Back to Basics – Blending Digital Marketing With More Traditional Methods

For many companies and industries these days, “digital marketing” might as well just mean marketing in general due to how resources and budgets are allocated for this. We get it, these are the times we’re living in. However, focusing on digital marketing shouldn’t preclude your business from doing away with more traditional marketing methods entirely. Today, our marketing experts wanted to discuss the benefits of combining digital and traditional marketing efforts into a diversified marketing strategy.

Before we get into the appeal of blending your digital and traditional marketing, we wanted to focus on why traditional marketing strategies are still so important in a digital world. Traditional marketing (including printed materials, tv and radio ads, etc.) can still help brands (regardless of their business or industry) better connect with their local customers/clients/patients, while helping to break through an overcrowded online space. Most importantly, traditional marketing (when done right) can help boost the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.

Think of digital and traditional marketing as two sides of the same coin. The more these streams cross into each other, the more synchronized, successful, and wide-reaching your overall marketing effort will be. Some real life examples of this might include:

• Making sure all printed ads, mailers, and flyers use QR codes that can guide consumers to your website, and help convert visitors into new sales or clients.
• Following up with clients or patients online after an in-person appointment.
• Cross marketing with industry peers.
• Motivating in-person customers to subscribe to your social media channels with some kind of incentive or contest (if acceptable for your industry). Doing so will help grow your subscription base and increase your overall reach.
• Utilizing free online spaces like YouTube or audio streaming apps to help bring your photos, videos, or ads to a wider (and more affordable) audience than traditional TV or radio play can generate.

These are just a few suggestions, but there is so much more you can be doing to help build brand awareness by diversifying your marketing resources. When doing so, it’s important to stay consistent and on-message, to help make sure whoever is seeing your marketing (wherever they are seeing it) can identify that it’s you. That means consistent use of logos, taglines, or other simple identifying tools. One thing we haven’t mentioned is how digital tools like promo codes and geotargeting can help make tracking the success of your campaign simpler than it would be with only traditional methods.

When developed and implemented correctly, this kind of comprehensive approach to marketing can pay major dividends. So again, the question isn’t what type of marketing you should you be doing, but rather, how can different areas of your marketing plan complement each other? If you’re ready to take your marketing efforts to the next level, contact McCauley Marketing Services to schedule a marketing consultation appointment today. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram for additional marketing tips and news.