Marketing messages are everywhere. So, how different are digital and traditional marketing? Philip Kotler is an American professor who is considered the father of digital marketing. With over 60 books on marketing books and on National casino online, he pioneered the field of marketing as an academic subject.
Now, which of the following activities in marketing is not a type of digital marketing activity? Let’s study these and start with the basic difference between the two marketing types: the medium used to promote the marketing message and how the client/customer encounters this message.
Marketing is the process of converting prospective customers into successful leads. Traditional or Conventional Marketing uses radio, TV, newspapers, etc., to promote the services and products of a company. On the other hand, digital marketing is the more modern and evolved method of marketing that brings in the benefits of technology, global reach, and cost-effective conversion and tracking of the pipeline of customer leads. However, many online activities cannot be considered digital marketing. Let us explore these after a brief introduction to traditional and digital marketing.
Traditional Marketing Types
Traditional Marketing is the marketing means for services and goods using one-way communication tools. You cannot gauge the response to your ads nor track the effectiveness of these epistles of marketing. They are offline modes like newspapers, radio, TV ads, and more. This form is best suited for local markets and where the customers notice your ad and content. It also helps when you are not targeting any particular segment as it has a wide audience reach.
The types of traditional marketing are:
- Print Marketing earns its sales through local advertisements and journals, newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, posters, etc. The daily newspapers and periodicals offer local or area-wise promotions and advertisements.
- Referral Marketing is also called word-of-mouth marketing, where the satisfied customers of your services and products refer other customers and market your services/products.
- One-to-one marketing is what we know as SMS marketing or telemarketing of services and products using SMS or telephone services.
- Direct Mail is also known as mail-shots or advertising mail through the post. They could include catalogs, brochures, flyers, postcards, sales letters, postcards, etc.
- Outdoor Marketing is marketing through hoardings, billboards, etc., and effectively influences consumers who see them repeatedly.
- Broadcasting on the radio and television provides for advertisements between programs of news, information, knowledge, etc.
Digital Marketing types
The modern methodology has spawned a large variety of digital marketing agencies, which helps connect target audiences to companies and effectively provides a 2-way communication channel. Prospective leads can hence be converted to customers through frequent interaction, information dissemination, customization, etc.
We can break up digital marketing into its seven online categories, namely:
- SEO or Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media Marketing
- PPC or Pay-per-Click
- Content Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Marketing Analytics.
What is not considered Digital Marketing?
Some marketing tools are online and are not considered digital marketing. Some of the popular tools useful in marketing this way are:
- Classified adverts online are great at the lead generation of potentially interested customers. These lead them to a specific webpage of the company’s website. Since the customer is already interested, all one needs to do is provide them with the right information and draw the customer into a sales engagement like a demonstration, event, etc., to get their order.
- Social media cannot be considered digital marketing as it is only used to develop a two-way interaction and seek feedback interaction of customers who either like or dislike the services/ products offered. Social media is not attempting to mine customer data or personal information. Writing educational blogs, tweeting, posting is activity on social media that interact and interest the potential customer. Bookmarking websites, commenting, media sharing, and pinning websites are beneficial to your marketing strategy and yet not a form of digitally marketing your company.
- Event and Seminar promotions that your brand sponsors are also a good way of getting attention and potential customers.
- SEM or search engine monitoring is similar to SEO or search engine optimization. However, this tool refers to improving your website’s presentability and appearance, monitoring the ranking, domain name, keyword searches, etc.
- Online Surveys help determine the impact of your products, products to improve, create or place emphasis on and can be very useful in creating the right inventory leading to better sales revenue generation. They also give you information about rival products, prices, etc. Surveys can be online, face-to-face, or telephonic.
- Google Analytics is beneficial for companies having a website and online business. These reports give you an idea of your visitors, what type of people they are, what content they liked and read, and more. This data can be used to lead sales conversions and can estimate your goals and their conversion rate.
- Organic click-through rate or CTR is a method that uses Google Analytics to better traffic to your website. You can then optimize product descriptions, page titles, etc., and tweak their implantation using A/B testing.
- Direct mailers use direct mail marketing using email shots targeting specific potential clients like in traditional marketing. Using this method, you can send brochures, product content, information, etc., to your interested customers. It is not strictly digital marketing or a web page design since it is specifically targeted and technically has different requirements.
- Media monitoring tools are tools scanning the web for relevant conversations regarding your brand, product, or company and scan videos, blogs, social media sites, forums, etc. These help you react and respond to online conversations, smoother the adverse effects of bad publicity or PR, and improve brand/product awareness for you.
- Customer loyalty programs are like thoughtfully saying thank you, presenting a birthday gift in the form of a redeemable voucher, giving out those upgrades, discounts on the next purchase, etc., and thus encouraging customers loyal to your brand to make repeat purchases. This is an efficient way of generating product interest, sales promotion, and brand loyalty.
- Automation tools are also marketing tools that save a lot of effort and time. For example, SalesForce, a CRM or customer relationship management tool, has become the norm to track customer progress through a marketing pipeline. It saves all your information on customers in one easily accessible platform, saving you time in sending emails, saving files, appointments, etc. Some other tools also permit applet chains that have conditional statements like IFTTT or If This Then That working on Gmail, Facebook, Fitbit, Twitter, Google Drive, and more.
The Bottom Line
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Is marketing your passion, and are you looking to make digital marketing a career? Learning Digital Marketing which is used across almost all facets of modern life, be it social media, smartphones, healthcare, banking, surveillance, video games, smart cars, and more, can be gainful. Industries globally will need to sell, and this means the scope for digital marketing is growing rapidly. More professionals are required, and the demand-supply gap faces an acute shortage of digital marketing experts. The pay structure is not meant by any standards and is an average of approximately 8 lakhs for 4 to 8 years of experience!