Both traditional marketing and digital marketing have their key fundamentals and concrete differences. Some even say that digital MKT is simply a modern version of traditional MKT.
Let’s see what are the key elements of one and the other!
Fundamentals of digital marketing and traditional marketing
The Marketing Mix (4P) is a model that guides brands to focus on analyzing the elements that can influence decision-making and customer perception of a particular product or service.
For their part, the 4C model focuses exclusively on the consumer’s relationship with brands and how the relationship between both parties is improved through that interaction.
Each of these streams addresses different means, actions and resources that converge at the same point: brand positioning and sales consolidation. Let’s take a better look at both models.
Traditional Marketing: The Public as Mass
The Marketing Mix: The 4Ps of traditional marketing
The 4Ps of the Marketing Mix allow you to explain how marketing works comprehensively and completely. These are 4 basic elements with which the American accounting professor E. Jerome McCarthy defined the concept of marketing in 1960.
Product
It consists of strategically and coherently defining the basic characteristics of your product, such as size, weight, presentation and packaging.
In addition, you should also consider planning things related to logistics and storage (warehouses, transport, time and delivery).
Price
It is about evaluating the factors and costs that will define the price of the product or service, such as the raw material, costs associated with its distribution and marketing, legal costs, brand costs, research costs, promotional costs and operating costs, taxes, among others.
Place
It consists of defining the most appropriate place and channel to promote the sale and distribution of the product or service in the most optimal, efficient and effective way.
Promotion
It is about planning and selecting the most appropriate means that will be used to promote the brand, product or service.
Digital Marketing: Same Actor in Different Costume?
Some affirm that digital marketing works under the same basis as traditional marketing and that it is simply about new channels, with greater optimization.
On the other hand, some argue that digital marketing has been so disruptive that it has the special place that distinguishes it from traditional marketing.
Let’s see some keys to understand it better and draw more accurate conclusions:
What are the 4Cs of digital marketing?
The 4C model of digital marketing was proposed by Robert F. Lauterborn in 1990. Lauterborn tried to adapt as much as possible to the original 4P model created by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960.
Lauterborn’s idea was to make the necessary modifications to the model to adapt it to the new digital realities of digital marketing, but without changing the essence of the 4Ps.
If we started from the original 4P model of the marketing mix of traditional marketing as the basis for the 4C model of digital marketing, it would be as follows:
Consumer / Customer
First, it is important to know who we are talking to, as our clients are very well differentiated and grouping them will allow us to achieve our objectives. It is not enough to have your sociodemographic data or your geographical location, you have to know your tastes, habits, fears, needs and how you think.
Cost
Cost is an important factor in which the customer can decide whether to purchase the product.
In conventional terms, the total cost is the sum of the different elements such as raw material, costs associated with its distribution and commercialization, legal costs, brand costs, research costs, promotional costs and operating costs, taxes, among others.
However, from the new perspective of digital marketing, the value that the brand, product or service implies in terms of status, opportunities, added value and quality is also considered.
Convenience
In digital terms, everything should be customer-centric, from service design, quality of service (CX) to user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) … even SEO and SEM are fundamental to make things much easier for customers and users.
Therefore, it is important to propose different alternatives in terms of service, sale, payment and shipping channels, so that customers have greater comfort and security when participating in any process.
Communication
Communication and conversation are the main fuel of digital marketing and thus we gain the trust of our clients. For this reason, it is vital to have constant interactive communication, but without invading the space of consumers with SPAM.
It is essential to generate valuable content to promote the brand, product or service periodically, without involving direct sales constantly.
Bonus: The 4Cs of Social Media
Yes, digital marketing is quite broad. There is another model, the 4Cs of Social Media. Through them, the ideal ways to generate effective, efficient and optimizable strategies are proposed for the generation of promotional content on social networks for a brand, product or service.
Content
The creation of valuable content depends on research, active listening and interaction to get to know the consumers or users of your brand, product or service.
The saying “content is king” applies as long as it is appropriate and responds to the interests of the audience.
Community
A digital community is built with effort, with quality content that generates a connection with the audiences.
Users who visit your social networks and website must come, stay, share and return. A truly effective community is not the one with the most followers, but the one with the most loyal users who generate conversions.
Connection
The message on each digital platform must be the same but adapted to the characteristics and functions of each one, since users respond differently. Structure the messages according to the language, context, community and interaction of digital channels.
Conversation
Apply active listening and generate conversations aligned with the digital marketing objectives of your brand, product or service.
Keep in mind that it is useless to promote a message if you do not get a response aligned directly with the objectives. Listen to suggestions, talk, earn the trust of your community and boost sales from your trench.
Conclusions
The Marketing Mix is a model that guides brands to focus on analyzing the elements that can influence decision-making and customer perception of a particular product or service, while the 4C focuses on the consumer’s relationship with brands, and how through this interaction the relationship between both parties is improved.
| 4C | 4P |
| Consumer or Customer | Product |
| Cost | Price |
| Convenience | Place |
| Communication | Promotion |
Now that you know a little more about how the world of marketing works, you may notice that it is a job that must be done by specialists. Leave this job in our hands and dedicate yourself to generating income for your business. Helping you grow is our passion! Contact us!
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