What Is Traditional Marketing?
Overwhelming choice and a burst of colour is what greets us in most supermarkets today. It’s hard to believe that until the 1950s, plain packaging claimed the shelves of our local greengrocers.
Door-to-door salesmen made their way around our neighbourhoods. Subliminal messaging sneaked passed our senses. We teetered on the brink of modern advertising. Pointed shoes and coiffed hair to envy ‘Mad Men’ made way for ‘modern’ marketing.
Traditional Marketing Mix
Almost 7 decades later, the fundamentals of marketing remain the same. The way in which we ‘sell’ products still rests upon The 4Ps – product, price, place and promotion. The sale of services also requires the consideration of 3 extra ‘Ps’ – people, process and physical environment.
Designed to lead customers and prospects through the ‘sales funnel,’ the 4 (or 7) Ps form the basis of any marketing strategy. Today’s funnels are conceptual tools based on the AIDA model – awareness, interest, desire and action.
When we consider how and where digital marketing fits into the traditional marketing mix, it would be easy to assume that it only applies to promotion. However what makes digital marketing so unique and powerful is that touches upon each element of the 4 and 7Ps.
Traditional Marketing Channels
‘Pull’ marketing tools were the only channels marketers had at their disposal for many decades. These included above the line advertising – newspapers, magazines, radio, television and billboards. Below the line advertising – flyers and brochures – also proved popular.
Though the marketing channels available to us have grown remarkably, what hasn’t changed is the approach to their use. Integrated marketing campaigns still employ multiple channels at one time to maximise the reach and impact of a campaign.
With digital marketing keenly in play, integrated marketing campaigns today are likely to see a combined use of on and off-line media at any one time. As well as trying to facilitate the very best marketing tool of all – word-of-mouth, or viral, marketing.
What Is Digital Marketing?
The holistic representation of a brand online and the optimisation of its presence to achieve goals, digital marketing has by no means replaced the traditional marketing mix or made traditional channels redundant.
We know this because ads still flood our screens and reading material everyday. However digital marketing has changed and expanded the landscape within which these ads reach us.
When our TVs only had 5 channels (3 of which would actually run ads) television advertising was a fairly limited, and expensive, platform. Now our screen time has been completely revolutionised. We consume video content via streaming services, smartphone apps, on social media feeds. Every, single video is an advertising opportunity.
Similarly the way in which we consume copy is not limited to the pages in our hands. From 280 character tweets to extensive blog posts or online publications, ‘print’ advertising is no longer just in print.
Digital Marketing Channels
Consider the exponential rate at which digital marketing channels are being created and developed. Then compare this level of innovation with the many decades our traditional marketing channels remained the same. Our current marketing landscape is unprecedented. The reason for this? The advent of the internet.
The internet revolution has since led to the advent of email marketing, websites, blogs, social media (organic and paid), SEO and SEM. Digital marketing channels as we know them today.
As the internet has become more and more sophisticated over the past 30 years, so too have our digital marketing channels. This has prompted digital marketers to keep their skills sharp and their knowledge constantly up to date.
How Can Digital Marketing Help Your Business?
Much like the early days of traditional marketing, digital marketing had somewhat unruly roots. The early world wide web, unregulated by the Google algorithms of today, proved a keyword free for all. When you consider that Google is only 20 years old, it is clear that SEO and digital marketing is still a relatively young industry – with endless opportunities.
With technology, platforms and Google’s algorithm constantly evolving, it can be very difficult to keep up. You are the expert in your business and we are the experts in ours, so if you need a hand with your digital marketing – get in touch.
