If you’re a business owner trying to figure out how to expand your reach, you might want to forego the traditional marketing concepts. SEO digital agencies offer you more outlets, more analytics, and more data. Armed with these tools, you can effectively adapt your marketing strategy to fit your business model better.
Digital marketing helps small-to-mid-size companies carve out their niche and market directly to their consumers. They don’t have to compete for broad-spectrum advertising on national outlets. This article discusses the many changes that digital marketing has caused to traditional marketing. It also discusses the benefits of digital marketing over traditional marketing.
Table of Contents
Digital Marketing Changes Traditional Business Marketing
Shifts in focus, attention span, and approach have drastically shifted the traditional marketing landscape. Social media and advanced technology have made it difficult for marketers to adapt their strategies to meet the demands of a rapidly changing marketplace.
The Internet Fundamentally Changed the Marketplace
The pandemic expedited a trend that was already happening: the shift from brick and mortar to eCommerce and online marketplaces. In 2020, 1.66 billion people shopped online, while 78% of internet users are explicitly researching the products online before they purchase them.
Customers are also leveraging the internet to research services before they buy. They utilize search engines, online reviews, and comparison sites to find the best offerings. Because customers can compare in-store using their smartphones, it keeps retailers honest. Now more than ever, the customer has the power.
Additionally, if your brand isn’t visible within the new online marketplace, you miss connecting and converting customers. Because so many consumers are online, companies need to reach their target markets where they’re spending the most of their time.
Types of Digital Marketing
Email Marketing
Email marketing is like mail marketing on steroids. It allows advertisers natural transitions that improve on traditional methods. Email lists, much like mailing lists, help companies instantly connect with consumers in their locations. Most organizations can offer incentives via emails that give their consumers savings options, exclusive content, or free merchandise in exchange for their loyalty.
Social Media Marketing
Organizations that can tap into an online presence through social media will see the benefits. From increased brand recognition and improved customer experiences, improving your online presence is essential for companies who want to improve their conversion rates.
The best part of social media marketing is that it’s free. It also gives your business more direct communication with consumers. Consumers can take to the internet to contact brands about issues they have or questions. Companies can also work with influencers to get in front of more consumers and spend less money
Website Optimization and Content Marketing
One of the best ways to get attention is through your website. Ensuring your website has effective SEO strategies and enticing content tells Google your website is worth sending people to it.
Why is Digital Marketing a Better Option for Your Business?
Advertising Is More Affordable Than Ever
Digital marketing has lower CPMs (cost per every thousandth ad impression) than traditional advertising. While CPMs for cable TV can be as high as $17 and for national broadcast, it can jump to $32. To put this into perspective when comparing costs, Google displays average price in 2018 was $2.80 – that’s for high-competition audiences.
Google search ads can get expensive, with the average CPM being $38.40. However, the options digital ads provide far outnumber the limited, highly competitive traditional advertising options. The other advantage digital advertising has is the access to analytics and understanding where their money goes.
It Has a Higher ROI
Lower costs and higher conversion rates lead to a higher ROI compared to traditional advertising methods. With strategic, keyword-rich websites, engaging content, SEO and digital campaigns, companies can improve their bottom lines without wasting money on traditional advertising methods.
Size Doesn’t Matter
One of the significant shifts present in online advertising is the ability for companies of all sizes to take advantage of it and engage their target audiences. With traditional media marketing campaigns, spots are reserved for whoever pays the most. With digital marketing, companies small, medium, and large have a more even playing field.
Data Reliance
Before digital marketing tactics, companies had limited ways to collect data. The most they could hope for in market research was mailing surveys. Nowadays, companies have countless tools to aid in their targeting efforts. With the implementation of big data, companies are more connected than ever with consumers. This connection allows companies to speak more directly to their target audiences and examine which markets work best for their products.
Analytics
Analytics go hand-in-hand with data for digital marketing campaigns. Not only can companies plan their campaigns better, they can also look back and analyze what worked and what didn’t. With tools such as Google Analytics and website analytics, companies have more access to analytics than ever.
Advanced Targeting
Whereas traditional print advertising targets broad audiences, the internet offers companies the chance to specify their target audience. With digital marketing, your company has direct contact with its target audience.
Now, companies can engage with their target audience on multiple levels. Companies can engage on basic topics like age, gender, location, occupation, and lifestyle differentiators such as preferences, hobbies, desires, likes, and dislikes. Companies can also engage with consumers who have clicked on their websites.
Reputation Management
Word of mouth used to be the most reliable way to assess a business’s reputation. Sure, you’ve always had critical reviews for restaurants in the newspaper, but you were at the mercy of one opinion. Now, with directories such as Yelp!, consumers have an open forum to post their experiences and thoughts about restaurants and other business types.
These forums can either help or hinder businesses. The more favorable reviews you generate, the more likely you are to generate business.
Conclusion- How Digital Marketing Changed Traditional Marketing
Digital marketing revolutionized the marketing world. It created a marketplace and expanded companies of all size’s reach. Between social media, pay-per-click advertising, and using your website content as marketing tools, there’s no turning back the clock on digital marketing. It’s here to stay and traditional marketing is rapidly becoming an obsolete advertising form.
Enjoyed reading the blog? Sign up for our monthly newsletter to receive marketing news and advice.
- How Digital Marketing Changed Traditional Advertising - July 29, 2021
All are fabulous points Zach.
The confusing aspect of digital marketing to me concerning aspiring entrepreneurs is how many folks are utterly blind to how these tools, sites and strategies literally level the playing field between an individual blogger and billion dollar empires. When you market online the right way for a while you can greater greater exposure than titanic empires through certain channels.
My blog outranked a billion dollar corporation twice for a highly competitive keyword for one Google search. How in the goodness could I ever do this offline through traditional marketing methods? Get online guys! Level the playing field.
Ryan