Resources Hub » Knowledge base » How Is Digital Marketing Different From Traditional Marketing?

Marketing is a complex field, with many separate tools and strategies. And sometimes it seems like marketing—and the relevant tools and platforms—change daily. It can be overwhelming to keep up.

However, the two most important types of marketing to understand are digital marketing and traditional marketing.

Here’s what you need to know about both and the differences between the two.

What are digital marketing and traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing can include anything from printed catalogs sent in the mail to billboards along the highways. Other, more traditional marketing channels include TV, newspapers, and other forms of print advertising.

Digital marketing, on the other hand, can relate to anything involving marketing through digital channels. These promotions often focus on email and social media. The digital format of the content is what gives this field its name.

As a wide-ranging field, digital marketing also includes content marketing, SEO optimization, paid search, etc.

How to measure the success of these approaches

Before going into measuring the success of these strategies, first, consider a brief cost comparison. Traditional marketing methods are typically much more expensive to implement than digital marketing. The reason for this is multifaceted. For one thing, traditional marketing has many associated costs, ranging from postage to billboard rental costs.

Digital marketing, on the other hand, can be performed at little or virtually no cost. That’s surely part of the reason that digital marketing has become so central to many marketing strategies.

The number of email accounts is expected to grow by 3% each year until 2021.

Like social media promotions, email marketing remains one of the most essential strategies for increasing conversion rates and growing your brand. With the right email lists and high-quality content, you can soar ahead of the competition.

Measuring the success of traditional versus digital marketing can be achieved by comparing sales attributed to digital promotions against print ads that brought about in-store sales. That kind of comparison can help tell which strategy is bringing in the most sales.

For example, if your traditional marketing, like TV ads, is bringing in more sales than your email newsletters, you’ll want to improve on digital marketing.

Does it really matter?

Knowing the difference between digital and traditional marketing is essential as a marketing professional. It’s also an essential skill as a business owner. In managing your brand, you’ll need to be capable of directing both traditional and digital marketing campaigns.

You must be able to do this with relative ease, as the pace of global commerce continues to race ever faster. Digital marketing is especially important in an age where more people can be reached through social media posts than through more traditional means.

With a focus on digital marketing in mind, you should be making an effort to master both social media and email marketing. These skills can help you routinely create high-impact email content like this.

With a focus on digital marketing in mind, you should be making an effort to master both social media and email marketing.

Source: Campaign Monitor

One of the absolute worst mistakes you can make in marketing is to rely solely on one marketing channel. If you’re still running mostly print ads in 2019, you’re falling behind.

The point is that you shouldn’t favor one form of marketing over the other. To maximize the efficiency of your overall marketing operations, you need to implement the best practices of each. That’s the key to growing your brand in the modern age. Straddling both traditional and digital marketing is a balancing act that must be mastered to succeed.

What now?

Now that you’ve become familiar with traditional and digital marketing, you can start benefiting from the best of both. With these topics fresh in your mind, continue your learning with these email marketing insights from Campaign Monitor.

This blog provides general information and discussion about email marketing and related subjects. The content provided in this blog ("Content”), should not be construed as and is not intended to constitute financial, legal or tax advice. You should seek the advice of professionals prior to acting upon any information contained in the Content. All Content is provided strictly “as is” and we make no warranty or representation of any kind regarding the Content.

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