Five Reasons You Need More Than Traditional Advertising

For the longest time traditional advertising was the way everyone would market products, but today we are going to give you five reasons you need more than traditional advertising if you want to be successful.

The fact is, traditional advertising has been dying for years and even now it feels like the concept is just lingering somewhere in a hospital, clinging to life support. While the concept worked easily years ago, that was before our culture experienced a communication boom that has left consumers with wanting more than just being talked at.

The Cons of Tradition

Traditional advertising is very upfront. Most ads try and get up in front of you, telling you why you need the product. A billboard is a good example along with magazine ads or even radio commercials. Back in the day these types of ads were classified as outdoor, print and broadcast.

The upside of these methods was exposure. A billboard or ad on the side of the bus is seen by multitudes of people. Radio commercials are heard by all listeners. This same style of advertising has made its way to the internet too with banner ads that pop up when you are reading an article on your favorite website (much like a magazine) or commercials that pop up on streaming sites.

So why is this bad or out-of-date? One of the main reasons is that this style is very interruptive or in-your-face while at the same time not being targeted. Typically it ends up being a very negative experience because today’s consumer has been so overwhelmed with ads they learn how to ignore and block out interruptions.

Unless that traditional ad is very clever and engaging, more than likely it won’t make an impact and even worse it might be very difficult to gauge the impact it does make.

The Rise of Digital Marketing

In response to the digital age, digital marketing has developed. It makes sense; the medium evolved so the marketing should evolve as well, right? Here are five reasons why you should be using digital marketing rather than just traditional:

• Greater Reach – Everyone uses the internet. Because of this simple fact, digital marketing is going to have a greater reach and place your business in a better position to be in front of a larger portion of your customers compared to other marketing models. A commercial or banner simply can’t provide global reach. Also digital marketing can easily work across multiple channels, promoting not only your business but also your brand, being as inclusive or exclusive as you want to be. This expanded reach will improve your ability to influence your target consumers.
• Better Interactions – Traditional advertising is very in-your-face and really only offers one-way communication; you talking at the customer. Digital marketing allows two-way communication because of the way you can use web pages and social media. People can respond with comments or use an email link for questions or contact details. This starts the important dialog that leads to comfort and trust between consumer and business. Also this opens the door for feedback and a better understanding or insights as to how you can improve your business model and increase customer satisfaction.
• More Precise – You really can’t control who sees a billboard or hears a radio advertisement. But with digital marketing there are existing mechanisms in place to help target precise demographics which then makes your marketing more efficient. You can adjust for age, location, interests, search patterns, popular platform and more. All of this ensures you are getting the most from your efforts rather than using the dartboard method.
• Success Can Be Tracked – What is the ROI of a traditional marketing plan? That can be very hard to say as unless someone specifically tells you, “Oh I saw that giant billboard,” you might not ever know how people got your business. Not so with digital marketing where campaigns are more easily tested and then tracked. You can then analyze results and compare them against other campaigns, which allow you to adjust strategy and even edit a campaign in progress to better reach your audience and increase conversions.
• Virtually Instantaneous – A huge advantage of digital marketing is that it can happen right now. When a campaign is launched it is in front of a large portion of your target audience instantaneously. Traditional approaches take time to develop. You can be sure when someone will buy a magazine or newspaper, but people are online surfing and using social media platforms 24/7. Timing is essential in marketing and the digital option removes guesswork and allows consumers faster access to your campaign which then leads to quicker results on the next step of the process.

The Bottom Line

Traditional marketing still serves a purpose and can be part of certain business’s overall marketing strategy, but they are not the large part they used to be. These five reasons you need more than traditional advertising hopefully has demonstrated how important it is to have a good digital marketing campaign to promote your business.