There has long been the debate within marketing circles whether digital or traditional marketing is more effective when a company or brand is looking to run a campaign.
For me, the argument is now null and void, businesses and marketers should no longer perceive digital and traditional as two isolated facets of marketing. The clamour and need for campaigns to be integrated has picked up in recent years, thanks to the rise of social media and the like, but yet many companies are still being left behind.
There still appears to be a stigma, or perhaps even laziness, among some to form integrated campaigns and the consequence is that results are not as successful as they could and should be.
The argument whether a 30 second TV advert vs. an always on digital campaign can rage on until people are blue in the face but no matter what your stance, both are imperative to ensure your campaign is a success. It is not something which is done very well in the most part and I believe it comes down to both a lack of understanding and a small dose of bloody-mindedness from some marketers who are reluctant to change their methods.
I accept that there is a certain familiarity with traditional marketing and its tangible nature but that does not lend itself to being easy to measure results. The longevity of this practice means that people are accustomed to it, be it an advert in a magazine or on a billboard and for that reason it does have a broad reach. Digital marketing, on the other hand, has the ability to reach an infinite audience yet its biggest advantage is that it can help develop 1:1 customer relationships. This is where the two work in tandem and complement each other as the first initial traditional launch can, in effect, drive the second digital wave.
We achieved this to good effect last year when we launched our #PowwowHELPMEnow campaign across social media. The campaign encouraged office workers to tweet in to the company with their everyday grievances to which Powwownow would find a practical solution. The coverage and social media buzz achieved face-to-face engagement and notable mentions, awards and nearly a year down the line the campaign is still receiving coverage.
On a larger scale, Snickers’ ‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’ campaign was hugely successful. It started with a television advert but led to substantial interest on social, print and retail where the conversations are continuing. You still see people making reference to the advert and using it in wider contexts and a number of memes being created online, which further help to reinforce the strength of the campaign.
For marketers to be effective in the modern world they need to move away from ‘how many people saw our TV advert’ or ‘how many likes have we got’. This attitude has become outdated as the influence of such is largely immeasurable; engagement is the key. I would take 100 followers and 100% engagement rate as opposed to ten thousand followers and a 1% engagement rate any day of the week. For this shows your content and material to be of good quality and of enough interest to engage those that view it, which is the golden ticket for any marketing campaign.
The marketers that are proving most successful at the moment are overlapping digital and traditional marketing and we will see this trend continue to grow. Television adverts are now continuing the story online via YouTube and other platforms (such as Shazam) and for retailers, they are using online to drive footfall back in to their stores. It is certainly an exciting period for our industry as the companies and individuals doing this effectively are still in the minority.
No longer should marketers be debating between traditional and digital or try to process how two separate campaigns will take shape. The two must be integrated and if done well then there are real opportunities to put yourself and your company ahead of the competition.
