Many people will agree that marketing has become much simpler and more targeted since the use of computers and the Internet. However others will argue that digital marketing is far to complicated and involves many processes and platforms making it confusing.

As marketers know it’s important to reach your target audiences. With digital marketing it’s easier to find a wider and more relevant audience because the targeting options are more comprehensive. This is also because social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Google + make it easier to locate your target audiences. Interactions on these platforms are simple and measurable because all that your audience needs to do is like, share or comment on your company’s pages and campaigns. It’s easier to keep projects up to date and make quick amends on digital platforms. For example, if anyone makes a spelling mistake on a PPC campaign it can be amended in just a few simple clicks and immediately too.

The negative side to digital marketing is that you will need to possess the relevant skills to make use of PPC and other digital tools. This takes time to gain the necessary skills to get the most from your campaigns. Competition is strong on digital platforms, it’s easier to search for a company on Google for example, which means your company has to be the best of the best and index well on search or pay the price.

Some audiences will say that they find digital marketing irritating. For example pop-up subscription boxes and banner ads.

On the other hand traditional marketing targets everyone. It can target audiences who do not necessarily use the Internet. For example if a company was marketing a new stair lift the target audience would most likely be older and may not know how to use the Internet. With a traditional marketing campaign you will need more resources to make a leaflet as opposed to creating a banner in Photoshop. This will also cost more because you have to bear the cost of print and distribution. Also it’s hard to change mistakes that have already been sent to print. On the plus side traditional marketing can also be used very effectively in conjunction with digital marketing campaigns e.g. using hash tags and QR codes.

Digital

Strengths

  • Less time consuming
  • Wider reach
  • Keep up with competitors or even set the bar
  • Make changes easily
  • MEASURABLE
  • Refined targeting

Weakness

  • Skills required
  • Resources needed
  • Increasing competition
  • Easy to dismiss
  • Banner blindness
  • Annoying
  • CPCs can be expensive

Traditional

Strengths

  • Target people who don’t have Internet
  • Still a need for offline advertising: print materials, banners, point of display etc.
  • Personal
  • Can support digital campaigns

Weakness

  • Resources needed
  • Less reach
  • Targeting difficult
  • Hard to measure
  • Time consuming
  • Can cost more
  • Skills required
  • Re print expensive
  • Hard to change mistakes

As we have discovered there are strengths and weaknesses for both traditional and digital marketing. Digital marketing is more advanced and its strengths certainly out weigh the weaknesses, mainly because of its targeted nature and the fact you can measure its success so accurately.

In 2014, 38 million adults (76%) in Great Britain accessed the Internet every day, 21 million more than in 2006. Also in 2014, 74% of all adults bought goods or services online, up from 53% in 2008. Are you creating a digital footprint to attract your online customers?