Dan Radak, Negosentro | We live in a digital age of stunning tech marvels and booming information economy. The world of marketing is changing and adapting to these new developments. Some people go as far as to say that the traditional ways of conducting promotion are rendered obsolete, while others claim that they are slightly overshadowed by the cost-effective online channels. Well, as it often is, the truth might be somewhere in the middle.
Water under the bridge
Despite all the hype surrounding digital marketing, some fundamentals remain the same. Promotion introduces people to your company and brand and gives them a taste of what you are offering and stand for. Thus, it lays the foundation for building bridges of trust and loyalty, serving as the lifeblood of any business that sells products and services.
It is true that traditional methods have lost the allure and savor they had just a decade ago. The majority of business organizations plan on allocating more and more funds to digital marketing in 2017 and beyond. This increase in spending, however, does not suggest that old school methods are out of the picture.
Two sides of the same coin
In fact, one of the crucial points we want to make is that traditional techniques work well both in their own right and when combined with digital marketing. Hence, there is no need to pick just one weapon and ditch the other.
One of the reasons why old school marketing persists is that no amount of technology can replace the value of human touch and physical contact. Many people simply prefer to be targeted by traditional promotional tools instead of online marketing channels.
Tools of the trade
To illustrate our point further, let us take a look at some conventional practices that are still growing strong.
- Firstly, we come across coupons and discounts that are widely used by marketers across the globe. These incentives attract people and entice them to embark on a buyer’s journey. They are deemed to be surefire tools that may be with us indefinitely.
- The power of jingles, pitches, and slogans does not wane in the presence of cutting-edge tech marvels and vivid virtual realms. After all, they rely on psychology as well as our universal understanding of language. A catchy, memorable phrase tends to get stuck in people’s minds and does the trick as sure as eggs.
- Promotional gifts have been around for quite some time and they are not going to fall out of favor in the foreseeable future. In fact, they are still one of the most effective tools for making a lasting impression on a customer. Gifts come in many shapes and sizes: fad fidget spinners, handy power banks, vibrant custom T-shirts, wacky umbrellas, you name it.
- Leaflets are a smart technique for those who mean to plant the seeds in the minds of consumers. Printing a few thousand flyers and handing them out in the streets is not overly expensive and it potentially allows marketers to engage new audiences. Likewise, well-placed posters enable you to achieve the same goal.
- Traditional direct mailing and lead buying techniques survive as well. Marketers do not shy away from purchasing qualified leads and carrying out email campaigns to expand the customer base and boost the revenue streams. Few other strategies come close to the amazing ROI that these tactics yield.
The best of both worlds
We still build our messages and campaigns around the same old core essentials that were the guiding light of marketers for decades. So, in case you want to get the message in front of a receptive audience, the old school way is a sound course of action. It retains its power to reach people and win their trust. The perceived clash between the old and new media is misleading and the two can clearly coexist and complement each other.
Dan Radak is a marketing professional with eleven years of experience. He is a coauthor on several websites and regular contributor to BizzMark Blog. Currently, he is working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies.
