Many businesses are stepping up their efforts to create strong digital marketing campaigns in today’s smartphone-dominated world. Modern consumers not only have a mobile device accessible all the time, but they have also increasingly come to rely on the internet and social media for product information and consumer reviews, making it vital for any business to establish an online presence. But traditional marketing methods can still be effective and shouldn’t be so readily dismissed.
As you go about planning your marketing strategy for your business, here are some ways you can use digital and traditional marketing to complement or even synergize each other.
Generate publicity
An essential part of creating awareness for your brand, or an event where you’re prominently featured, is writing and publishing content. This can range from storytelling – showcasing the origins of your company or product – to technical and informative pieces.
The great thing about written content is that it can be easily adapted and optimized to work within both traditional and digital marketing strategies. Articles can be run in newspapers, and other print publications whose advertising space rates have gone down in recent years, giving you considerable print space and access to a largely offline demographic. Those same articles can be edited for online posting and drive traffic to your website, improving its search engine ranking and bringing in more leads. Hiring an expert SEO company can maximize your return on investment (ROI) in this area.
Reach niches
Many magazines have struggled to stay in print over the years, and some have gone at least partly online – again, to reach the ever-expanding digital audience. However, the surviving publications continue to thrive by cornering their respective niche audiences. Magazines targeting hobbies or lifestyle, such as luxury automobiles, present an opportunity for your business to gain exposure across a specific readership that might not otherwise be engaged online.
Geotargeting
If you’re working on your digital marketing strategy, one essential consideration is geotargeting. Most small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) don’t have a global reach, and unfocused digital marketing efforts result in wasted clicks from consumers that wouldn’t ever convert. By geotargeting, you narrow down your relevance to areas you serve, leading to better conversion rates and overall efficient ROI.
Given the number of consumers who are ‘cutting the cord’ and opting out of traditional cable subscriptions, the reach of TV advertising isn’t the same as before – and prices are down. Still, a lot of people continue to watch certain shows. You can turn this into an opportunity by taking out ads that hit your target location – for example, during broadcasts of a local sports team.
Cross-platform media
One area of overlap between both marketing strategies is in their use of media, such as video. You can produce videos for your website’s homepage and individual product details, and these can be repurposed for use in your social media accounts, or short TV ads.
You may have heard of the Pareto principle in business: 20 percent of your input accounts for 80 percent of your results. The numbers aren’t exact; they don’t need to be, and the concept can be applied to various situations. It’s up to you to figure out whether it’s worth the extra effort to reach that additional 20 percent of results – and how you go about it. If you want to go all-in on social media marketing, for example, pay heed to the warning of Pepsi. Clearly, at this point, the extra reach provided by traditional marketing might be small, but it can still make an important difference in your company’s success.
