When it comes to marketing today, the name of the game is digital. Search engine marketing, social media campaigns, SEO, and more all provide affordable and effective ways to reach your audience, all while providing you with valuable data and customer insights.
With so much of the conversation revolving around the digital space, many people have come to question the value of a traditional advertising agency.
If digital marketing is so central to modern strategies, is it still worthwhile to pursue other tried-and-true avenues, like radio, print ads, or direct mail?
The simple answer is yes, but it’s to your benefit to understand why. We’ll look at what traditional marketing is and why it still has plenty to add to your overall strategy.
Understanding Traditional Marketing
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably encountered traditional marketing strategies at some point.
These are the methods people have been using to promote their businesses since the advent of the modern economy.
A few broad categories include:
- TV and radio: Commercials either seen or heard as part of a broadcast
- Print ads: Advertisements seen in newspapers and magazines
- Billboards and outdoor ads: Large visual displays in populated areas
- Direct mail: Flyers, letters, postcards, and other marketing materials mailed to potential customers
- Telemarketing: Cold calls placed to potential customers; often used in business-to-business marketing campaigns
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of every option available from a traditional advertising agency.
It is their job to evaluate clients’ goals and work with them to determine which methods can be leveraged to best achieve the desired results.
While anyone could take advantage of these methods without the help of an agency, it is through their expertise that they are used most effectively.
Is It Still Worth Using?
This is the question puzzling many businesses across the world. While it’s true that traditional marketing has a proven history and track record, you might question whether it’s even worth investing money in it now that so many digital channels are available.
As we’ve already said, the short answer is absolutely. Just like you shouldn’t put all your money into a single digital channel, skipping a traditional advertising agency entirely means missed opportunities.
First, traditional marketing is tangible. It has a visible presence in people’s lives, making it stick better in their minds. If you pass by the same billboard every day, it’s not long before you remember every bit of information on it.
When it comes to something like a pamphlet or flyer, it can serve as a physical reminder of your business in a person’s home.
You can like an Instagram post, but can you stick it to your fridge where you’ll see it every time you grab the orange juice?
Traditional marketing also helps you establish a brand identity. With its wide reach, it’s possible to get your ads in front of large swaths of your community.
And speaking of community, traditional marketing is also well-positioned to help local businesses attract new customers in the area.
People also tend to trust traditional marketing methods more than online ones. Studies show that around 80 percent of consumers trust traditional media, such as television and print, over digital.
Some even view online ads with inherent mistrust and distaste, thanks to the less-than-savory reputation of spammy banner ads and pop-ups.
As a result, traditional media lends your brand a kind of legitimacy that’s just hard to replicate online.
How to Incorporate Traditional Marketing in Your Strategy
When it comes to marketing your business, you should be using every relevant tool at your disposal.
Different channels provide unique opportunities to connect with different segments of your audience, so you can broaden your reach as widely as possible.
The key is to view your strategy holistically and build your plan in such a way that each element supports the others.
Some ways to meld traditional marketing strategies with digital include:
Dovetailing Traditional Marketing with Digital
One of the key advantages of digital marketing is data. It allows you to track who is seeing what ads, when and where they’re seeing them, and whether or not the ads lead to a successful conversion.
Traditional marketing by itself lacks this advantage, but with some clever forethought, you can bridge the divide from physical to digital.
Try including a website URL in a TV ad or a QR code in a mailer that brings the viewer to a landing page built just for people who’ve seen that specific ad.
You’ll get them from offline to online, and you’ll be able to generate valuable analytics.
Reaching Your Whole Audience
One of the key tenets of marketing is meeting your audience where they are. Spreading your efforts across every channel available to you allows you to connect with every member of your audience, regardless of demographic.
Seniors, for example, tend to encounter more traditional advertising, while younger groups are more likely to see ads online. Consider your core message, then adjust for the medium and who might be seeing a particular ad.
Multi-Channel Brand Integration
Ensure your brand is represented consistently across all channels. The average person encounters hundreds of both traditional and digital ads over the course of their day.
Every time your audience encounters one of your ads, they should be getting the same message.
This will help them associate that message with your brand everywhere they encounter it.
Whether they are watching TV, reading a mailer, or scrolling TikTok, they should be hearing a consistent value proposition or call to action.
Digital marketing is a powerful tool in your arsenal, but it isn’t the only one. The best approach integrates both modern and tried-and-true techniques, creating a well-rounded strategy designed to maximize your efforts and your reach.
By combining the long-established trust of traditional advertising with the data-driven approach of digital, a business can create a plan that reaches a broad audience across a variety of platforms.
The best way to do that is by working with an advertising agency that excels at both digital and traditional marketing, such as InnoVision Marketing Group.
If an agency knows how to achieve harmony between conventional methods and state-of-the-art technology, they’re a partner worth having.