With digital marketing budgets expected to continue their growth in 2013, it can be easy to get swept up in the hype and dismiss traditional marketing strategies. Digital is, in fact, a powerful marketing strategy, but traditional marketing tactics aren’t going anywhere in the near future either.
In this blog post, we’ll look at the fundamentals of traditional marketing and how they can be applied in 2013 to improve overall marketing efforts.
What falls under the traditional marketing umbrella?
Traditional marketing tactics revolve around the “4 Ps” of marketing:
- Price
- Product
- Placement
- Promotion
The most commonly used traditional marketing channels include print advertisements, commercial spots, trade shows/conventions, radio spots, and direct mailings. With digital’s emergence, these core marketing tactics have, in essence, been taken online to create their own digital entities.
“Pros” and “cons” of traditional marketing
Much like fads such as scrunch socks in the 80s, Pokemon in the 90s, or Texas Hold ‘Em Poker in the 2000s, the “latest and greatest” trends may not be for everyone. This theory applies to the world of marketing as well.
While digital marketing is currently “in,” there’s still a large audience that responds and even prefers traditional marketing tactics. Some customers are more comfortable with face-to-face encounters than social media or websites when looking for a product or service; such encounters can be held at trade shows or conventions, which present an opportunity to connect with the brand on a personal level.
It’s important to note that traditional marketing tactics can be more costly than digital, which tends to keep traditional strategies on a more localized, focused level. Conversely, digital strategies can be used in a cost-effective manner to reach a national or global audience, and they have the ability to track clicks, views, and fans as a way to measure engagement and ROI.
Final thoughts
Despite digital’s emergence, traditional marketing is not likely to disappear anytime in the near future. The main thing to remember when creating a marketing campaign is to understand your audience, which means not only offering relevant information, but delivering this information through the proper channel, whether it’s a newsletter through the mail or a message through social media.
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