Traditional marketing versus digital marketing has become a hot topic among marketers.
I set out to find out the pros and cons of each and come back with my findings so you can make an informed decision about marketing your brand.
I’ll go over what the two terms mean and how they work together. Then I’ll dive deeper into traditional marketing, which sometimes feels like it doesn’t have a proper place in the current digitally dominated landscape.
But if you’re trying to decide between the two, I’ll give away the ending before we begin: the answer is both.
Table of contents
What is traditional marketing?
Traditional marketing is any marketing that takes place offline. This includes print, broadcast, direct mail, telephone and outdoor advertising such as billboards and posters.
It is called the traditional method because it is the way marketing was done before the Internet. But even though the modern market has incorporated newer methods, traditional marketing is not going away.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing, on the other hand, is any marketing that is done online. Examples include paid social media ads, email marketing, and PPC advertising, as well as content marketing, SEO, and more.
We won’t go into all the details in this post, but for a deeper dive into digital marketing, take a look here What is Digital Marketing: Everything You Need to Know.
As the world becomes more digital, the way we market has also evolved. Not only is digital marketing sometimes more cost-effective than traditional marketing, but it also offers a more direct way to connect with audiences worldwide.
Digital marketing has now overtaken traditional marketing as the primary way to reach consumers. But actually these two strategies coexist and Mixed methods are becoming the norm.
Traditional marketing vs. digital marketing
Traditional marketing is an approach in which marketers identify their target audience and place ads where their target audience can see, hear, or interact with them offline, such as: E.g. print advertisements, posters or television advertising. Digital marketing is facilitated online and utilizes paid or organic ads on social media or search engines, as well as email marketing, influencer marketing, and video marketing, to name a few.
In today’s landscape, it’s no surprise that digital marketing is an increasingly important revenue driver. Actually, 78% of companies who use social selling outperform those who don’t.
However, there are also disadvantages of digital marketing. These primarily include data protection and security concerns. According to the same 2024 report, online privacy is viewed as a human right by 74% of survey respondents.
In response, the trend has shifted toward more protective measures: 84% of marketers said this has impacted their strategy. Additionally, digital marketing faces the challenge that people are tired of intrusive advertisements such as pop-ups and videos, while they view offline advertising positively.
What about AI?
In 2024, according to our State of Marketing Report, 85% of marketers say that generative AI has changed the way they create content, and marketers who use AI are “95% more likely to change their marketing strategy this year was very effective than those that don’t.” ‘T.”
AI is, of course, a game-changer for everyone – including the marketing industry – and it remains to be seen how it will impact the relationship between traditional and digital. But one thing is for sure: it is currently the biggest trend driving industry growth.
Types of traditional marketing
Now that we understand both sides of the coin, let’s take a deeper look at traditional marketing. It can take many forms, but the main types are as follows.
Print media
Print media uses newspapers, magazines and other printed materials to reach potential customers. This option is scalable, from local to globally read publications.
A now infamous example of an attention-grabbing newspaper ad is Norwegian Airlines’ “Brad is Single” campaign, which capitalized on the breakup of a celebrity couple. I’m not one to gossip, but if you want to draw attention to your very low prices, that’s one option.
Broadcasting
This refers to TV and radio advertising and aims to create brand awareness. Repetition is important when it comes to broadcasting, as the same ad is played over and over again.
One ad that always sticks in my mind is for Wendy’s Hamburgers – in which a woman surveys the competition’s offerings and asks, “Where’s the beef?”
Originally aired in 1984, the commercial later became so iconic that I can still recall the woman’s voice in my head – even though I didn’t see the commercial when it appeared. Forty years later, I’d say it’s good advertising.
Direct mail
Direct mail means that marketing materials are sent directly to your door.
These can be letters, postcards, flyers, catalogs or even gifts. The aim is to make direct contact with a person – unlike print or broadcast programs, where the aim is to reach as many people as possible.
An example of a direct mail campaign where the mailing served its purpose comes from Ikea. To market one of his side tables, a small pop-up version of the table was included in the Ikea catalog.
It caught my attention because of the perfect parallel between the disassembled Ikea furniture and the paper miniature that was supposed to advertise it.
phone
Telemarketing, which includes cold calling, is another traditional method of reaching a prospect directly. Direct telephone marketing goes a step further than direct mail and aims to create a connection with the potential customer.
I admit I had to look up an example of this, and it’s difficult to find much information since calls are so short-lived.
But I discovered a leading Microsoft telemarketing campaign in 2009 when sales reps called to sell the Office Suite software. Sources say the company generated $1 million in sales from this campaign alone.
Out of Home (OOH)
OOH marketing means it takes place outside of your home. The main examples are static billboards, posters, signs on buses and painted wallscapes.
This is a form of visual marketing that usually uses images to convey the message. OOH is location-based and aims to target people who pass by a specific location.
As someone who has spent much of my life walking around cities as an urban explorer, this type of marketing is most likely to get my attention.
A good example of this is the Coca-Cola billboards that appeared in European cities in 2019. The image takes the brand’s recognizable white band and transforms it into an arm with a hand pointing at a trash can on the street.
The campaign highlights Coca-Cola’s promise to make its bottles fully recyclable. And I personally love this kind of interaction between the display and the urban environment.
Importance of traditional marketing
It might be pretty clear from the examples above, but I want to break down some of the reasons why traditional marketing is still important alongside digital marketing.
Trust
Connecting with potential customers is the heart of marketing. And Current polls show that when asked about their most trusted advertising formats, traditional marketing channels take the top spots, with print ads coming first.
So even if it seems like we live in a digital marketing landscape: when it comes to trust, tried and tested works better.
loyalty
Given that I hardly receive any mail anymore, I was surprised to learn that direct mail ranked third in the same trust surveys.
Furthermore, according to a 2024 contribution from the Data & Marketing AssociationPersonalized mailings are set to make a comeback among modern marketers due to their ability to convert into lasting loyalty.
To reach
When I watched the broadcast, I was skeptical about how effective radio advertising could still be, but once I got my hands on it Results of a 2023 Edison Research surveyIt turns out that if you spend time in the car, you probably listen to AM/FM radio (76% of listeners do).
This makes you the perfect target group for ads in this channel.
Cold calling was the other option that I wasn’t so sure about. But just like direct mail, the effectiveness of cold calling is increasing – and once again I was surprised by the numbers.
Cognism’s 2024 State of Cold Calling Report announced that the B2B cold calling success rate doubled from 2023 to 2024 (from about 2% to 4%).
Advantages and disadvantages of traditional marketing
Compared to digital marketing, traditional marketing has both advantages and disadvantages.
Pro: Local audience
Traditional marketing is great if you want to reach a local or niche community. If you operate in a small market, highly specific ad placements can help you reach the right people.
Pros: Repetition
Another advantage is the repetition of ads. And it’s not just TV commercials or radio jingles that might stick in your mind. When thinking about OOH, it’s easy to imagine how walking past the same billboard in the bus stop every day increases brand visibility and awareness.
Pro: Credibility
And that leads me to credibility. With brand recall, especially in the public spaces we inhabit every day, ads, like any part of the environment, feel familiar and increase credibility.
Disadvantage: Cost
Traditional marketing can be more expensive than digital marketing. In 2024, an average newspaper ad could be up to $750while an online ad costs 3-5 cents per click.
Additionally, some of the budget is wasted on casting a wide net and reaching your ad outside of your target audience.
Disadvantage: Targeting
That brings me to precision targeting: it’s an integral part of the world of digital marketing – and a part that traditional marketing really can’t compete with. If you need granular segmentation, none of the above marketing channels can do it.
Disadvantage: measurability
Aside from not being able to target specific audiences precisely, measuring the results of advertising campaigns is not as easy as it is with online marketing.
There are no real-time results or optimizations. And the process of changing an ad will take longer if you find that it is underperforming.
CDo traditional and digital marketing really work together?
Absolutely. My biggest takeaway after delving into the stats is that not only is there room for both strategies to exist, but doubling down and using them together can also be beneficial.
Traditional marketing can win over local target groups, but does not offer a differentiated opportunity for targeted group targeting. This gap can be closed with digital marketing.
And given the clear differences between the two methods, I’d say it’s more about multiplying options than pitting the two against each other.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for completeness.