We are constantly hearing about the benefits of digital marketing, and digital is certainly playing a huge role for many businesses these days. The ability to measure results, greater engagement with targets, and affordability are some of the main reasons why more businesses than ever before are going digital.
But this does not mean there is no room for traditional marketing techniques. In fact, print marketing still has many benefits that digital does not provide, and that is why many businesses use a mix of digital and print marketing.
Why Traditional Marketing Is Still Important
Businesses like digital because it is seen as more measurable and often more affordable. And it’s true that most businesses are probably missing out if they are not using at least some form of digital marketing.
But traditional marketing like print marketing has many benefits. For example, it is often seen as lending credibility to a business. If someone receives your print newsletter or sees your add in a publication they admire, this can give your credibility a boost.
Print can also be highly targeted. You can advertise in a magazine targeting a very specific group of people, or deliver a printed leaflet to a specific geographic area.
Print marketing can also be highly measurable. Take direct mail, for example. The success of a direct mail campaign is measured by the response rate, so you can get a very specific idea about how successful it has been, and you can then test future campaigns to improve upon this.
What Is the Right Solution for Your Business?
So if both digital and traditional print marketing can be effective, which is the right solution for you? There is no answer to this. It is all about your products, your customers, who they are and where they buy. You have to understand this and then reach out to them with the right mix of marketing, and this will come down to your own research.
Your budget also comes into play. Sending emails is a lot cheaper than physical mail, so you may be tempted to go with emails. But will you get the same response as direct mail? If not, direct mail could be the budget option. It all comes down to testing.
No Need to Choose One or the Other
Many would argue that there does not need to be a debate over which type of marketing to choose. It is not a question of one or the other, but rather how you can use them both together. Econsultancy has some great advice on making traditional and digital marketing work together, and you may want to do this by taking an integrated approach.
For example, you could send out leaflets to local businesses or households to target a very specific geographic area, and you can print marketing materials using your own printer and ink cartridges, so it does not have to be expensive. On each leaflet, you could then direct the targets back to your social media accounts or website, where you could then encourage them to follow your updates or sign up for your email newsletter.
You could do the same with an advertisement in a local or national paper, where the call to action could be to visit your website to receive a special offer. Or you could integrate a traditional billboard campaign with a mobile campaign by using a QR code that can be quickly scanned.
The two can easily complement each other, and it is up to you to find out how you can make this work for your business. You could start by experimenting with traditional ads that incorporate some form of response from the targets to make them less passive. Add your Facebook profile details and encourage people to respond online to take advantage of the more active nature of digital marketing.
Find the Approach that Works for You
Successful businesses realise that they have to take the right approach for them, which could mean focusing mainly on digital or mainly on traditional, or perhaps an even mix of the two. Ignoring digital is not a good strategy – but neither is ignoring traditional. Both can bring so many benefits for your business.
The answer is to experiment, research and find out what works for you. This is the only way to find out what type of marketing works best for your business, your products and your customers. You may find that traditional marketing still has a lot to offer, so don’t ignore it and try and find a way to make both traditional and digital work for you.
John Sollars is Mr. Stinkyink himself, having started the company way back in 2002. He created his company from the ground up, and he likes to advise others on doing the same. Look for his informative articles on many of today’s tech and business websites.
Featured image credit: ShutterStock
