How to Combine Traditional and Digital Marketing

Companies seeking more competitive advantage in advertising strategy look to combined traditional and digital marketing for more return on investment (ROI). When marketing strategists design a marketing campaign, the potential for increased sales and long term customer retention is always an objective. In spite of the growing popularity of digital marketing, traditional channel marketing strategies make up the largest segment of advertising investment.

If advanced marketing professionals are sold on digital marketing, the fact is that there is an increasing gap between competitive advantage sought in online advertising by larger organizations, and the rejection of social media and search engine optimization (SEO) marketing by smaller companies. The most obvious reason cited by smaller businesses, is that the learning curve associated with digital marketing platforms and campaign management is a significant barrier to inclusion of online advertising.

Evidence of the knowledge gap reported by industry source, AdWeek, indicating that small businesses expend lower than five percent on digital marketing confirms that the bridge between these start-up enterprises and industry leaders is nowhere in sight. The fact that online marketing is actually far less expensive is part of the puzzle, yet small business owners acknowledge, the sustained engagement required to retarget unsuccessful digital advertising is time consuming and confusing. The result, traditional advertising sources are recapturing their business for good.

Many small business owners associate internet advertising with television advertising. The fact is that costs per unit of advertising are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. The introduction of digital marketing opened up vast opportunity for smaller businesses to increase advertising ROI, yet obstacles posed in content creation, placement, and analysis of those campaigns has stopped many small businesses from reaping the benefits of social media and other forms of Web-based marketing.

When professional marketing strategists target small business customers for new digital marketing campaign development, they are usually responded to with a demand for a combined advertising strategy. Most small businesses avoid investment in television commercials due to cost. The deployment of a digital segment as part of an advertising campaign means that multimedia components such as infomercial video spots can be incorporated into a company’s marketing strategy at a fraction of industry standard costs for television advertising.

Cost-effective Digital Marketing Strategies

1. Events – hosted events can take place online or onsite. Use social media PR to establish a network of followers. Social media platforms provide tools for generating event updates, and news feeds about a forthcoming event.
2. Incentives – special promotions offered in direct mailers and weekly circulars incite interest in sign up or shopping a company’s e-commerce site. By including a company website, would be customers are redirected to an organization’s online presence. Convert customers to point-of-sale (POS) or sign-up by including a company website in a direct mailer.
3. QR Code – publication of QR codes in direct mailers and other press collateral offers another method of redirecting to a Facebook homepage promotion. Companies can create a dedicated landing page to drive customers directly to their website as well for more detailed information about products, services or events.
4. Business Cards – the old standby, business cards continue to be one of the best methods of circulating information about a company. Include the company website, email, and social media addresses in an online campaign.
5. Onsite Promotions – events photos and customer feedback are excellent sources of equity for upload to a company’s social media profile or website.

The best approach to integration of traditional marketing assets in a digital advertising campaign is to focus on brand consistency across all media. From content, to placement and direct advertising taglines, brand identity should reflect a company’s values. Integration of a company’s logo and vision statement within advertising creates a common thread across advertising segments. It is important for customers to identify your products and services with an image that is reliable as it is recognizable.

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