The amount of blog articles I see that are titled ‘Traditional Marketing Vs. Digital Marketing – Which One Is Better?’ should tell me that there is a demand for an answer to that question. So, which one is better? Digital Marketing or Traditional Marketing?
What I am about to say might sound controversial, but I
guarantee you that if you read this piece of ‘Content Marketing’ with an open
mind, you might just make an incredibly positive impact on your business.
By viewing marketing as consisting of two separate disciplines – ‘Digital’ and ‘Traditional’ – you are causing a real lack of integration within your marketing strategy.
The best results will always occur when combining the right
mix of tactics to deliver on the strategic goal and speak to your target
audience in a way that works best for them. Yes, some of your tactics may be
‘digital’, some may even be ‘traditional’ but all of your tactics are Marketing
and that’s what every business needs to remember.
So where has the
separation come from?
When digital came onto the scene, it was very different from traditional marketing and that made it difficult for marketing teams to embrace it. The very nature of digital (technology that only techie people can understand) meant that marketeers didn’t know what to do to make it work. Because of this, we needed ‘specialists’ and separation was therefore the result.
Moving forward a few years, digital specialists are obsessed with the new but have no idea how to integrate it within an actual marketing strategy. One week it’s Facebook Live and the next it’s Virtual Reality! Learning about these technologies will always be interesting, but spending time exploring them can also be a massive waste of time within your department.
I know what you’re thinking…
“How could learning about the latest innovations ever be a waste of time?”
Because you are believing in the dream. You a believing that the latest new development is going to transform marketing forever, and whilst you’re at it, you are also believing that it will totally transform your business without even taking a second to see if it works within your top-line strategy.
Additionally, people who like to think they know a bit about marketing seem to automatically dismiss many existing customer communications tools in favour of the shiny and new. Businesses now think that a marketing campaign using the latest technology is considered ‘better’ than one executed using established (and proven) tactics.
If you or your team believe that innovation means the way we
have done things in the past is now obsolete, then you’ll naturally believe
that radio is dead, billboards don’t work and that people no longer watch TV.
If you share these options then designing any marketing campaign to include
these channels is clearly a waste of your time and money, and digital marketing
must be the only marketing worth doing.
Except that is complete nonsense. Today, pretty much every
aspect of marketing could be enhanced with a digital component and vice versa,
so if it is all one in the same – why do we differentiate the two? I’d almost
go as far as saying that the term ‘digital marketing’ has no real reason to
exist today at all.
The problem?
‘Digital Marketeers’ aren’t seeing the full picture.
Digital Marketeers seem to focus on the newest media
execution rather than the best mix of tactics for the business outcome, this
means that these same marketeers are short-changing their bosses, clients and
businesses. Looking at the newer tech-based customer outreach methods ALONE
without considering which methods actually work best with your customer is
missing the fundamental point of marketing.
This hard line between ‘Digital’ and ‘Traditional’ marketing has meant that businesses are now running their marketing department in a highly inefficient way. Here are some examples:
- Duplication of roles and responsibilities
- Lack of accountability
- Development of two separate marketing plans and budgets
- Inability to maximise investment in traditional media through digital
- Inability to make digital relevant to your customers every day needs
The solution?
Shift your thinking from ‘Digital Vs. Traditional’, start thinking holistically and just do great ‘Marketing’. Marketing has never and will never be about the list of tactics you can do with your skill set. It will never be about print ads, TV spots, a social media campaign or a new website. Marketing is simply put: choosing the right mix of channels as appropriate for your customer, service, product and market.
Ultimately, marketing is all about connecting. It’s about the connections within your marketing department and the strategic connection between marketing and sales. It’s about communicating one single idea through multiple channels that each have an important part to play in connecting with your audience.
In my honest opinion, marketeers have gone off the wagon. The attraction of the new have lured us all in and we’ve forgotten that it isn’t about the tools but rather the relationship with your customers – customers who are spending the day on computers and looking at their phones but go home in a car listening to the radio to sit and watch TV with their family in the evening.
Our customers are all living in an integrated traditional and digital world, so why are we trying to find ways to disconnect with them?
Your job as business owner or marketeer is to ensure that your marketing department’s strategy mirrors your customers integrated world by using a combination of all channels within one aligned strategy.
To help you gain a
holistic approach to marketing, follow these steps:
- Ensure your marketing department has multi-skilled employees working collaboratively to develop and execute your company’s single plan
- Understand your customer journey inside and out: This is key to determine the best channels and deliver results at each touch point. Researching your customer journey will help you to decide when and how you will apply the marketing tools at your disposal
- Think people, not platforms: your content needs to engage and convert your target audiences. Focus on your audiences needs before you think about how to reach them
- Stop making it about technology
Find the right tool
for the job
To summarise, I am by no means saying I am against digital tactics or channels. As it happens I believe that digital platforms have helped firms like Raffingers connect with their clients in a way that they couldn’t before. That being said, I do not believe it is the only tool in the toolbox that works, or the best tool for these same clients.
What marketeers need to remember is that your customer doesn’t think about it as online or offline. They wake up, they get in their car or on the tube and go to work (radio/podcast, newspaper, advertising). They sit at their computers all day (social, programmatic, Google Ad Words, SEO, content), they walk back to their car (billboards, bus adverts) and then once they get home they watch TV (TV advertising, sponsorship). There is no such thing as ‘digital’ or ‘traditional’ because the answer to the first question in this article lies somewhere between the two extremes.
The best marketing strategy is most often a combination of initiatives from both, developed from an understanding of your consumer behaviour and in alignment with your business strategy, which always remember is what your marketing plan must deliver.
Article by
Ashlee Bloom
020 3146 1695
Marketing Manager
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The post Digital Marketing Vs. Traditional Marketing: A Holistic Approach appeared first on Raffingers.