Combining Traditional and Digital Marketing Tactics in Your Marketing Strategy

Traditional marketing refers to offline marketing channels, such as outdoor advertisements and radio ads. Digital marketing is any and all marketing that takes place online. Without an online presence today, it is hard to compete and grow your business, which is why more companies than ever are integrating digital tactics into their promotions. Online marketing tactics, such as SEO and Google Ads, can help businesses reach consumers in the ever-changing and evolving online space. Google alone boasts an average of 63,000 searches every single second of the day; you want to make sure your brand’s product or service is present when your target audience is researching on the internet.

Many of our clients have similar questions when they are transitioning from a budget allocated to traditional marketing to one that also incorporates digital marketing tools. Here, we aim to provide you with the answers to those questions and the key factors to consider when allocating your budget to digital.

Which marketing tactics will work for me?

The question that we are asked most often is whether one has to choose between traditional marketing and digital marketing. Are the two techniques mutually exclusive? Or can they be used beneficially together and complement one another?

Put another way, are the two schools of marketing competing rivals or complementary allies?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question; it depends on your own marketing needs. When it comes to making decisions about which tactics your business should use, you need to consider the following questions:

• What are the marketing objectives? Who is your audience?
• What is your budget & strategy for achieving these objectives?
• What communication tools would be best used to promote and deliver your messaging and brand to your target customers?

A clear idea of what you want your marketing strategy to be will guide you in selecting the best online and offline tactics to reach your objectives. As quoted by Kotler, the ‘father’ of Marketing: “The marketing strategy lays out target markets and the value proposition that will be offered based on an analysis of the best market opportunities.”

The table below illustrates just some of the tactics that can be used within your campaigns to help you execute the best strategy possible. As you can see, there are opportunities in both traditional and digital marketing to reach customers both above and below the line. Above the line tactics are those that can reach a wider audience, sometimes referred to as “mass marketing”. These tactics are typically used to build brand awareness.

Below the line tactics are typically more targeted and specific. These can include email marketing that a customer has opted-in for or a direct mail newsletter. These pieces of marketing are more conversion-focused, hoping to directly influence a sale.

There are so many tactics and opportunities that can be used within traditional and digital marketing to reach your objectives. Combining digital and traditional tactics provides even more opportunities to reach your target customers within different channels and target your messaging effectively. We at Snaptech believe that a new digital component doesn’t have to threaten an existing traditional marketing strategy; it can enhance it.

The right mix of traditional and digital, placed in the right media and targeted at the right people, can make a world of difference in the way consumers find and interact with your brand.

Why is digital marketing becoming ever more important? How does it help reach objectives?

At Snaptech, digital is what we do. We think that a strong digital component to your marketing strategy can bring about advantages that weren’t previously possible within traditional marketing strategies. Some of the biggest advantages to adding a digital component to your marketing strategy include…

• Measurable Results. When you use an analytics tool, you are provided with solid, reliable reports that show you the exact results of your marketing campaign. What does the data tell you? Is there a story of user behaviour from what you see from the data? Using and interpreting this enables you to learn more about the users interacting with your product and make campaigns that work for them
• Flexibility. Consumers are looking for a more customized, personal customer journey that isn’t possible with traditional marketing, which can often be generic. Digital marketing allows you to use an individual’s interests and preferences to tailor the marketing message they receive. Personalization may just be the biggest asset of digital and online marketing.
• Low Barrier To Entry. Traditional marketing activities can come with a large price tag. It costs a lot of money and time to produce a TV ad, a radio commercial, or a billboard. In comparison, digital marketing strategies, like Google ads and an SEO-focused website, can be scaled and executed so that small, medium and large businesses can all utilize these tactics to reach their audiences. Of course, determining which tactics in particular need to be utilized depends on your marketing goals and your audience in particular.
• Reach Larger Audiences. The internet is always operating and accessible to a larger global audience. With traditional marketing, you’re typically limited to a geographic area; digital marketing allows you to connect with and communicate your brand to international audiences without as high of a barrier to entry.
• Easy to Optimize. Since digital marketing is easily measured and analyzed, if a tactic or campaign is not performing as well as you would like, it’s possible to pinpoint the issue and change it. You can even try several different things, measure which one worked best, and select that option as the main tactic moving forward.
• Engagement. Digital marketing allows for two-way interactions with your target audience. This provides the opportunity to receive feedback and input first hand, almost instantly, allowing you to learn more about your target audience.
• Improved Conversion Rates. Converting a customer online is just a few clicks away. Instead of a customer having to pick up the phone or get in their car and drive down to a shop, they can click from your email to your website and make a purchase or learn more about your organization from the comfort of their home.

Are you looking for online marketing services to strengthen your traditional marketing efforts? Digital marketing might seem daunting but Snaptech has a team of Digital Marketing Strategists here to help develop and grow your online presence.  Contact us today to learn more about how we can implement a tailored digital marketing strategy for your business that complements your traditional marketing strategy and helps you to begin reaching your customers online.