Traditional Marketing is Alive… Sort of.
While we speak about the death of traditional marketing verses online marketing, there are cases where our theories are shot down by a good marketers we know who claim that traditional marketing is alive and well and living alongside internet marketing;
They claim that – With advertising spend on Google exceeding the ad revenues from some TV channels; it is easy to ignore traditional marketing: but do so at your cost! There is no doubt that the internet has changed lives, there is also no doubt that the way we research information has changed. Searching is no longer associated with a trip to the library, having access to billions of web sites from the comfort of a box in your front room has opened up markets worldwide.
However, that said there is also a degree of mistrust spreading. Not only does the average internet searcher have to negotiate around the bogus, rip off sites that are appearing daily, but also avoid the poorer service providers who may not intentionally be there to rip anyone off – but are just incapable of providing a service efficiently. Many of these sites are very convincing and professional, so much so that it is getting more difficult for real trustworthy businesses to distinguish themselves from the sharks.
In a recent survey by the Royal Mail, the UK postal service provider announced its findings demonstrating how physical postal mail can be used to improve online marketing strategies by enhancing a brand and a company’s reputation.
The survey found that more than 50% of respondents said they were more likely to click on a link for a company that had already communicated with them by post.
50% percent is huge…real meat & potatoes stuff. So I had to agree…traditional marketing is alive and well…but only when used in conjunction with online marketing. So let’s say that we were both correct – except that we were a little more so!