We’ve become so focused on all things digital what with all the technology advances that traditional marketing techniques have been pushed a bit to the side. Yet, traditional marketing techniques could easily make a comeback and make you stand out from the crowd. Here’s why these older methods could work wonders in marketing your brand.
1. It Gets People Interacting With Your Brand
See it, touch it, read it, buy it.
It’s so easy to just delete an email without even opening it (let’s be honest we probably do it for 80% of emails we receive) but with traditional marketing techniques such as direct mail it’s not quite as easy as that! You can’t ‘digitally’ delete mail we get through the post, it still involves the process of picking it up, even if it’ll eventually end-up in the bin. And you can't ignore a billboard advertisement!
But, this form of marketing could lead to more than just another recycled flyer. You pick it up, you read it, you might think ‘ooh that looks interesting I’ll check it out’, you go online and the next thing you know is that you’ve signed-up for a service or bought a product. Either way people have to interact with this type of marketing in some sort of way. Your brand name will be seen by the eyes of hundreds of people that go and collect their post everyday.
Remember:
People can’t ignore interacting with your brand through direct mail You can’t just delete this form marketing like you can an email
2. We’re Too Used To The Digital Routine
Break away from the norm and do something extravagant!
Individual:
7am alarm, checks emails and social networks, eats breakfast, gets changed, goes to work, keeps checking emails and social media.
Company:
User signs-up, send welcome email, post on social media, send promotional email, ask for customer feedback.
From all the websites we sign-up to and the presence of social media networks we have got into this routine of always having to be ’online’ and it’s not just individuals but companies as well. The increasing pressure over the years of brands being 100% digital means we can now as individuals predict what companies will do. For example most companies tend to:
• Send welcome offers
• Do ‘you bought this so we’d thought you'd be interested in this’ email
• Offer discounts during the sales
• Get you to ‘tweet your experience and have a chance of winning xyz’.
And these ideas do work (living proof with me because I love getting a good bargain! But isn’t the sound of the postman pushing post through your letterbox not just give you a rush of excitement? We’re so used to doing everything online even the house bills and banking that the day we do get post, it comes as a pleasant surprise. This is where you, as a company can really take advantage of the lack of advertising ‘noise’ and make your brand stand out in an under crowded place.
Remember:
We can predict what companies will do to entice us to buy from them e.g. email offers Receiving letters through the post comes as a pleasant surprise nowadays Take advantage of lack of marketing noise through traditional advertising techniques.
3. Traditional Works. Point.
Why change a winning plan?
The move for companies towards newer forms of marketing, such as digital, was a great one and there’s no doubt about it that it works and means companies have been able to keep-up with customers needs, but there’s still a tiny problem…with the word ‘digital’. The digital world is constantly changing causing instability into what each day will bring in terms of:
Customer Needs And Wants
The customer will always be first and their needs and wants could change at anytime meaning you as a company will need to adapt to these changes as well.
The Way Search Works
Google is quite literally our savior when it comes to searching, yet they do also like to cause a stir among companies with their algorithm updates which can cause upsets for rankings in the search result pages.
Will Our Efforts Pay Off?
Although digital marketing has been around for many years it’s still considered as something new. New in the sense that trends change and so companies have always got to digitally adapt to these. However traditional customs, beliefs or methods are ones that have existed for a longtime without changing. Traditional marketing techniques exist for a reason because they work and don’t have this sense of instability.
Ask yourself this question, would you change a traditional method that you know you can rely on?
Remember:
There’s instability in the online world as it’s constantly changing
Traditional methods still exist for a reason, hence the word traditional
4. They Build Up Your Brand Awareness
Go on, show-off what you’ve got to offer!
Communicating your brand in the online world is a bit like visiting Paris during the football World Cup Final… stressful, difficult and all-around busy. This is why traditional marketing techniques can be the more original approach to take because people are discovering your brand away from the overcrowded digital streets and in a setting where people aren’t used to being targeted.
It’s so easy to ignore or skim past things online (all it takes is a scroll!) but in the real world with billboards, banners, TV and radio, it’s live interaction with your brand and it’s something that they can’t ignore. People can’t just delete a TV or radio ad like an email or a social media post. Your brand is there right in front of them not to be ignored.
Remember:
People get to discover your brand in the real world They see your name away from the busy, crowded streets of digital world
Embrace All Advertising
I’m not saying scrap all online marketing or solely focus on traditional marketing techniques but try a combination of the two to really raise your brand awareness and market your brand effectively. It’s important to keep-up with changes in the society but remember that traditional techniques are traditional for a reason, so take advantage of that and put your brand out there for people to see!
Ailsa Cartledge is Head of Marketing at Cocolyze; a revolutionized SEO software. Ailsa is passionate for all things SEO, a regular content creator and always on the lookout for new ideas.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about whether traditional or offline marketing techniques could become more unique and genuine than digital advertising.
Interested in more articles about traditional advertising?
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