The first ever TV advertisement was broadcast on the United States national TV on July 1, 1941. The ad featured on WNBT, the New York station now known as WNBC or channel four. It revolutionized the art of advertising in the World. A flood of advertisements then followed on radio, film and television all across the globe. But, in recent times, a new, fast and advanced version of those advertisements have come up under the cloud of ‘Digital Marketing’.
Digital Marketing comprises of elements such as mobile marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and much more. In a recent report by HubSpot, in 2017, more than 77 billion dollars were spent on digital marketing in the United States alone, making up about 39% of the total marketing spend. The report also stated that chief marketing officers believe that more than 75% of the total ad spending will be spent just on digital marketing in the next five years.
Traditional marketing is a conventional form of marketing that reaches a semi-targeted and defined audience with methods such as broadcast advertising, print advertising, radio, point of sale, billboard and the like. All of the above may have evolved over time but their fundamental aspects have remained constant. Although, the report by HubSpot mentions the importance and the stronghold of digital advertising, it also mentions how another 72 billion dollars were spent on TV advertisements in 2017 in the US.
While you cannot ignore traditional marketing tools, you have got to accept the fact that the world has transitioned into a very digital platform and people respond to digital marketing tools much faster and accurately than the former. From banking to reading a novel, all the services are now widely available on the internet, much of which are free of costs and hassles. It is vital, in today’s day and age, for a company to have a social media presence and a website, no matter what the size is.
These strategies help in reaching a wider audience and help in tracking results much easier. It helps in keeping a quick and direct contact with the customers and also helps in tailor-making the same campaign for different audiences. On the other hand, conventional marketing helps in having a longevity affect as a hard copy of the advertisements remain in the shape of magazines, newspapers and brochures.
And the debate still goes on about which one of the two is better than the other, when in reality both go hand-in-hand, at least in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is important for the companies to employ both the strategies when advertising their brand.