It is very important for a small business to have a budget to spend on marketing. It is equally important for the business to spend this budget on the most effective form of marketing. For many businesses, coming to a decision on this is a huge choice to make with traditional marketing and digital marketing competing for attention. Choosing one over the other can bring about significant changes in results, so here we take a look at traditional marketing versus digital marketing.
What is traditional marketing?
We have all been exposed to traditional marketing as it is the conventional mode of marketing. This mode of marketing reaches out to potential customers with advertisements via radio, television, print medium, billboards, magazines, and newspapers. The audience, in this case, is a semi-targeted audience. Traditional marketing in a way is hard to ignore as it involves the traditional ads which we come across every day. This is an offline marketing method and includes the following;
- Print (newspapers and magazines)
- Broadcast (Television and radio)
- Direct Mail (postcards and catalogs)
- Telephone (SMS marketing and telemarketing)
- Outdoor (Fliers and Billboards)
While traditional marketing has evolved over the last few years its fundamental characteristics are the same. The techniques of selling through this marketing method rely on the product, price, place, and promotion.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is also known as online marketing and it refers to the marketing that takes place through the Internet and over devices like personal computers and mobile phones. Whatever the size of the business, it can make use of digital marketing to reach out to its audience and convert a sizeable chunk of them into clients or customers. This marketing method includes the following;
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- PPC and SEM marketing
- Email marketing
- Marketing automation
- Inbound marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Website promotion
Digital marketing happens to be very crucial in today’s world because the internet is all-pervasive and a major part of our daily lives. There are increasing numbers of people who go on to the internet for daily activities and also include the purchase of goods and services. Over the past few years, online marketing has grown rather exponentially. When it comes to comparing digital marketing with traditional marketing, digital marketing has a definite edge. One of the main reasons for this is that digital marketing happens to be a form of inbound marketing where instead of you finding the audience, the audience finds you.
Digital marketing vs traditional marketing
Both traditional marketing and digital marketing are effective, however, the latter possesses more punch. Technology is growing at the rate of knots and the target audience is shifting to the online realm. Here are some of the characteristics, drawbacks, and advantages of digital marketing and traditional marketing.
- Little to no interaction: This is the biggest and the most pertinent limitation of the digital marketing medium because there is no interaction between the potential customers and the marketing medium. When it comes to traditional marketing, it is a one-way affair wherein a business can broadcast itself or provide key information to the target audience about a particular service or product. It tries to attract the attention of the people in the hope of converting them into paying customers.
- There is no control over the timing: Traditional marketing relies on methods of promotion that when executed, there is little control over the timing. Whether it is an advert in the newspaper or a television commercial, if there is any change to be done later, you will be required to place another ad in the newspaper or commercial. While on the surface it might seem inconsequential, over time it makes a huge difference. Making changes to the advert also puts a dent in the marketing budget.
- High costs: Traditional marketing often runs into recurring costs and happens to be a massive investment that may or may not yield results in the long run. If you place an advertisement in the local newspaper, it will be effective only if the target audience views the ad on that very same day. The chances of this are slim at best. In comparison when you employ digital marketing, the target audience can arrive over a long period of time, with no extra cost to you. All you require is you publish content on the website and there it stays for years to come.
- Limited Customization: Very often, a business reaches out to a select target audience. With traditional marketing, there is no control over who sees your advertisement and there is no option for customization of the advertisement. With digital marketing, you can go after targeted customers and can realistically expect a good response because the advertisement is tweaked towards garnering the maximum hits.
- Cannot be updated easily: With traditional marketing, there is no option of updating the advertisement if changes occur at a later date. This is where digital marketing scores over its more traditional counterpart. If you run a digital marketing campaign, you can update the advertisement with a few clicks of the mouse with no additional cost to you.
- Very poor campaign measurement: When you run a marketing campaign, it becomes vital to know how effective the campaign is so that you can be sure that you are headed in the right direction. Traditional marketing does not offer any way of measuring the effectiveness of the campaign. But with digital marketing, you can always measure how good the campaign is and if there are any changes to be done. This factor alone makes digital marketing much more desirable than traditional marketing.
If you are looking for digital marketing services in India for your small or medium business, then you need to select the right partner or your digital campaign. iBrandox is the best digital marketing Agency in Gurgaon for your needs, having dedicated teams ready to take on the responsibility of promoting your digital campaign with focused digital marketing in NCR and beyond. Choose iBrandox today to make a huge positive difference to your digital marketing campaign in Gurgoan or NCR.