Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing

 

Every business wants to grow and develop a strong client base. Advertising or promoting a business is  key to achieving this growth. But Gen Z or iGeneration is the generation where people want constant change and innovation in everything. Taking marketing into consideration, it has also changed within years. Promotion these days has changed from television to mobile phones, from radio to websites, from newspaper to blogs and SEO, from magazines to e-books. This change has made humans more addicted towards the digital platforms. People normally search for the things or places they don’t know about. We always hear a sentence “Bhai google karle” which is a sign that says people are getting used to the change from Traditional Marketing to Digital Marketing. Over the last few years, traditional marketing has fallen nearly 160% while in the same time frame expenses for digital marketing increased over 14%. While many businesses use traditional marketing methods to attract new business and clients, others have added or completely replaced traditional marketing with new or innovative marketing tactics. These fresh methods often revolve around the Internet; companies use social media tools and online ad campaigns to expand their audience. Companies can develop webpages or blogs that provide up-to-date information on their products or services. Customers can then subscribe to news feeds and receive alerts to sales or company events. Companies with an online presence can also advertise their business on other popular websites to direct unique visitors to their company’s webpage.

What is Traditional Marketing ?

            Traditional marketing refers to any type of promotion, advertising or campaign that has been in use by companies over the years,and has been proved a success. Methods of traditional marketing include print advertising, such as newsletters, billboards, newspapers and flyers. Other forms of traditional marketing include television spots or commercials, as well as Radio spots advertising a business, product or services.

Advantages of Traditional Marketing:-

• It is been in the market since a long time so people have trust in this kind of marketing.
• From this type of marketing we can easily reach and target local audiences.
• As this marketing is in the form of hard copy so the audience can go through such promotion repeatedly.
• Traditional marketing can  easily be understood by the target audience.

Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing:-

• The cost incurred for traditional marketing is very high as compared to digital marketing.
• The reach of traditional marketing is very low as compared to digital marketing as particular region or area needs to be selected.
• Measurement of results is difficult.

Traditional Marketing techniques that are still in use

           Some of the traditional marketing techniques are practiced today in the era of online marketing. Recent advancements in the world of communication have changed the marketing scenario considerably, but some of the marketing techniques that were successfully used in the past still work. The following are the techniques that are still used by organisations.

• Press Release

          Press releases are published by businesses to introduce new products in the market or to announce the addition of new features to their existing products or services. This marketing strategy can be used even today while introducing new set of packages or a long term offer in the market.

• Direct Marketing

         Flyers and brochures were historically used to come into direct contact with the local consumers as well as clients. Leaving a nice brochure or flyer with the persons who you think may be interested in your products or services was considered to be enough at that time. Small businesses can still use this method to offer special gifts to get attention of first time customers. This traditional method still contains that personal touch that, depending on the product clients may seek.

• Business Cards

         Business cards are used by business owners to introduce themselves to other businesses in a sophisticated manner. This traditional marketing method can still be used today for business promotion.

• Cold Calls

         If you know a client that is potentially interested in your products and services then cold calls can be a suitable way to contact them to introduce yourself. This can be an initial step for your face-to-face meeting with them.

• Word Of Mouth

        This is one of the most important marketing methods traditionally used by the businesses, which is still effective in present marketing system. Today, businesses arrange competitions or charitable events along with online contests to receive promotion through word of mouth.

Examples Of Companies Using Traditional Marketing

        While many organisations are using digital marketing as the technique for promoting their products and services there are few organisations who still use traditional marketing to promote their business. For these organisations traditional marketing is still a highly effective way to generate new leads and promote sales and gain success. Few example :-

• Burger King

       Usually fast food chains sends coupons and other material to the nearby addresses in the hope that the community will begin to use their products and services more often. Burger King as an organisation still uses this technique of direct marketing. It still opts to send its coupons in mail to their customers.

• AMUL

      Amul has excelled in its advertising strategies as they know the pulse of a common Indian as well as the modern youth. It uses Television and hoardings to promote its brand. Amul mainly features current news in a witty manner to gauge the attention of customers , with each advertisement hitting the nail on the head.

 

What is Digital Marketing?

         Digital marketing is the marketing of products and services using digital technologies, mainly on the internet but also including mobile devices, display advertisement, and other digital mediums.

        Digital marketing’s development since 1990’s and 2000’s which changed the way brands and business use technology for marketing. As digital platforms are increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people use digital platforms instead visiting local outlets, digital marketing campaigns more prevalent and efficient.

        Digital marketing includes SEO(Search Engine Optimisation), SMM (Social Media Marketing), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Content Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Email Marketing, etc. These mediums are becoming popular and prominent in the current marketing scenario.

Advantages of Digital Marketing:-

• In this type of marketing the reach is much higher than traditional marketing.
• The cost of investment is less as compared to traditional marketing.
• The results can be measured using different tools.
• Interaction with the target audience is possible.
• The results which we get are real time results.

Disadvantages of Digital marketing:-

• For an company to get recognition through digital platform takes a while.
• Sometimes there is threat of hacking and blocking.

Examples of Companies using Digital Marketing

             In the ever changing landscape of digital marketing it can be hard to truly examine what works and more importantly what doesn’t. A great place to start is by looking at the brands at the forefront of the digital marketing world and analyzing what worked for them. The companies below are not just doing digital marketing – they are creating experiences and content that captivates their audiences and brings outstanding brand awareness:-

• American Express

           American Express leverages the value provided by industry experts on its Open Forum website. Open Forum is a collaborative website, on which American Express invites guest authors from a variety of sectors to share their business knowledge and wisdom.  The result is a content-rich mega-site that’s popular with the search engines.

• Mint

           Entering the crowded personal finance niche is a daunting task for any new startup, but Mint took up a well- executed online marketing plan. Although the company was relatively unknown amongst its more popular predecessors, Mint committed to a digital strategy by publishing hundreds of high-quality content pieces – from informative blog posts to viral attention-grabbing infographics to grow their business. As a result of Mint’s digital marketing efforts, the tool gained a massive online following before being sold to Intuit for a whopping $170 million.

• Uber

             The company started in 2009, but it feels like they’ve always been around. Their service is built upon a luxury that most of us dream of, but few can afford: a private driver. Tap a few buttons on the app and in a matter of minutes, a shiny new car arrives at your exact location to take you anywhere you want to go. The service is so great that the need for expensive marketing is practically non-existent. Uber grew almost entirely through word-of-mouth marketing, which is a very high converting channel. They offer incentives for riders to act as advocates for the business by providing referral codes to their friends in exchange for free rides.

• AIRbnb

            Airbnb has changed the way we travel and look for accommodations. Launched when its founders couldn’t afford their rent, the site now boasts 100 million users, 2.3 million listings, and a total valuation of $31 billion in 2017. Their marketing strategy is aimed at getting both travelers and hosts for the platform. Its digital marketing relies primarily on user-generated images and videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter how-to videos and posts geared towards owners, and popular city guides.

• Ford Motor Company

         Ford has brought the social experience to the forefront of their marketing efforts. Each time they add a new blog post, they pull in the image, headline of the post and the comments from readers onto the front page of their website. Those new to the site or those browsing for a new car get to experience the company and its culture from a social viewpoint right from the start.

Opportunities of Digital Marketing:-

          With growth of digital marketing which has created a huge opportunity for online marketing. In 1995 when the internet was introduced only 0.5% of Indian population had access to internet and now after 22 years the percentage has increased to 40% with 420 million internet users. By 2021 it is expected that the percentage will rise to 59% of total population with 829 million users. India currently spends 12% and it is expected to shoot up to 50-55%.

Digital Marketing statistics for coming year:-

• In 2021, Indian internet traffic will be 291 times more times than in 2005.
• In 2021, Indian internet traffic will grow at CAGR of 32%
• 2 billion networked devices will be available in 2021.
• In 2021, IP traffic will reach 5 GB per capita.

           The massive growth of digital marketing in India is self-explanatory from the unprecedented jump of users from 0.5% to 59%. There is 9142.5%  increase in the number of internet users from 2000 to 2017.

          The Marketing sector has transformed from traditional marketing to digital marketing.Companies and startups prefer investing their marketing budget in Digital marketing as there is better ROI and the output is measurable. Small scale businesses with smaller budgets for investment and more inclination towards local area targeting also opt for Digital marketing strategies but creating their facebook pages and investing in google adwords with search and call only ads.