Is Traditional Marketing Effective for Brand Promotion?
Traditional marketing methods have been used for decades. They include advertising via newspapers, TV, radio, and billboards. However, traditional marketing has weakened a little in the age of mobile phones and the internet. Websites and social media have been a huge hit. Growing technological advancements also mean that modern techniques continue to outshine older marketing tactics. Subsequently, innovators are creating new and more efficient methods to advertise products. Nevertheless, is old-school marketing still effective?
Even though we see less traditional marketing in use in the digital era, it is not completely obsolete. Traditional marketing is still effective for brand promotion. In fact, top corporations habitually have to run to traditional marketing for a successful marketing campaign besides the endless options for digital ads.
Here are the reasons why traditional marketing is still effective for brand promotion.
- Non-Social Media Users
While the internet is prevalent today, it is not everyone’s cup of tea, especially for the baby boomer generations. Therefore, traditional marketing is still largely effective to the part of humanity that either doesn’t know how to use or doesn’t use much social media. For example, a brand targeting seniors between 50 and 80 years may not benefit much from digital ads. It is only left with one traditional marketing alternative, like door-to-door marketing, for brand promotion.
It is, therefore, obvious that traditional marketing is still effective, at least for people who don’t or can’t engage with digital material. Also, some people below this age group are not fond of social media and have trust issues with this form of media, which we will discuss next in detail.
- Trustworthiness
Conventional marketing methods like TV, radio, and billboards can be costly. Brands that can place ads on TV are, therefore, perceived as established and legitimate. Also, media and FTC policies require brands to be truthful and evidence-based in marketing. Thus, mostly trustworthy brands are using these old-school marketing methods, and customers know this.
In modern marketing methods, marketers can operate without too much regulation. This is risky for prospective customers who may fall prey to online scams or click baits. For example, a social media user may pretend to market Amazon services to get people to click on certain links. While you can use Nuwber or any other resources to verify a person’s identity before engaging with them, traditional marketing is different. The burden of screening scammers or illegitimate marketers falls on the ad publishing house.
- Better Audience Targeting
Traditional marketing is highly effective for promoting a brand to a demographic within a specific locality. For example, promoting cleaning services available to citizens in New York only. You can use billboards within New York or the New York-exclusive paper, New York Daily News. Also, you can market through direct mail, where only a specific group of people will receive the information. This way, you may rest assured that your services are getting the right viewership.
Instead of wasting a lot of money in local store marketing to outsiders or the whole country, you can easily use the more intentional traditional marketing methods to reach only your target audience. Also, don’t overlook door-to-door marketing, which can increase conversion rates significantly.
- The Human Touch
Customers tend to connect more to a brand when they experience some form of interaction and engagement with the brand’s affiliates personally. This can be through talking to sales agents or brand representatives. Old-school marketing methods like door-to-door sales help the brand communicate and show emotions and care. If anything, you will be more likely to achieve loyalty and trust by leveraging the power of the human touch.
However, always ensure that your representatives are courteous and supportive to guarantee meaningful conversations that convince prospective customers to buy your products or services.
- Easy Access for Customers
Conventional marketing still produces high return on investment because of its high possibility of reaching the target audience. For example, a brand that promotes on billboards will likely profit from the number of drivers and pedestrians who tread the roads and view these billboards daily.
Traditional marketing methods are also often tied to habitual behaviors that stem from daily routines. Routines like watching TV during family time and listening to the radio during rush hour make traditional marketing methods effective as they can smoothly reach the target audience. Also, since the ads appear to several people at once, like, for instance, when a family is watching TV, family members may start discussing the product advertised, which can improve conversion.
For example, an ad about baby diapers can spark a conversation among mothers about the best diapers for a two-year or so child. Again, a beer commercial can lead revelers to debate the new flavor. However, this is different for digital ads, since most people consume them alone on their devices.
- Tangibility
Tangible marketing pieces like brochures and flyers work to the advantage of marketers. When these items are physically delivered to the target audience, the services or products offered become more memorable, and the target audience gets an immediate visual impact of the brand. People can also keep tangible items, which means more longevity of the marketing campaign’s content.
- The Age of Intrusive Marketing
There is a huge difference between intrusive marketing and personalized marketing. In the digital age, user data is collected to help send individualized marketing information to customers. However, using pop-up ads and invading user experience by randomly sending marketing information is a problem that needs to be addressed. To say the least, consumers detest intrusive marketing, and most of them are likely to shun this kind of engagement.
Traditional marketing, in turn, is often well-strategized. For example, TV and radio ads are well planned before and after prime time and between shows. Therefore, traditional marketing is still effective because it is well-planned and gets good engagement from consumers of traditional media.
Conclusion
While tables have turned in the marketing game, traditional marketing is indeed not dead. Many qualities of traditional marketing are still in use solely or in combination with digital marketing. Top companies like Coca-Cola are proof that even though the effect of traditional marketing is dwindling, the synergy between the two methods of marketing produces perfect results.
Therefore, traditional marketing is still effective, and the influx of digital marketing channels overwhelms consumers. Hence, marketers may need to return to the basics to engage with their audience.