Why Can’t We Be Friends? Benefits of Joining Traditional and Digital Advertising

Search “traditional and digital advertising” online, and you’ll get a ton of results. Proponents of traditional, or offline, marketing are reluctant to suddenly throw all their eggs into the digital marketing basket. This is especially true for businesses that have been around before the internet. Many of their longstanding customers may not be as computer savvy as younger generations.

Meanwhile, digital marketing advocates view traditional advertising as obsolete and no longer effective. To them, using offline advertising is a sign that a company is stuck in the past. Clearly, these two strategies are too different, right?

Wrong.

The truth is that digital and traditional advertising can not only work together but the combination is shown to yield great results. A digital-traditional marketing mix can benefit businesses in the following ways:

1. Increases Brand Awareness and Trust
2. Incentivizes Product Research
3. Improves Data Analytics

Increases Brand Awareness and Trust

If a company decided to advertise online, it should advertise offline as well. Why? Because studies show customers tend to trust traditional media marketing more than digital. There are a lot of scams online, and people are warier about digital advertisements for brands they had never heard of before. As a result, those digital-only advertisements are often ignored.

But an advertisement for a new brand on TV or radio can help build overall brand awareness. When consumers see an online advertisement for a brand that advertises on TV, they will be more likely to click on the ad. But there are also free ways to build brand awareness. Posting on social media often gets your brand in front of consumers. And the more you grow your brand, the more leads you will generate.

Incentivizes Product Research

The idea that traditional media is “dead” is unfounded. Recent studies show:

• 20% increase in TV viewership
• 92% of Americans listen to the radio each week
• Baby Boomers; Generation Xers; and Millennials are reading an average of 9 magazines a month
• 84% of Generation Z members notice out-of-home advertising more than any other kind of advertising

And since most people have a digital device on them at all times, they will likely look up a product or service online after seeing an advertisement on traditional media. In fact, 71% of people have reported looking up something they saw in a TV commercial online (51% for radio ads). This symbiotic relationship between traditional and digital advertising empowers consumers to feel more confident about their choices; when consumers have the information needed to make the right purchase, they are less likely to have buyer’s remorse.

Improves Marketing with Customer Analytics

Today’s businesses have access to more customer data than ever before. Whether it’s through website tracking or call tracking, the information gathered can be used to gain a comprehensive understanding of both potential and actual buyers. This consumer data helps marketing teams create more accurate and effective ad strategies.

For instance, a call tracking number can help businesses determine which ads are performing better and put more resources into those ads. And digital tracking can use customer information to improve offline marketing strategies, such as using customer addresses to create direct mailing campaigns. And in case you’re wondering why anyone would use a direct mailing campaign, keep in mind that the average ROI from a direct mailing is 29%!

The takeaway here is that traditional and digital advertising techniques complement one another to provide a comprehensive marketing strategy. That’s why the most successful businesses use a digital-traditional mix for the best results and the best ROI. While every company is different, relying too heavily on either digital or traditional marketing will not help your brand or your revenue grow. So if you’re trying to decide which approach is best for your business, why not use both?