The world is becoming a digital place and just as traditional retail and brands fail to keep up, so does the marketing industry.

There are plenty of tactics marketers use to keep up with the digital age, and brand awareness is certainly one of them. However, with the complexity of the modern world, consumers have more options than ever before when it comes to finding, using, and discarding products. This has implications for what types of marketing messages resonate with audiences, and how those audiences perceive, consume, and remember brands and products.

For instance, once you establish brand awareness, do you focus on traditional methods of building loyalty, or do you pursue growth through digital channels? What metrics do you use to measure the success of your strategy, and how do you adjust your approach based on feedback and new findings?

Traditional Versus Digital

The lines between traditional and digital marketing have blurred. While smartphones, tablets, and digital cameras changed our world, they also created whole new areas of opportunity for marketers. As a result, traditional methods of marketing, such as TV commercials, magazines, and newspapers, have found themselves crowded out by digital marketing tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and email marketing.

Traditionalists may lament this shift and argue that digital marketing won’t solve all of society’s problems, especially not the world’s. They probably cite brand loyalty or frequent purchases as a way to connect with customers and encourage them to come back for more.

While that may be true, consider the advantages of a purely digital marketing strategy. You can easily test different types of ads, social media posts, and email campaigns to find the ones that perform best. This gives you a much better chance of establishing a steady stream of traffic, leads, and sales. In the right situation, a digital marketing strategy can be much more effective than a traditional one.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Many people are likely already familiar with the term “digital marketing.” After all, this is the branch of marketing that uses digital tools and platforms to spread brand awareness, build credibility, and drive sales. However, to understand what makes up digital marketing, let’s take a step back and learn a bit about marketing in general.

Most people think of marketing when they think of a product or service being sold to them. However, marketing is far more than just advertising and sales. Marketing is an integral part of a business’s strategy, and it involves planning the activities that will cause a reaction in consumers, or potential buyers of your product or service. This could include anything from creating a buzz about your product through paid advertisements, to getting people talking about your brand, or offering valuable, free content that encourages people to follow you or visit your website.

The important thing to note about marketing is that it’s always relevant, even when used in a digital context. This means that marketers should always be looking for ways to incorporate digital marketing into their strategies, even when using traditional methods.

Why Use Digital Marketing?

The main reason you would want to use digital marketing is to gain a steady stream of traffic and leads to your website. Regardless of whether you’re selling a product or providing a service, the more people who know about your product or service the better. This improves your odds of generating sales and growing your business.

Additionally, with the development of social media, creating a buzz around your product or service is much easier than you think. With a few taps on your smartphone, you can have a brand, product, or service buzzing in no time. The more you and your team can do to establish and maintain healthy company reputations, the better. A brand voice, visual identity, and online persona are now vital to creating an environment that encourages consumers to engage with your company, find your products, and eventually, buy them.

Last but not least, when you have a solid digital marketing strategy in place, you can measure the success of your efforts easily. This means you can adjust your approach based on what is working and what is not, and you can improve your results time and time again.

Although there are many benefits to a digital marketing strategy, you need to take into consideration that not all businesses will be able to succeed without a traditional marketing strategy. If you are, or if you know of, a business that is struggling, it may be time to shift to a more traditional marketing approach. But in any case, make sure that you are always testing new methods of engagement and promoting your product or service to find the ones that work best for you.