Once upon a time, marketing was not called traditional marketing, but just “marketing.” All of a sudden, a digital marketing came along, and then we had two types of marketing: “Traditional” and “digital.”
But these days, while traditional marketing and digital marketing are still separate, they are becoming increasingly similar. The distinction between them is less clear, and it is becoming less common to refer to them as completely different things.
Indeed, more marketers are finding ways to make them work together, and are discovering that using both types of marketing is providing them with the best results. This is often referred to as mixed media marketing or smart marketing—but perhaps it should simply be called “marketing.”
How Two Marketing Types Are Becoming One
Up until fairly recently, there was a big divide between digital marketing and traditional marketing. The two were seen as completely different, and they both had their advantages and disadvantages.
Traditional marketing was seen as less targeted, more expensive, and less engaging, while digital was more affordable, more targeted, more powerful in this modern digital age.
But now it is becoming clear that perhaps the most successful tactic is to use the two together, and we are seeing more and more of this.
For example, ads on TV regularly include the Facebook or Twitter details for the company so that the target audience can follow up with the campaign and get more involved online.
Marketing campaigns exist across TV ads, newspaper ads, and on social media. Traditional ads are used to reach a large audience, and then those audiences are encouraged to visit the company’s social media page to get the rest of the story and to continue the experience.
Shops also encourage customers to sign up to their email lists when they buy products in their stores.
These are all examples of how the two types of marketing are becoming one. And the more that marketers combine the two, the more benefits they see.
They can continue to reach out to large audiences via traditional marketing, but they can then get more active participation by encouraging more of their audience to get involved with their brand online.
One of the challenges of traditional marketing is the higher costs typically involved—but there are ways to lower the costs. For example, marketers sending out a large number of physical letters the traditional way could invest in a stamp affixer to cut the amount of time involved in sending out post.
What Is the Future of Marketing?
The future of marketing is going to be less defined by “traditional” and “digital.” As more and more companies see the benefits of using the two types of marketing strategies to reach their audiences, it is clear that they will simply integrate the various tactics.
Soon there will simply be “marketing,” and the marketers who understand this and utilize the various types of marketing at their disposal are going to be the ones that enjoy the most success.
Ava Dawson is a marketing consultant who also has a gift for graphic design. Though mostly working with digital media, Ava also enjoys designing for print; going back to the more traditional way of marketing. She writes about the two methods for business owners.
