Traditional vs digital marketing: What are the differences in methodology?

This is branded content.

Few professionals have seen such significant change as the marketing discipline has. For a long time, there was a set way of conducting marketing, with traditional marketing activities including television, radio and print. Professionals only had the choice of a marketing degree in years gone by, and now there are so many disciplines and courses like a graduate certificate in marketing online.

Digital marketing has all but consumed these once-faithful channels. Today, even digital marketing looks different with each passing year and trend, with the opportunity available to transform the field forever.

Given that both traditional marketing and digital marketing are aiming for the same results, how much difference is there really in the methodology? In addition, is there room for both of these marketing styles? Let's find out.

One of the main differences between traditional and digital marketing is that digital marketing is largely agile and adaptive. Campaigns can be implemented on social media or through Google Ads, and they can be paused or adjusted with new content or target audiences as soon as they are reported to be unsuccessful or in need of optimisation. If a call to action is falling flat, the content is not compelling or the wrong imagery is used - the campaign can be adapted immediately based on gauging early ad performance.

Comparatively, traditional marketing does not have the same access to real-time data, especially if funds are assigned to print, radio or television and the success of the campaign is determined after the advertising when no optimisations can be implemented. A/B testing is possible with traditional marketing, although insights from this testing cannot be discovered and implemented at the time, but rather used for future advertising.

In years gone by, marketing and public relations have often been fused together in the minds of professionals who work closely with communication teams. Traditional marketing does have some overlap with PR, but there is little in common with digital marketing.

Digital marketing, generally speaking, can be self-managed and when ads are implemented that too is managed by the business or agency. In years gone by traditional marketers would leverage paid and earned press with the support of PR professionals or by brokering relationships with media. We see examples of press exposure in television, radio and newspapers now outside of those large household names.

Traditional and digital marketing have different definitions of conversions, mainly due to the different conversion opportunities that both activities offer. Digital marketing can unfold on a range of platforms, serving both acquisition and retention purposes. Traditional marketing is less nuanced as there is not as much flexibility in the creative and copy that goes out, which usually means that acquisition and retention are rolled into one conversion focus.

It is also harder to determine when a conversion has been achieved in traditional marketing, even if there is A/B Testing implemented. Digital marketing, however, can produce conversion data to a very detailed degree, including which ad they responded to, when they clicked, on what they clicked and whether they signed up for a newsletter or added items to a cart.

Traditional marketers can certainly be strategic in their placement of ads and the campaigns they run. Choosing the print publication, television channel or radio station might be where the audience segmentation ends, as the available data for these channels can be limited.

Comparatively, digital marketing campaigns allow business owners to drill down on the exact demographic of their market so that businesses can appeal to the range of customers and customer needs out there. Digital marketers also have access to a number of analytics tools that measure audience engagement. Google Analytics, Facebook and Instagram Insights and SEO tools will be able to attribute traffic and audience behaviour so business owners know what their segmentation split is.

The 4 P's of marketing are well known, and they are still relevant in traditional marketing, guiding marketing activities. They are Product, Place, Promotion and Price. Digital marketing is less constricted, and all P's will not be relevant to digital campaigns.

Critics of the 4 P's claim that the methodology is more about the product rather than the customer, which digital marketing champions. There are also committed marketing leaders who work to update the 4 P's and have rebranded some of them to 'people' and 'physical evidence'. It's understandable why the 4 Ps are not used to the same scrutiny as they once were, given that they were introduced in the 1950s.

~

There are several differences between traditional and digital marketing, and these differences are only growing as more tools and digital platforms are introduced. There is merit in both methodologies, and the client and budget will determine what strategy is right.