4 Perks Of Combining Digital And Traditional Marketing

The pendulum of marketing is swinging constantly between the digital and the traditional approach. Currently, it has reached a digital peak. Why? Digital marketing is simple to use, offers more opportunities and is much more flexible. Just in America, 46% of people first check their phone before leaving the bed in the morning.

Track your competitors email marketing tactics with Emails Nest

Try Now!

But after each a peak, there will be a swing in another direction. Towards traditional marketing, in this case.

Instead of just reacting and chasing the pendulum wildly, never quite reaching it, plan ahead by trying to combine both methods. Hybrids have their place in many areas of life, and in the marketing world, they can be a profitable tactic.  

By using both methods and mixing them in the right proportions, you can create depth for your brand and reach customers on both sides of the fence, offline and online included. Here are just some of the perks that come from using such an integrated approach:

Cutting loses

Investing in a single marketing campaign that goes only in one direction is like putting all your eggs in one basket. One small misstep and the fall breaks everything. Pepsi made that mistake. Instead of combining both marketing paths, Pepsi decided to get rid of all traditional elements from their marketing campaign and put all efforts entirely on social media engagement, while trying to better position itself against its biggest competitor, Coca-Cola.

After almost 23 years of running TV ads especially during the Super Bowl, Pepsi suddenly decided to move the entire budget into social media. In the end, Pepsi had a peak of 15,000 mentions on Twitter on the release date of Pepsi Perfect (its rival Coca-Cola had the same reach for an entire month without any significant marketing campaign), all the while a large proportion of their audience was no longer targeted and left for others to take.

Instead, try to invest in different marketing strategies so if one fails, others can cover for it. Follow and measure each strategy for a few months, stick with those which do bring increased ROI and cut back on those that had a small impact.

Bigger customer reach

Having as many customers as possible is the key to success in the business world. Marketing world, on the other hand, is all about converting leads into customers. Companies depend on quality marketing, otherwise, they won’t reach their targeted audience.

However, when your targeted audience has members that are both online and offline, it isn’t smart to focus only on traditional or digital marketing channels. Instead, you should combine them. For example, you can hand out promotional products, such as notepads, pencils, bookmarks or office materials to both long-term offline local customers and online customers that only recently learned about the brand. This way, a business can reward some long-term customers while also inciting those who only recently got engaged, all under a single promotion.

40% of the world population has access to the internet, and that number is increasing each minute. However, some people don’t spend as much time online as everyone. These consumers are called offline customers, even though they still use the internet and can be on social media, albeit rarely. This is where this combination of marketing can be set, with using traditional marketing to gently remind those offline customers about what is happening online.

Use TV ads, magazine and newspaper ads so that even those offline consumers can receive the message on time, instead of waiting for them to go online.

Synergy

Combining both methods is synergetic, which means that, when they are working together, these methods show a greater effect than the total impact achieved when they are applied separately.

For instance, stores that only use traditional marketing for sales promotion and discounts will have difficulty engaging customers that prefer online shopping. But those online shoppers will have to visit a retail store sometimes to try out clothes or taste new food in a restaurant and they will still expect personalized content and quality service.

Thus, a retail store can use digital marketing methods to gather information and create the best customer experience for online shopping while customizing their store and merchandise for more personal experience.

You can also draw online traffic to your physical location by including a mobile barcode on your site which visitors can use when they purchase in-store or by using geo-targeted ads to increase awareness of your physical location.

Better customer loyalty

Nowadays, with the advent of millennials in the marketing world, customer loyalty is crucial for every company and a satisfied customer equals a higher retention rate. Combining both marketing methods, a business can remain in touch with all of their consumers and use different ways to keep each and every one of them engaged.

Offline customers will enjoy the fact that the brand isn’t ignoring them and is still committed to them, while online customers will like to hear about their favorite brand even when they aren’t online.

This is how a brand creates and nurtures a relationship with their entire audience, whether they are online or offline.

Even though your first impression might be to use just one way, digital or traditional, remember that best results often come by thinking outside the box and using every mean available to achieve your goal.

Track your competitors email marketing tactics with Emails Nest

Try Now!