Internet Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

While large corporations have increasingly decided to invest their marketing budget in digital alternatives, the question of online marketing solutions vs. traditional marketing is still unanswered for many businesses. Going with what has always worked, along with a fear of the unknown, drives small business owners everywhere toward flier, direct mail, and print campaigns that are often more hassle than they're worth - especially when you consider these 3 unbeatable reasons to choose internet marketing over your current traditional marketing efforts.

1) Measurable ROI

How do you know whether your traditional efforts actually works? Unless you use a sophisticated survey system (and trust us, your customers do not want you to do that), it's almost impossible to know whether your print ad in the local paper, your flier in other storefronts, or your direct mail campaign in the neighborhood actually brought in revenue. Your exact return on investment is almost impossible to determine.

Digital marketing, on the other hand, is much more measurable and lets you know if you have increased website traffic. Through free tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights, you can determine exactly how many visitors and followers chose to learn more about you because of a specific action you took online. And if you choose to spend marketing dollars, you can even determine how much you spent on each individual click and conversion!

The measurability of digital marketing is perhaps its biggest advantage over traditional alternatives, but it is not the only one.

2) Cost

The moniker among small business owners that "marketing is expensive" comes directly from traditional measures. And in that regard, we completely agree! Printing hundreds (if not thousands) of fliers or post cards, not to mention the stamps, will set your budget back significantly.

But again, internet marketing is a different beast entirely. Because its delivery occurs entirely online, you can get your message across to a large audience without breaking the bank. For example, you can set up a Facebook advertising campaign for as little as $10, and still reach at least 1,000 members of your target audience. And that's not even taking into consideration the numerous free alternatives, like setting up a social media page and growing a follower base that will read your posts even if you don't spend a single dollar.

3) Exact Targeting

Chances are that no matter your exact business, your customers don't just come from anywhere. They're part of a specific group, unified by specific geographic, demographic and psychographic traits. A traditional fashion store, for example, will not attract children and will certainly not reach residents in a different state. 

Unfortunately, many traditional marketing methods don't offer many possibilities for targeting, leaving you to send your message to a large audience with little to no chance of narrowing your target. In fact, that large (and untargeted) audience is another reason why traditional marketing tends to be so expensive!   

Internet marketing, on the other hand, can be much more exact. When you choose to advertise on Google, you connect your ads to specific keywords and keyphrases, ensuring that your ads will only be seen when audience members type in those phrases. Keep your website up to date with website maintenance service. This will help you target the exact audience you need by ranking on the search engines.

In short, internet marketing proves advantageous over its traditional alternatives in perhaps the three most important marketing variables: ROI, cost, and targeting. If you're not yet engaging in digital advertising opportunities, you absolutely should be.

Are you ready to move your marketing efforts into the digital realm? If so, contact us, or download our FREE eBook "25 Must Haves to generate more traffic, leads and sales" to learn more about how your business can benefit from internet marketing!