Is digital the new traditional?

Technology has changed the way that marketers advertise. The facts are that digital methods of communication and marketing nowadays are faster, more versatile, practical and streamlined. So, is digital really the new traditional?

With nearly 4 billion people using the Internet and over 3.2 billion people on social media globally, digital marketing has become an integral part of every businesses success (Hubspot 2019). One-third of the world uses social media regularly, making it an excellent channel to connect with a target audience. TV or a radio ad might play in one location; a city or region while a digital ad can reach a local audience, but also an international one, even the whole world.

The great advantage of digital marketing versus traditional is that although you may be competing with similar businesses, you still have the possibility of appearing by targeting a specific niche. It is vital to get customers to think of a product/service as more than just a commodity. And as long as you see conversions coming in, you can scale your advertising continuously.

With digital marketing, you can get exact and detailed information on how many people your advertisement has reached and how well it is performing. It is more cost-effective, and it gives better results. Digital tools like Google Analytics will help you to measure the effectiveness of your ad campaign. It tracks your return on investment (ROI) and its analytic capabilities give you the opportunity to enhance ROI. On the other hand, traditional marketing is far more expensive, their reach is limited, and the results cannot be targeted and tracked.

Digital marketing also allows for higher customer engagement. If you post on social media, consumers can directly respond to your message or share it with others. Social media and email marketing are examples of how digital marketing offers two-way communication, allowing for feedback and relationship-building. Traditional marketing is solely one-way communication, showcasing a product, event, or service and leaving it at that. However, the benefit of traditional marketing is that it lends itself to gaining exposure to new audiences.

There’s a huge amount of available exposure within target groups online, implying higher conversion rates and lower costs. For example, Facebook gives you the lowest cost per mille (CPM) in advertising as a whole. That means you can reach the most amount of people for the lowest price through Facebook advertising. Digital marketing is still cheaper compared to traditional marketing. For small businesses that are trying to make a mark on a tight budget, digital marketing can be a saviour.

As the public use of the Internet has now grown to include nearly 4 billion people, it’s unsurprising that digital has become the ‘new traditional’ and traditional – the ‘old school’ marketing.