How Digital Marketing Is Different From Traditional Marketing
Digital marketing is different from traditional marketing in many ways. In this post, we will try to accurately describe the ways in which traditional marketing and digital marketing are different.
In the old days (about 10 or 20 years ago) traditional marketing was the mainstream form of marketing in the United States and other parts of the world. When a business would open and go into business, out would come the postcards and mailers and you would get bombarded with coupons sent straight to your home!
It’s possible that the yellow pages would come out, or some other business directories (all in paper of course). Your advertising agency would do all the footwork and thumb through the yellow pages to cold call local targets.
Today’s world is much different. And it’s safe to say that in probably 10 years it will be even more different than it is now! With digital marketing, technology is always changing which leads to much more advanced practices that deliver much more targeted (and better) results.
Digital Marketing Is All Online
The main difference between digital marketing and traditional marketing is that digital marketing is completely online. In addition to this, it delivers much better results and is much more relevant to today’s world on business owners.
Digital marketing includes many things, but the main concept is that it connects businesses to their target customer base. Digital marketing is so effective that marketers don’t really have to do anything other than sit behind a computer and make magic happen.
Traditional Marketing Is Dead
The world of traditional marketing is dead, it’s sad to say. And while this is very sad for professionals who had a good run with traditional advertising techniques, it’s actually a good thing for today’s world of small businesses. Traditional marketing includes several different things. Here are a few examples of traditional marketing you may have used previously:
Types Of Traditional Marketing
Direct Mail
Direct mail is a form of marketing that offers exposure to a brand through the use of fliers, post cards, brochures and printed mailers. While direct mail is still relevant (when used along-side digital marketing) it doesn’t compare to more contemporary forms of marketing today’s businesses invest in.
Direct mail on its own is pretty much a waste of time and money. However, there are ways to integrate it into your online marketing strategy:
PRO TIP: if you want to integrate direct mail into your digital marketing plan effectively, why not send postcards to “warm leads”. After a strong email marketing campaign, send a lead a postcard advertising the service you already emailed them about a few times. This is an effective way to use direct mail.
Print Ads
Print ads are advertisements that are used in magazines, newspapers, and other printed materials. While this may have been a very popular, expensive and effective form of marketing, most people encounter ads online much more than printed advertisements. People are absorbing content and information through online sources at much higher rates, so rather than investing in a print advertisement, it might make more sense to place an ad somewhere online instead.
Broadcast
Broadcast is a traditional form of marketing that relies on television and radio advertisements to deliver exposure to a brand. This is a rather expensive marketing strategy and doesn’t have the same effect as it did at the turn of the century. There are many case studies in fact where businesses have run million dollar advertisements on television and went out of business shortly thereafter. And the more digital channels are being used to find products and services, the more ineffective broadcast marketing is.
Tradeshows
Tradeshows are a traditional form of marketing that are still utilized today. However, while they are still very effective, there is less people who take part in tradeshows as compared to in the past.
Different Forms Of Online Marketing
Below we will go over some of the different forms of online marketing and whether or not you should give them a shot. If you’re wondering can digital marketing save my business, you’re going to want to pay close attention. Read on below and enjoy!
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a very important form of online marketing that can benefit your business hugely if you have the capital and/or budget to hire a good agency. With SEO, keyword analysis is reverse engineered to better understand what people are searching for and to make it possible for your website to come up when certain search phrases are entered into a search bar.
SEO is complicated and extremely competitive. It is important to connect with the best SEO agency you can, and understanding a little bit about the process is important prior to hiring.
You can read through these articles to gain some important information on SEO and its practices:
- How web design affects SEO
- What is SEO
- How SEO helps your business
- How SEO is done
- How SEO works
- Cheap SEO is a scam – why you need to avoid it!
- What SEO companies do
- How to choose the best SEO agency
With search engine optimization, an SEO agency will do on-page SEO and adjust things on your website. In addition, they will do off-page SEO and work to build backlinks to your site. Local SEO is also involved and this includes building a business’s local online presence if they service a particular area or town.
Choosing great business SEO services is key to having a great experience building your online presence. This form of digital marketing is by far one of the most effective forms of marketing there is. Now all you need to do is hire the right web design agency or SEO company to put a strategy in play and get you online and ranked!
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is another form of marketing that focuses on social media channels to gain exposure for your business or brand. With social media marketing, a brand might engage in specific activities to gain more exposure.
Some of the social media channels that are used frequently for social media marketing include:
Understanding which social media channel is best for your business is key with social media marketing. For example, if you are an accountant, LinkedIn might be a good way to gain professional exposure. If you are marketing a product or service where visuals are important, you might want to consider Instagram.
You really need to have a keen understanding of your business and what your target market wants to see or learn about you. Hiring a skilled agency is key in utilizing social media marketing properly.
PPC Advertising
Pay-Per-Click advertising, otherwise known as PPC or Google Ads is a great tool if you want immediate results. Here’s a great article by HubSpot on the ultimate guide to PPC advertising. With PPC, you essentially choose the words you want to rank for and guess what? You pay per click, of course!
While PPC can yield excellent results, the results are only there while your ads are running. So in essence, a better long term strategy for your business might be SEO. However, that is something you and your marketer need to discuss and assess based on your business.
Marketing Your Business On The Internet Is Extremely Important
In today’s world of everything being online, it’s important to get your business on the internet. If you don’t, you can’t properly grow or expand in any way that is real. Digital marketing is an incredible tool that is useful in so many different ways. While we’ve talked about a few digital marketing strategies, in essence there are many. Finding the right company is crucial.
Without Digital Marketing Your Business Doesn’t Exist
In today’s day and age, the sad truth of the matter is that without digital marketing your business doesn’t really exist. Because the world is online, your credibility as a legitimate business will be greatly reduced if you fail to focus on your online presence or if your online reputation suffers in any way. In focusing on your online presence, you are securing your brand for the long-haul.
A few things you can do to start include:
- Setup a Google My Business listing (it’s FREE!)
- Get a website
- Set up social media accounts and profiles for your business
- Start a YouTube Channel
Beyond these things, you will really need to hire a professional. A business we love is New Jersey based Bizmap LLC. Bizmap LLC is well known as being a top-rated digital marketing agency that offers a free video website audit to assess where your online presence currently is prior to getting started. You can contact them on this page here. We highly recommend them.
Get Started With Digital Marketing
Get started with digital marketing today and watch your business explode with the exposure it gets. We hope this post explained how digital marketing is different than traditional marketing and wish you the best of luck!
