Which one will help boost your sales more effectively? Which one will drive the most traffic to your website? Both traditional and digital have pros and cons and in the end you will have to decide which route will be more useful for your business and where your budget is best spent on.

Below we’ve listed a few pros and cons for each.

 

Traditional Marketing

What is traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing helps you promote your products or services through methods that have been around for many years: broadcast (television and radio commercials), print (newspapers), direct mail (flyers and brochures) and telephone.

 

Pros

  • It helps you target a specific location.
    When you place an advertisement on local radio or newspaper, you can be sure that it reaches your potential customers because it is broadcast or circulated in your target location.
  • It’s a well-known marketing approach.
    This applies especially to the older generations who might not be as apt with modern technology. Print marketing is familiar to everyone. This is something to keep in mind when it comes to marketing – making sure your target market can relate and connect with not just your content, but your approach as wel
  • It connects you to new audiences.
    Putting up billboards or placing advertisements on TV gives you exposure to a vast amount of people, i.e. potential leads. This is great for marketing campaigns directed at growth.
  • It can be kept for future use, as well as redistributed.
    Having something physical that you can hold, keep, re-read and pass on has a certain magic to it. People can read it whenever they have time, and it’s effective because your audience has a constant reminder of your brand.

 

Cons

  • Traditional marketing is more expensive.
    Advertising in newspapers, radio, magazines, and television could make quite a dent in your budget. Not to mention the printing and distribution costs of your flyers and brochures. And for all that effort and money, more often than not these just end up in the trash.
  • It can’t easily be changed.
    Designing or planning traditional marketing takes thorough consideration and careful decision-making. There is no room for error, because once the materials are printed and published you can’t make changes. Unless you want to start over, which could get very expensive.
  • It’s not possible to target a specific audience.
    While it’s true that you can target a specific location or area, it’s harder to target a specific group of people with traditional marketing. So if your business is in a niche that’s aimed at a very particular target audience it could get difficult.
  • People tend to ignore them.
    Most people tend to ignore billboards or advertisements. For instance, when they see a full-page ad in a magazine, they tend to disregard it and go to the next page already. On TV, they have the tendency to change channels when an ad is shown. Each time this happens, you lose your opportunity to sell.
  • You cannot measure your marketing campaign.
    It’s difficult to determine your return on investment or ROI. It’s also hard to keep track of how many people have seen your billboard or your commercial advertisement. And, without the numbers, it’s impossible for you to measure the success of your campaign.

 

Digital Marketing

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing lets businesses promote their products and services using various online media channels, such as websites, email, search engines, and social media.

 

Pros

  • Digital marketing requires low cost.
    Marketing digitally is without a doubt cheaper than traditional marketing. Most platforms and software are free and just require effort and clever marketing to achieve optimal results. If this is something you think you need help with, contact us!
  • You have access to a vast audience.
    The internet is global, and its users endless. If you’re advertising digitally there are no limitations to the amount of people you can reach.
  • You can measure results.
    With the availability of web analytics, as well as other online metric tools, it’s easy for you to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. These can provide you with detailed information, including what specific pages or posts are most viewed, and what products or services have received the most number of clicks.
  • It offers an easy buying process.
    People these days are constantly online, but most also have busy lifestyles. Having your products or services available online is convenient because they can buy with only a few clicks. We’re much more inclined to buy something if it’s fast and easy.
  • Customer interaction.
    Digital marketing offers many ways for you and your leads and customers to interact. Providing great customer service is crucial to building customer retention. Engaging with your audience in a personal way also builds trust and will ensure your customers’ loyalty.

 

Cons

  • Negativity and scams.
    Having a presence online is great for customer interaction, but it also possibly opens you up to some negativity – of which the internet has plenty. You will most probably also have a number of spammer and scammers to deal with. It’s a good idea to invest in quality IT security software to keep your store and your customers safe.
  • Measuring ROI.
    Reading and understanding information from web analytics and other online metric tools is not always easy, particularly if this isn’t your area of expertise. So, you could have difficulty measuring your return of investment (ROI). If you are planning on going digital, definitely do some research and make yourself knowledgeable, or you could choose the easy way and hire a digital marketing company to do this for you. Contact us for more information!
  • Search engine rules.
    When planning your digital marketing strategy, it’s important for you to understand Google and search engine guidelines to avoid harming your website or traffic results. Keep yourself updated with search engine algorithms to make your content visible and do your research about keywords and which to use.

 

Although traditional marketing has its pros and is still a well-known way to market, with today’s modern technology readily available and used so widely, you’ll have a much better chance of standing out from your competitors and becoming successful placing your bets on digital marketing.

If you are looking for a digital marketing agency to help you with your marketing efforts, contact us, and we will gladly help you wherever needed!