a lot of online presence. While other forms of digital marketing include digital billboards, it also includes websites and a dominant social media presence. Which are much cheaper than printing. Social media does run paid ads that cost anywhere between $50 to $100 dollars to run in a week which is still less than you would spend on traditional marketing. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing allows you converse with your audience and know firsthand what they would like you to do for them. Many companies forget how important the consumer is but with digital and social media marketing, you always remember. Jay Bears said “social media allows big companies to be small again” This strikes a chord because small companies tend to be more in tune with their consumers and social media gives a large company the opportunity to be meek.
If we are really going to crown a winner then I think the data speaks for itself. Digital marketing has proven time and again to be a time and cost-effective form of marketing. But the best marketing is when you combine the two. Putting in more in digital marketing while spending the rest on traditional marketing techniques. Finding the perfect blend will birth the perfect results.