As advertising on the internet is called Online Marketing, traditional advertising is now referred to as Offline Marketing. But what Is online vs offline marketing all about?
Why has this topic caused a heated debate among marketers? Which type of marketing really is effective? Read on to learn more about them, so you can decide which one works best for your business.
Traditional advertising has been around for decades, and one of the oldest mediums is the newspaper, which is printed material. The other mediums, which are also printed materials, are brochures and newsletters.
Some of the recent advertising methods are radio and TV ads, direct mail marketing, flyers, postcards, and catalogs, and of course, telemarketing. Flyers, postcards, and catalogs are also printed materials and they are produced by a publisher or a professional printer. Todays publishers or printers use modern printing machines for quick delivery on small orders, but they still rely on traditional offset printing machines for larger orders.
Traditional approaches to marketing have long been proven to be effective and have high success rates. Why? Because nothing beats a sincere face-to-face conversation, which is why this marketing method is still widely used in some successful businesses today.
Online marketing, on the other hand, is where we get all the innovative marketing efforts that are all focused on the Internet, by way of electronic devices. You probably know them already–they are social media networking, email marketing, content marketing, banner ads, Google ads (including AdWords), video marketing, and so on.
Now, are these cost efficient? Absolutely! And the best part about these marketing methods is that theyre able to reach audiences in any part of the world, as long as theres an Internet connection.
But do you need to use both these methods of marketing? The answer is a big NO! You absolutely don’t need to. What you need to do instead, is to find out whats most effective for your business, and this is determined by the type of business that you have.
So what exactly does this mean? Well, it’s choosing the medium thats obviously more cost-effective for you — the one that’s easier to implement, and can get you faster results. Pick a strategy that’s got better reach and that can target your exact audience.
Conclusion
Whatever decision you come up with in choosing which marketing methods to use, you have to consider that online marketing strategies matter and theyre all important, so theres no reason to stop them. But you might also want to use some offline marketing methods like direct mail, because people are still checking their mail boxes, and theyre still buying newspapers.
Try to find some real people to talk to. Try to find some local opportunities to network, to give talks, to do a sponsorship, and to connect with people because they are bound to say yes at some point. They’re more likely to say yes when you’re talking to them face to face.
