Running a successful business is not just about having high-quality products or choosing the right market. It’s also about leveraging the right kind of marketing techniques in order to reach out to your target audience and convert them into leads or customers.
Business owners often wonder what forms of marketing can help generate customers and increase sales for their business. This is the exact point where the fight between traditional forms of advertisement and digital forms of advertisement starts from. You begin to wonder which is more overpowering or surpassing.
The digital marketing industry started to pick up In Nigeria, around 2012. With the entry of eCommerce platforms like Jumia and Konga. The industry’s continuous growth has been tremendous, In fact, many think that for the most part, digital marketing has taken over and traditional marking barely exists, if at all. Let’s take a brief look at the difference;
Traditional Marketing
Traditional Marketing refers to the conventional methods of marketing used ever since the concept of advertisements or marketing came into existence.
It is a rather broad category that incorporates many forms of advertising and marketing. It includes mainly four categories; print, broadcast, direct mail, and telephone. The most popular methods of traditional marketing could include; Newspaper, Flyers or Pamphlets, Radio, Television, Billboard advertising along roads and highways and Magazine ads.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the marketing or promotion of products or services using digital technologies, mainly on the Internet, it also includes mobile phones, display advertising, and any other digital medium.
Digital marketing involves all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Many businesses now leverage digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and websites to connect with current and prospective customers.
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Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing.
While traditional marketing is still effective, it’s not the only way to make your product popular among your target market. The world has transitioned into a highly digital environment. In recent times, with the advent of various digital sources, most brand’s marketing and promotions are fast drifting away from traditional sources (such as TVs, Radios & Newspapers) and greatly tilting towards digital media and platforms (such as mobile apps, websites, emails, etc.) However, let’s compare them using the following parameters;
1. Low-Cost Ads
With traditional marketing, apart from the fact that newspaper, television and some other media ads cost a lot, it’s very difficult for small businesses with limited budgets to compete with larger businesses for ad space. However, advertising through the internet is quite affordable, it is something even young entrepreneurs can afford.
2. Brand Development
Would you rather prefer your advert on a small column in a newspaper or on a personal website where you can showcase your ads and promote your brand whenever you want? With digital marketing, you can effectively and consistently build your brand image with the help of a social media page and a well-maintained website with quality content, targeting the needs and adding value to your target audience.
3. Audience & Reach
In order to run your business more effectively, it is important to make sure that your advertisements are reaching the right audience and customers. One reason why digital marketing has an added advantage over traditional, when it comes to audience and reach, is the fact that, digital marketing provides the opportunity to narrow down your reach to a particular audience or group (eg. pregnant women), While in traditional marketing, you target your ads to a very broad audience majority of which are not your potential customers.
4. Analytics & Measurement
With digital marketing, you can measure your marketing efforts quickly and easily. You get to know straight up which strategy is working and which isn’t through Google Analytics were data and results are easily recorded. You can measure important metrics such as traffic rate, conversion rate, interested audience, bounce rate, and cost per acquisition.
With Google Analytics and the insights tools offered by most social media channels, you can check on your campaigns at any time. Unlike traditional marketing methods, you can see in real time what is or is not working for your business online and you can make adjustments to improve your results.
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