We are not going to lie, it can all be quite puzzling and confusing deciding whether traditional or digital marketing is better for your business. We have clients that are excited to embrace the digital marketing landscape, however there are still many small businesses that will stick to traditional methods only and the main reasons is the perception that digital marketing is “overly complicated” and “too technical” for me.  

So, how do you distinguish between the two and know where to spend your budget when it comes to digital marketing vs traditional marketing? To be honest, the debate between traditional and digital marketing has been a lengthy and continuing one.

If we were to go back to basics, the use of newspapers and magazine print ads are a simple example of traditional marketing, alternatively flyers, brochures, radio or TV commercials are also common forms of traditional marketing. On the other hand, digital marketing includes building a website, Google advertising, social media advertising such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The major difference between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing looks to provide value by using content marketing and other solutions. Traditional marketing is typically looking to increase sales with ad spots, not to necessarily provide added value.

The reality is that you cannot just depend on outdated marketing methods anymore. If you are seeking the answer to which one is better, it ultimately comes down to which one aligns with the needs of your business. Below we discover key points of traditional and digital marketing to help you decide which would work best for your business.

Digital Marketing:
Cost: Much more accessible and scalable for smaller businesses due to multiple options to increase or decrease the number of impressions you want to achieve from online ads.

Time: Creating a digital campaign such as a digital ad is possible to turnaround in a short time frame and additionally you can get them updated with much more ease.

Data-driven: You can tailor a campaign to specific audience demographics, such as gender, location, age and you can create an audience solely of people that have already visited your website. Data tools provides insights on your campaigns in real time and allows you to adapt very quickly to improve your results. You can view the number of visitors to your site, peak trading times and conversion rates all with a click of a button.  

Longevity: Digital marketing strategies such an evergreen content will stay on your site indefinately, which serves as an always-on strategy which can at anytime generate clicks/traffic and improve your overall SEO ranking.

Interaction: 24/7 communication with your audience is possible which allows you to answer queries promptly and customize content accordingly. On social media you can encourage your prospects to visit your website, read about your products/services and provide feedback.

Traditional Marketing:
Cost: Advertising placements and print marketing can be costly. Unless you can produce flyers or magazines inhouse, printing materials requires multiple expertise to execute your idea including project manage, design, print and distribute.

Time: Traditional advertising can time consuming, a print ad has various touchpoints before it reaches print. An advertisement needs to be approved by publishers, created, printed and approved again. If the advertisement is incorrect, you go back to the beginning of the process which means delays and production issues.

Data-driven: Traditional advertising is all about guessing and speculations. Information on audience and real time insights can be tricky.

Longevity: It has been deliberated that traditional marketing makes a longer-lasting impression as its tangible. The audience can have a hard copy of print materials of which they can read or browse through over and over again. However, measuring the success of print is still subjective. 

To conclude, we believe that when it comes to understanding your return on investment (ROI). Digital marketing wins as it not only tracks your ROI, its analytic abilities allows you the chance to boost it. However, we do believe that if possible a multi-channel approach that leverages the benefits of both traditional and digital marketing can be viewed as most beneficial. 

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SEM
SEM known as search engine marketing. A form of marketing that involves paying for the ranking of your website on the search engine via having your ads served only when a user searches for a keyword (or phrase) that you are bidding on. SEM allows you to target audience segments via interests, location, age, gender and other demographics.

SEO
SEO known as search engine optimization. Opposite to SEM, the process involved with SEO is promoting your website organically through establishing key search terms and creating relevant content. SEO requires some groundwork and understanding of the search terms your customers use to find you.

PPC
PPC also known as pay per click. The ability to bid for keywords by paying a certain amount to the ad platform every time a user clicks on your ads.

Buyer personas
A depiction of your ideal customer based on market research and customer data. Understanding your buyer personas influence aspects of your overall business especially your marketing strategy.

CTA
CTA means call to action. The desired action to the audience designed to provoke an immediate response. You will find this in a form of a button on a webpage, advertisement or piece of content, ideally a CTA aims to prompt a conversion such as "Buy Now", "Learn More" or "Subscribe".

A/B Testing
The testing of two different versions of content to see which one is better at achieving the desired result. For instance webpage, email headline, ad or CTA.

Re-targeting
Digital marketing at its best! A marketing tactic where you can target users who previously visited your website with online advertising across the web and social networks.

Contextual marketing
Targeted advertising based on user information, such as online browsing habits and search terms. The objective is to offer products and services to customers, who are already interested in them.

Evergreen marketing
Content that will continue to attract customers long after you publish it and requires little or infrequent updating for instance how-to or top-tips content.

CRM
CRM also know as customer relationship management. A software that’s assists in managing and tracking your customer information and touch points. A CRM can aid your marketing efforts by enhancing your ability to target and track.
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​Marketing Automation
Marketing automation connects all your marketing processes in one central place. Additionally, it provides key marketing functions like customer segmentation, email automation, campaign management, analytics and reporting.