Over the last decade marketing has very much made a shift towards digital channels. Through social media, SEO, PPC and so much more you have a direct route to your consumers and more often than not digital channels are more affordable than more traditional ones. However, the question now is ‘should marketers ignore traditional methods and rely solely on the power of digital channels such as social media advertising?’
The power of social media
One of the most popular forms of digital advertising is social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have revolutionised not only the way we browse web but also the way we connect with people and brands.
Social media presents a unique advertising opportunity to companies of all sizes. Whether you are the local baker or a multi-national enterprise, through both paid and free methods you can get your content directly in front of your target audience in a matter of seconds.
Using ads to amplify your content in an instant
Through more traditional channels, such as print, it can take weeks if not months to prepare an ad, wait for the material to be printed and then reach the hands of your target audience. However with social media ads you can get your advert designed, launched and generating sales in a few hours.
Both Facebook and Twitter utilise comprehensive advertising systems that allows advertisers to define a target audience based on interests, age, location gender and so much more. Consequently they can be sure that their ads will only be seen by people who fit the profile of their average customer, which ultimately means that you can expect higher conversion rates from social media ads.
Due to the membership of social network sites, even small businesses could potentially have their ads seen by millions of people from across the globe, so in terms of reaching a colossal audience quickly, there are few better options.
Can we rely solely on digital forms of advertising?
With the power that digital advertising campaigns hold it can be easy to put all your eggs in one basket as it were and simply ditch all forms of traditional media and instead target your resources towards digital. However, is this the right choice?
Do methods like radio; newspaper ads and billboards still hold value in this digital age?
In short, the answer is yes, and this is the case for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that whilst the Internet is more accessible than ever, there are still people who don’t access it on a daily basis or understand what social media is. Therefore, if your resources are solely focused on online methods, your brand will never reach such people and this will only be lost sales if they fit the profile of your target audience.
Because of its longevity, people are accustomed to traditional marketing. Finding ads in magazines and newspapers, or reading billboards are still familiar activities and people still do them all the time.
Traditional channels are ideal for local advertising efforts, and a perfect example of a more traditional method of advertising is scaffold banners. Let’s say you are a London based business and you decide to place a large banner on the side of a construction site in the middle of the city. There will be millions of eyeballs on it each day and as you’ll largely be attracting locals and people who frequent London, you are certainly getting your brand in front of the right people – you can’t tell us that you wouldn’t even at least think about including such an activity in your marketing efforts.
The key is to find the right balance; social media ads can be the perfect medium to support a large print advertising campaign and vice versa. Digital is certainly a major part of everyday marketing and it will only continue to grow but don’t completely ignore the value that traditional marketing channels can still provide.
from Darlene Milligan http://ift.tt/1UieW61 via transformational marketing
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1IrQmsj
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