Is Traditional Advertising Still Effective?
As new technologies are invented every day, business owners look for new marketing methods that can be capitalized from every innovation. This is the attitude entrepreneurs must have to drive their business forward.
While having the initiative to seek new advertising tactics is a good thing, it also makes us, business owners, ignore the idea of using the traditional ones. It’s even safe to assume that not a lot of entrepreneurs remember the old ways.
Let’s take a quick recap about the traditional marketing strategies — handing out print ads like flyers/pamphlets, renting billboards, radio/TV broadcasting, direct mailing, event hosting, and referral systems.
The questions we ask now are: “Are traditional advertising strategies still effective?”, “What are their advantages and disadvantages?”, and “What should an entrepreneur consider before adopting these tactics?” Discover the answers below.
Pros of Traditional Advertising
1. They’re rare and memorable
Because the majority of entrepreneurs are modernizing their advertising approaches by letting their businesses fully adopt digital marketing strategies, the digital space for commercial purposes becomes saturated. Brands bid to appear on someone’s gadget screen.
For the consumers, this can be very irritating because they can’t watch, read, or listen to something without being bombarded by ads. Whereas in traditional marketing, you have less competition. The minds of customers are also more open to your brand’s presence.
2. They’re more personal and better at reaching specific audiences
Even in 2022, plenty of people still listen to the radio despite the wide availability of song playlists and advanced audio output devices. Some even prefer receiving paper mail despite having an internet-connected computer while others keep a landline phone.
This behavior is common among Gen X’s and older. And if your product is designed to be used or consumed by these demographics, then doing traditional marketing would increase your sales significantly.
3. They last longer
The information on print ads doesn’t easily disappear. Even when weathered, a poster can last for months and even years. Radio ads run longer than those on YouTube and Spotify. TV commercials cannot be skipped.
Even if YouTube has unskippable ads, the ones shown on TV channels run longer. The best part? People don’t hate reading, watching, or listening to traditional commercials.
Cons of Traditional Advertising
1. They can be expensive
Printing pamphlets/flyers, renting a billboard, hosting an event, or getting your brand broadcasted is not cheap. Entrepreneurs agree that the costs of advertising traditionally is twice greater than running ads on the internet.
2. Their metrics are harder to track
Unlike digital marketing where all interactions are recorded and measured, traditional marketing metrics are mostly just estimates. This presents a great challenge if you want to know which demographics are interested in your product or which elements of your ads are ineffective.
3. Its audiences are slowly disappearing
People age and technology keeps on evolving. While there are plenty of consumers who follow an old-school lifestyle, they won’t stick around or remain the same. Internet platforms are changing the way we consume media and news.
Why would adults rush home to watch the 6 o’clock news when they can get updates with a few taps on their phones? Why would people in their late 20s switch through channels to watch a movie when there’s Netflix? Traditional marketing is slowly dying in the modern world.
If you think of employing traditional advertising tactics to boost your business, consider your surroundings, target audience, and the people around you first. Is your local area highly developed and tech-oriented with people having easy access to gadgets and the internet? You might have a hard time funneling leads.
But if you live in a place where people exercise discipline around technology, traditional marketing can take your business to the next level.
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