Digital Marketing practices have increased whereas traditional marketing practices have fallen significantly. For years, advertising your business or product through traditional means, i.e.; print advertising, direct mail, radio, newspaper, flyers, brochures, yellow pages, were the norm, and we had become very accustomed to it. Some of these methods still have significant merit, however, not participating in digital marketing may leave scores of potential sales on the table for someone else to grab. So why has digital marketing become so popular and what does it mean to your business?
- There has been a merging and changing of tools available to market ourselves because technology continues to advance so have our tools for marketing ourselves. From websites, to email marketing, social media and multi-media marketing (videos etc), the methods in which we present our businesses and products have expanded.
- Our dialogue has changed. Where traditional marketing might have included a few punchy little messages delivered to the masses, we are now producing content that is more personal in nature. Now we build relationships through on-line conversations with real people and must present our businesses in a more flexible barrier-free nature.
- Consumer shopping habits have changed:
- Buyers demand to be educated and do more research before they make purchases, since information is available at their fingertips on the Internet.
- The younger generation grew up on computers, cell phones and tablets and prefer to do things online.
- Lives are busier and attention spans are shorter, so people crave convenience more than before.
- There is easy access to influencers (opinions are sought out on social media).
- There are more options than ever before, so presenting your product as a wonderful item, just doesn’t work anymore. You have to be extraordinary, and you have to help people understand how your product will bring meaning to their lives. So engaging evangelists are very important to you now.
- We can track and measure our digital marketing campaigns and learn from these measurements to increasingly build more effective marketing decisions for the future.
- Our marketing spend has changed so that we are not buying time and space on someone else’s media, we are creating our own spaces that we can design and market ourselves, or with the help of an experienced agency.
- We can target a local audience, an infinite audience, or target a specific audience with specific needs.
Is it an either/or situation? Obviously not. A business should have a mix of both, traditional and digital marketing, as these methods will support each other. Taking a look at your target audience is a key to choosing the right platforms. For example, if your target audience typically comes to you through traditional means, then traditional marketing is the way to go. However, if you want to draw the attention of Millennials (born 1980 – 2000) or GenZs (born 2000 to today), you may want to utilize digital marketing methods such as blogs, email and social media initiatives.
Conclusion
KW Digital Solutions can help you determine digital marketing strategies that will maximize your investment and make it easy for you to achieve your online marketing goals.
- Call us for a free evaluation of your online presence at 519-741-7641.
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