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Digital Media vs Traditional Media

Digital Media vs traditional media – which is better for new-age marketing?

The 21st century marked the advent of the use of technology as never before. What used to be just a fantasy, was made true in this new era. Moving photos, news headlines fitting your palm, video calling, cloud friendships, one-click shopping – all seem like magic unfurling from a Harry Potter movie. But this is the truth of today. The world is moving at a fast pace – from physical to cloud connectivity. While a decade or two ago, we would exchange phone numbers and addresses to stay in touch with a friend; today we exchange social media handles.

The last two years with Coronavirus have transformed the world further. People have learned to survive using technology. Today, we are shopping online, studying online, working online, ordering groceries & food online, even partying online. The point is, most of the world today uses technology for every aspect of their lives. This has brought us to a place where marketing strategies have been reformed. Businesses are forced to look up the path towards the online world. However, does that mean that marketing through all forms of traditional media has been rendered redundant?

Traditional media marketing vs digital media marketing

The Advantages

Digital Marketing	Traditional Marketing
Increased brand awareness	Longevity
Increased inbound traffic	Easy to spot
Cost-effective	Reaches local audiences more effectively
Better conversion rates	Easy to use with DIY options
Two-way communication	It is directly delivered to the audience
Measurable	It is more effective for a mature audience
Collect user data	Better brand recall
Target audiences in a better way

The Disadvantages

Digital Marketing	Traditional Marketing
Globalized competition	One way communication
Security and privacy problems	More expensive
Increased price competition	Static in nature
Constantly changing environment leads to higher maintenance costs	Inability to collect user data
	Not measurable
	Cannot target audiences to exact

The Basics

What do we understand by the term traditional media? Advertising done through media formats such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, television, and radio is most commonly referred to as traditional media. Some of the most commonly used tools in traditional media are sponsorship ads, banner ads, flyers, print ads, posters, billboards, business cards, broadcast, etc.

Meanwhile, Digital media is anything connected to the internet. Any form of marketing which is done through email, websites, telephone messages, etc is termed digital marketing. Some of the most commonly used tools in digital marketing include content marketing, PPC (Pay per Click) advertising, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media marketing, web design, email marketing, video marketing, etc.

The Impact

The fact is that even today, for most people, an ad in television, magazine, or billboards form more of a lasting memory than an ad that pops up on websites or while browsing. The reason for the same is that since traditional media entails a more tangible form of marketing, their impact is more lasting than intangible digital content. Research shows that people using traditional media had a brand recall percentage of 75% compared to the digital media brand recall of 44%. It is not to say that digital marketing is not effective. Over time, when customers keep interacting with a brand’s content online, it builds trust in the brand, which results in conversions and revenue.

The Process

For traditional marketing, there are four phases: Interest, Awareness, Desire, and Decision.

For digital marketing, the four phases are Planning, Conversation, Content, and Sequels.

The Costing

Traditional marketing campaigns are costlier due to the expensive media. In contrast, digital marketing campaigns are practically free. All you have to do is send email flyers or post content on your social media handles. If you want a more aggressive campaign, then buying ad slots and spaces online will work wonders for your campaign. In general, a good ROI in digital marketing is $5 gained for every $1 spent. By way of traditional marketing, it is not possible to calculate the exact ROI. However, with digital marketing campaigns, every paise spent can be accounted for and exact ROI can be calculated.

The Analytics

It is easier to analyze and judge a digital marketing campaign. With the help of PPC or search advertising, marketers can analyze the audience behavior and the marketing campaign results. On the contrary, analyzing the statistics of a traditional marketing campaign is problematic and invariably inaccurate.

The Target Audience

Traditional media cannot narrow down the target audience to sub-categories, thus limiting its effectiveness. Nevertheless, with people over 60 years, traditional media marketing works the best. Even though Generation Z is more active on digital media and prefers digital media marketing over traditional marketing methods, the older generation has a more paying power parity. Thus, ignoring the elderly does not help your brand.

On the other hand, digital media is quite efficient when it comes to narrowing down the sub categories of the users and target audience. The companies can track every useful customer data and retarget them for sales by showing them useful informative ads, mails, and trust.

Which is better for you?

In all effectiveness, there is no doubt that digital marketing fares better today than the traditional forms of marketing in all given spheres. However, for a business that is looking towards reaching the masses, a mix of traditional and digital marketing is best suited. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that traditional and digital marketing is like two sides of the same coin. Each completes the other. While each marketing in itself can reach its targets, when both are combined and used in unison, they help you achieve heights.