Digital or Traditional: Which Way is the Best to Market Your Business

With the soaring popularity of digital marketing, many marketers question the relevance of traditional marketing. Is one better than the other? Not really. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to you to decide which one you want to leverage for your business. 

Let’s compare both to help you arrive at a decision

 Traditional Marketing

This old-school marketing comprises advertising through newspapers, television ads, radio jingles, flyers, billboards, pop-up campaigns, networking events and trade shows. They can reach out to masses very easily. If your target audience is located in villages or rural areas, traditional marketing rules the roost as digital penetration is very low there. The recall value of advertisements is very high. Don’t you still remember those good ol’ television ad jingles like “jab main chotta baccha tha… roshini deta bajaj” or “Cadbury kuch meeta ho jaye”? That’s the effectiveness of traditional marketing.

On the flip side, the cost of traditional marketing campaigns is very high as you have to hire creative agencies to do the job for you. It is also difficult to measure the Return on Investment (ROI) as there are no such tools. 

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is the modern avatar of marketing. It refers to the promotion of products through online or digital channels such as social media, websites, search engines, mobile apps and emails. The new-age customers are tech-savvy, spend several hours a day online and expect businesses to have a digital presence. If they can’t find your business online, you literally do not exist for them! Digital marketing is also very cost-effective as all you need is a computer, internet connection and online presence. You can run campaigns based on the demographics, interests and buying behavior of target customers across geographical barriers. 

You don’t need to reach out to all and sundry. If you want to generate hype about your brand, it won't take your campaign to go viral within a few hours with the right marketing strategy. You can directly engage your customers with two-way interactions.

However, digital marketing has its drawbacks too. A single mistake can ruin your brand reputation. Customer complaints and negative feedback on your websites and social media handles can spread like wildfire. Online reputation management is a very important element of digital marketing.

The Verdict

A combination of both traditional and digital marketing is an ideal marketing mix to reap the maximum advantages. For example, if you are conducting an offline event, you can promote it online to spread a word about it and invite people.

Even the best digital marketing online course will tell you that both these forms are effective in their own ways!

Enrolling into a certified digital marketing course from one of the top institutes will boost your resume and open you up to better opportunities.