The marketing landscape has changed a lot in recent years.
With the Internet and social media, businesses have had to adapt their marketing strategies to keep up with the times.
What does this mean for traditional marketing methods?
I found a post by Stacy Cornay of Communication Concepts online, where she states, “Traditional marketing is dead — “why can’t people get this?”.
“Why? Because no one uses it! If you haven’t completely moved to digital marketing,” she claimed, “then you are totally missing the boat.”
So is she right and is traditional marketing dead?
Let’s compare modern marketing solutions to their traditional counterparts.
Email Marketing vs Direct Mail
The most common question is whether direct mail or email marketing is more effective.
It depends on your specific goals and objectives, of course.
In terms of open and response rates, direct mail marketing wins over email marketing.
Recipients open direct mail 90% of the time, according to the Data & Marketing Association. Comparatively, the number of emails opened across all industries MailChimp recently analysed is 21.33%.
Response rates for direct mail are also excellent. An email has an average response rate of approximately 1% and a click-through rate of 2.62%. A response rate of 5% to 9% is average for direct mail.
For small businesses, there are many benefits of email marketing, including saving money and building awareness.
Despite this, direct mail costs are typically much higher than email. The mail carrier must deliver direct mail, since it must be printed, delivered, and designed.
According to the Data & Marketing Association, direct mail costs twice as much as an email to gain a new customer.
So is it cost effective?
According to statistics, email and direct mail marketing have advantages and disadvantages.
Email marketing effectively builds relationships with customers and keeps them up-to-date on what’s new with your business.
You can choose the date and time when the emails will be sent. Alternatively, you can use more modern email automation services, which send emails based on triggers such as users’ online and offline behaviour.
Direct mail can however be more effective at driving sales and generating leads.
Direct mail and email marketing combined are the most effective options for a highly impactful marketing campaign.
The combination of email, direct mail, and other forms of digital marketing, like social media and pay-per-click advertising, can improve the results of your marketing campaign.
In an integrated campaign that includes email marketing and direct mail, ensure your direct mail is delivered directly after your emails are sent.
What’s the reason? Sequencing media is essential! When direct mail follows email, brand recall increases by 40%!
The email marketing software MailChimp has a pretty neat solution. This is whereby, for as little as 74p per postcard, you can design and upload business postcard mailers that fit your brand. Your campaign workflow will be stamped and delivered by Mailchimp.
Postcard campaigns allow you to stand out from the crowd and give people something tangible to remember you by. Multichannel marketing tactics include postcards to reinforce messages you’ve sent through emails, ads, and elsewhere.
Other postcard services can integrate with your marketing automation and CRM systems. So speak to your marketing agency to see what services can be integrated and set up for you.
What’s key is that you use both methods together to get the most effective results.
Content Marketing vs Advertising
One of the most popular marketing methods is advertising, but it’s not without its faults.
Traditional advertising would include print advertising, like newspaper ads, magazine ads, and billboards. Additionally, television and radio ads would also be broadcast.
When you look around, you will see advertising messages everywhere, like on buses, buildings and train stations, to name just a few.
Others consider some forms of promotional advertising, while others differentiate promotions from advertising.
Promotional items such as pens, caps, and coffee cups with logos are traditionally given away in traditional advertising campaigns. Additionally, direct mail, coupons, fliers, and tabletop displays can be used in advertising promotions.
In our experience, as you plan your marketing strategy, it’s wise to consider some of these methods, along with banner advertising, pay-per-click advertising, and social media advertising, if it will help improve your reach or reinforce your marketing message or promotion.
Content marketing has become more viable for businesses looking to connect with their target audiences in recent years as a modern alternative.
The critical difference between content marketing and advertising is that content marketing provides valuable, informative content that solves customers’ problems, while advertising sells products or services.
Content marketing builds trust and credibility with your target market. Providing value or information to customers is the first step before pitching an idea or selling a product based on it.
Among them are:
- Blogging
- Articles published online
- Social media
- Newsletters sent via email
- Podcasts and videos
- eBooks
- Online webinars
Due to its in-depth targeting and higher return on investment, content marketing is rapidly booming and changing the dynamics of advertising. However, advertising is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, as it has a broad reach, contributing to brand awareness, information dissemination, and brand building.
Social Media Marketing vs Traditional PR
Social media has completely transformed communication between businesses and their audiences.
Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn have become fundamental pillars of brand communication due to their ubiquity. Using it for effective public relations has never been easier.
In the past, businesses would hire PR firms to help them get coverage in newspapers and magazines.
However, social media marketing has allowed businesses to reach their target audiences with virtually no direct effort.
Not only that, but social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook also allow businesses to track analytics and measure results in real-time.
You’re simply missing a massive opportunity if you’re not using social as part of your marketing plan.
You’d be surprised how many businesses forget the first rule of social media – it’s supposed to be social.
Unlike traditional PR, social media allows businesses to have a two-way conversation, not just one-way storytelling.
Your business’ target audience will be more likely to invest in your products or services if you actively engage them through comments, questions, and private messages about your products or services. This will also help you build your reputation, which is the key purpose of effective PR.
Your response to an individual comment on social media will probably be visible to hundreds of others.
Using a friendly, non-business approach to engage with your target audience, you can quickly and effectively build positive reports.
Traditional PR still plays an active role in marketing and growing your business, so don’t throw away your contacts. It is more expensive to publish articles in newspapers and magazines. Still, it is possible to get free press coverage if you have something interesting to shout about.
New products, services, events and milestones should all be celebrated. Therefore, using the right trade publication to showcase something brand-new about your company has proven to be an effective way to utilise traditional public relations and be seen by your target audience.
A way to integrate traditional marketing with digital marketing
Using both forms of marketing in your business can benefit you in the following ways:
- Identify your target audience by creating customer personas based on detailed demographic information.
- Using a CRM platform, create a customer database to store contact information for both traditional and digital outreach leads.
- Include your website in direct mail marketing to connect with your online and offline presence.
- Maximise your exposure by being featured in physical and online magazines. Magazines may offer advertising in both print and digital versions.
- Place banner ads in newspapers and on the Internet. Investing in a newspaper ad may not be as lucrative as advertising online. Still, it may be worth it if it reaches one of your customer personas.
- Offline ads should include social media links. By making it easy for prospects to find you on Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks, you can help bridge the online and offline worlds.
Conclusion
So, is traditional marketing still effective? The answer, in simple terms, is yes.
There’s no doubt that traditional marketing methods are no longer as effective as they once were. However, that doesn’t mean they should be abandoned entirely in favour of modern solutions. The key is to find a balance between old and new techniques that will work best for your business. Which is right for your small business?
If that means using both methods, do that. Find a mix that works for you by experimenting!
Dynamics Tech offers small businesses the help they need to improve their sales, marketing efficiency and effectiveness. We primarily provide modern services and solutions, but we also provide traditional marketing services, including flyer design and printing, branded promotional products, signs and stickers, to name just a few.
Speak to us about your small business aims and objectives, and let’s work together.
If you need a digital marketing agency for small businesses in the UK, reach out to us today!
