Traditional Marketing vs Digital Marketing: Which gives Better ROI?

Posted On 09/08/2020

When marketers discuss traditional marketing vs Digital marketing, there is a lot of points to consider. Nowadays because of the rise of digital space, many of the advertisers are running behind digital advertisement without understanding the true power of the Digital and Traditional advertisement. Here we discuss the major factors need to be considered while making a marketing approach for your company or brand. You completelyunderstand your business and tour target customers and plan accordingly to increase the ROI of your overall ad budget.

When to Choose Traditional Marketing?

Traditional marketing media refers to multiple categories of advertisements like Television, Newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards, wall painting, shop boards, in-shop branding, flyers, notices, posters etc. Traditional marketing is comparatively costlier due to the physical materials like newspapers, magazines, flex boards, flyers involved in the process and also the cost of the distribution of these materials to the end consumer.

1. If more than 10% of the general population is a potential customer for your product

Traditional marketing media like TV and Print will work well for mass marketing. Focusing more than 10% of the population is definitely mass marketing. Then traditional marketing works well for your brand or product delivering a lower cost per impression.

2. If your marketing objective is Brand building over sales conversion.

Many consumer behaviour studies have identified that Physical materials are more real to the human mind. Because of this perception, traditional advertisement mediums like Newspapers, Magazines and flyers have much more trust and brand recall compared to digital advertisements. In effect, Advertisement materials with physical contact are much effective in terms of brand building.

3. If you what to build huge impact over a short period of time

If you want to make an impactful advertisement campaign in a short period of time, then you need to prioritise traditional medium like television and print over digital advertisements. Traditional media have more reach and coverage compared to digital advertisements.

4. If you want to reach multiple segments and age groups

Television reached more than 90% of Indian households making as the best platform for mass marketing. Print media have 70% reach compared to 40% that of Digital media. Focusing on digital will help you to reach to more upper-middle-class segment while traditional media will give a uniform mix across categories.

5. If you’re your product or service acquired as an impulse purchase

If your product is sold more of a kind impulse purchase, then you can choose localized traditional advertisement methods like shop boards and in-shop branding for last-minute brand recall. Your marketing activities need to be focused on ensuring attractive shelf space in the point of sale.

6. If 80% of your revenue came through traditional or offline channels.

You must consider your major revenue sources during the selection of a marketing channel. If more than 80% of your revenue came though traditional network or offline channels, then you have to focus on traditional advertisement over a digital advertisement. This will ensure that your steady income channels got enough marketing support.

When to Choose Digital Marketing?

Digital marketing refers to the advertisements which deliver through digital channels like email, websites, mobile applications, social media, search engines, you-tube etc. Digital marketing media helps advertisers to plan interactive campaigns to highly targeted audiences.

1. If your end conversion happens on online space

If your business is based on the online service, then definitely you have to more focus on digital marketing. E-commerce companies or digital service providers have to take a digital-first approach to marketing irrespective all other factors.

2. If your customer do some research before purchase

Effectiveness of every advertisement campaign is when it reaches to the relevant audience. If your customer does some online research before acquiring your product or service, then you can effectively place advertisement contents and plan some campaigns based on the keyword research. Along with paid advertisements, you can also prepare informative blog posts and YouTube videos to influence the purchase decision of your audience.

3. If your product or service is for highly niche customer segment

If your product or service is for a very niche customer segment, who can be targeted through online platforms, then your best choice will be a digital advertisement. A company providing website development or email marketing solution has to focus only on digital space.

4. If your advertising budget is very low for a mass campaign

Many small businesses and entrepreneurs will not have sufficient budget to run a television advertising campaign or afford a newspaper advertisement. In such cases I recommend you to experiment digital marketing with your available limited budget.

5. If your availability is to limited places

If your business operates only in a single town or two, digital advertisements will be the best option for you to reach to new customers. You can run geo-targeted advertisements on Google and Facebook throughout the year for better effectiveness. You can also consider the use poster, banners billboards etc but, tracking and measuring the effectiveness will be difficult.

6. If you can define your target audience based on age/Gender/location etc.

Segmentation and tailored marketing strategies are proved as one of the powerful advertisement strategies for many decades. If you can tailor down your target audience based on gender, location, age and interests, then your digital advertising campaigns will be more effective than traditional advertisements.

 Determining the Right Balance

There is no universal rule for the right mix for Traditional Marketing vs digital marketing. Its also clearly evident that there is no urgency to run behind digital marketing leaving the traditional marketing behind. Based on your industry, product, advertising budget, marketing objective, target audience etc. you have to define the right balance between digital marketing and traditional marketing for your business. As a business owner, you must be alert about the changes in the advertisement industry and drive the business in the right direction.