There are a lot of ways to market your business, and the reality is, they’re not all created equal. While each type has its time and place, some forms are more dated than others. The truth is, traditional marketing is on its way out. This is your father’s marketing, and his father before him. Marketing methods like door-to-door mailers, radio spots, and television commercials would all fall into this time capsule of a bucket. But we’re not the type to rail on something without reason. Traditional marketing just doesn’t offer your business the absolute best of the marketing world, which is exactly what you want for your business. Here are just a few reasons why many of these traditional forms of marketing ought to be history when it comes to your strategy.
1. It's Tough To Properly Segment and Target Your Audience
Segmentation has proven to increase return on marketing investment by providing more relevant messages to your target audience. What is segmentation, exactly? It's when you reach a specific group of people with a very targeted, focused message. You may even break that target market out into separate segments, allowing you to vary your message from segment to segment, depending on how they interact with your product. When you use traditional marketing, you’re putting your message on blast, casting a massive net in hopes of the largest response. That may seem like a good thing, but it can waste a lot of time, energy and money on potential customers who aren't the right fit. Digital marketing, on the other hand, allows you to focus your efforts on the audience that's most likely to engage with you.
2. No One Trusts Sales People and Advertisements Anymore
Today’s buyer is extra skeptical. So skeptical that 88% research a product online before they buy in-store. This is especially true of millennials and Generation Z – now the largest generations that make up the majority of consumers. Millennials emerged into the workforce in the midst of the recession, and they have learned to be careful where they spend their dollar. They tend to be less trusting of advertisements and salespeople, and they insist on doing their own internet research before making a purchase decision. They're apt to throw away the flyers stuffed in their mailbox and change the dial on your radio ads. Digital marketing gives you an opportunity to build long-term trust with customers through valuable content that helps them make better decisions.
3. People Want Conversations, Not Sales Tactics
Today's consumers can sniff out a sales pitch from a mile away, and it'll send them running in the other direction. Modern consumers educate themselves on available products and consider themselves knowledgeable, so a sales pitch can almost come across as an insult. Instead, have a real conversation with them. This is much more difficult to do on traditional marketing channels than it is through email or social media.
4. Traditional Marketing Is Intrusive
The digital age is all about choice. For better or worse, we have access to endless options and information in our pockets at all times. You know people are inundated with marketing – that’s nothing new. But now, people have to be more selective about what they allow into their space, or they might blow a fuse. When you hit someone with traditional marketing, you completely disregard this need, and it can feel intrusive. With digital marketing, you have the chance to gain their permission first. Potential customers can read your content after a Google search, follow your social media accounts and subscribe to your emails. This way, not only is your presence welcome, the likelihood that you’re speaking to the right audience increases, as they've shown interest by opting in to participate.
5. It's Nearly Impossible to Measure ROI
Although this is last on our list, it might be the strongest reason to opt for digital over traditional marketing. When you take the route of traditional, you make it dang near impossible to measure your results. As we’ve already discussed, setting measurable goals is crucial for your success. Unless you’re asking every client who makes a purchase with you how they heard about your business, you have no way of knowing the success rate of your traditional marketing. What percentage of people bought online because of your mailer? You don’t know. What percentage of people came to your pop-up because of your radio ad? Who could say? Marketing is money, and if you can’t measure your investment, it doesn’t sound like one you ought to be making. Digital marketing gives you the ability to track a whole host of different metrics to give you insights into the many layers of your marketing campaigns.
Are you ready to start taking digital marketing seriously? At PRIME, we've been helping businesses harness digital marketing for more than 10 years, gaining measurable results and a higher return on investment than ever before. Reach out to us to see how we can move your business forward together.
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