Traditional marketing is marketing that isn't online. Marketers reach potential customers through printed media, television, radio, direct mail, phone calls, or billboards. Digital marketing is marketing that is exclusively online. Digital marketers focus on potential customers who engage with online content, including search engine results, email, video, blogs, or social media.
This reading describes the advantages digital marketing has over traditional marketing and some definite challenges, too.
Digital marketing advantages
Digital marketing has certain advantages over traditional marketing because it:
Reduces wasteful spending
Adapts to new technologies
Reaches target audiences with more precision
Spending
Digital marketing uses content in a variety of formats that can be easily converted from one format to another, making spending more cost-effective. Digital marketing also reduces wasteful spending. For example, television or billboard ads are equally seen by those who have an interest in your company or product and those who don’t. Traditional marketing always wastes some budget on people who will never buy a product or service. In contrast, digital ads can be selectively shown to people who are more likely to have an interest in that product or service. Digital marketing that is more strategically focused on the right people yields a better return on spending.
Technology
Various technologies enable organizations to engage and interact with customers more effectively, which is a big part of digital marketing. Developing a good online relationship with customers makes them more likely to find your business, become loyal customers, and even share their recommendations with others.
Digital marketing tools also enable companies to collect data and measure the results of their marketing efforts more effectively. When marketers receive data faster, they’re able to change direction easily if a marketing effort isn’t producing the results expected. Measuring the success of digital marketing campaigns is key to ensuring that you get the results you want.
Digital marketing adapts to new technologies. There are always new opportunities to reach customers in different ways, especially compared to traditional marketing.
Target audiences
Digital marketing tools and data enable you to expand your customer reach well beyond that of traditional marketing. Ad visibility and audience coverage can be tailored to meet your specific business needs and goals. When you reach the right audiences, you’re more likely to increase sales and develop sustainable customer loyalty programs.
Digital marketing challenges
Digital marketing also has certain challenges that are associated with spending, technology, and target audiences. For each advantage previously identified, there are also associated challenges.
Spending
Advantage: Digital content is easier to create.
Challenge: Organizations engage in omnichannel marketing—the integration or synchronization of content on multiple channels—so customers can have a consistent brand experience. This increases the amount of content required, so even if it’s easier to create digital content, much more content needs to be created overall. Furthermore, it’s not just about the amount of content created, but its quality. Advertising is a crowded space. Content must be distinctive to positively impact customer awareness and change their behavior.
Advantage: Digital marketing is more cost effective than traditional marketing.
Challenge: If an organization is working towards an omnichannel presence, the cost for marketing on all channels adds up quickly. Getting support or buy-in for extra or additional budget to cover the cost can be difficult.
Technology
Advantage: Digital marketing adapts to new technologies.
Challenge: As a marketer, learning and keeping up with new technologies and tools is a constant requirement. Marketers must also stay up-to-date with and follow all user privacy and data sharing regulations worldwide. Omnichannel marketing also makes it more difficult to track where sales come from. Marketers must rely more heavily on analytics tools to help them do that.
Target audiences
Advantage: Digital marketing tools expand customer reach using specific audiences.
Challenge: The digital space is a crowded field that’s getting even more crowded. It’s harder for marketers to stand out with their advertising, even when they are targeting the right audiences.
As a digital marketer, being inclusive is an essential part of making deeper connections with your customers. Inclusive marketing is the practice of improving representation and belonging within the marketing and advertising materials that an organization creates.
In this reading, you’ll discover why inclusive marketing is important and how a company can make inclusion part of its marketing and advertising strategies.
Why inclusive marketing matters
In digital marketing, the creative choices a company makes can impact how people view themselves and how they view other people. Sometimes marketing campaigns (especially those that are older or more traditional) can reinforce stereotypes and leave out the perspectives of underrepresented groups of people. Inclusive marketing, on the other hand, seeks to represent a variety of perspectives, particularly those that have been marginalized in the past.
If a company focuses its marketing exclusively on a specific age group, gender, ethnicity, or other identity traits, they’re likely missing out on reaching potential customers. By approaching marketing decisions with a focus on inclusion, a company can positively and authentically market to the diversity that exists in their audience, and the world.
Making inclusive choices and avoiding stereotypes
Digital marketing requires getting to know your audience more deeply. With inclusive marketing, you can take this a step further by seeking to understand how parts of your target audience have been excluded, stereotyped, or misrepresented in the past.
Sometimes you might unintentionally overlook certain aspects of diversity, even if you remember to consider others. Here is a list of some identity traits that are helpful to keep in mind when you’re creating marketing or advertising materials for the people you’re trying to reach:
Race
Socioeconomic status
Age
Ability
Gender
Sexual orientation
Religion
Geographic location
Culture
Political perspective
Military status
Languages spoken
Gathering information about your audience’s demographics can help you broaden your perspective. It’s also important to consider the demographics of people who are not currently customers.
These people may not use or even know about the products or services your company provides because the company’s marketing efforts haven’t reached them. By understanding their needs and desires, you can find a way to reach this group of people in a manner that matters to them.
As an example, at least one billion people in the world live with a disability. If your product or service isn’t accessible to these people, they likely don’t use or even know about your product or service. If your company’s marketing efforts don’t feature people with disabilities or address their needs, they may not view your company’s products or services as relevant to them.
That’s why it’s important to think deeply about your audience and their needs and to make sure their perspectives and stories are brought to life through the company’s marketing and advertising materials.
Whether you’re developing marketing goals, researching your target audience, planning a marketing campaign, or analyzing data, keep in mind the principles of inclusive marketing. Maintaining a broader perspective of your audience will help you establish a deeper connection with your customers.
Sum It Up!
In conclusion, digital marketing and e-commerce offer businesses powerful opportunities to thrive in a digital world. By leveraging data, embracing innovation, and prioritizing inclusivity, companies can foster long-lasting customer relationships, adapt to changing markets, and maintain a competitive edge. As digital landscapes continue to evolve, marketers must stay agile, continuously learning and refining their strategies to create value that resonates with diverse audiences worldwide.
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