In this digital age, where marketing messages can travel instantly to millions of people, being accessible and interactive is essential. Offline marketing–cold calling, face-to-face interaction, and print media–is a timeless way of spreading the word about your business, and there is no denying its effectiveness. However, with the evolution of the internet and social media, online marketing has become a vital part of any business’ marketing strategy.

What is online marketing? To put it simply, online marketing is using various platforms (such as websites, email, and social media) to promote your product or service.

While you might be able to function perfectly fine without ever setting foot in a retail store, the role of a marketing manager or strategist is to envision the entire journey of a potential customer from start to finish. This includes offline and online activity.

As a business owner, marketer, or brand manager, it’s your job to ensure that every aspect of marketing is working together to achieve your goals. You need to consider not only what platforms to use but also how to use them. What type of content is converting the most leads into paying customers? Is social media helping to boost your product’s exposure or are you seeing the most success from using traditional advertising methods?

With so much uncertainty in today’s world, it’s critical that you have answers to these questions. By understanding the differences between offline and online marketing and how each can be used to improve your business, you will be able to make the right decision for your needs.

Offline vs Online Marketing

Before we get started, it is imperative that you understand the differences between offline and online marketing. Simply put, offline marketing is any type of marketing that doesn’t take place online. Offline marketing includes things like radio ads, TV commercials, billboards, magazine spreads, and the like.

To better understand the distinctions, let’s examine each one. To qualify as offline marketing, the following five conditions must be met:

• The marketing must not be conducted online
• The advertising must be done in a traditional format (for example, a billboard)
• The content must be broadcasted in a traditional medium (for example, a radio station)
• The audience must be in close proximity to your business (meaning they must be able to hear or see you)
• The marketing activity must have been conducted in the past.

In contrast, online marketing involves marketing a business or product online. This includes advertising online as well as marketing an entire website or blog. The following five conditions must be met to qualify as online marketing:

• The marketing activity must have been conducted online
• The audience must be in close proximity to your business (meaning they must be able to access your content online)
• The marketing activity must be continuing online
• The content must be created or stored online
• The content must be interacting with the public (for example, blogs, forums, etc.)
• The marketing must have been conducted in the past (for example, PPC – paid search marketing)

Though there are a few exceptions to this rule (such as display advertising and mobile marketing), generally speaking, marketing done online will be considered online marketing and marketing done offline will be considered offline marketing.

Traditional vs Digital Marketing

When referring to marketing, people often get confused between traditional and digital marketing. In fact, many businesses incorrectly label themselves as “digital marketers” because they have an understanding of what that entails. What is traditional marketing?

Traditional marketing is simply marketing that was created and used in the past. The term often gets thrown around carelessly today, but the definition is fairly simple. To qualify as traditional marketing, the following three conditions must be met:

• The marketing activity must have been conducted in the past
• The content used in the marketing must be traditional in nature (non-digital)
• The audience for the marketing must not be in close proximity to your business (meaning they must not be able to access your content online)

In contrast, digital marketing is marketing that is conducted using digital technologies (such as websites, emails, and social media). To qualify as digital marketing, the following two conditions must be met:

• The marketing activity must have been conducted in the past
• The content used in the marketing must be digital in nature (for example, a website)

Though online and traditional marketing have much in common (such as the fact that they are both forms of marketing), they are not the same thing. Offline and traditional marketing are both effective, but they serve different purposes.

Product vs Brand Marketing

A business often gets confused about whether to focus on product marketing or brand marketing. What is brand marketing? Brand marketing is the process of creating and communicating a clear identity for a product or service, as well as promoting a positive emotional response among customers.

To qualify as brand marketing, the following two conditions must be met:

• The marketing activity must have been conducted in the past
• The content used in the marketing must be associated with a brand (for example, a famous movie or TV show)

In contrast, product marketing is the process of selling a specific product or service. To qualify as product marketing, the following three conditions must be met:

• The marketing activity must have been conducted in the past
• The product must have been sold in the past (i.e., the product or service must have been manufactured or provided)
• The audience for the marketing must be in close proximity to your business (meaning they must be able to access your content online)

Though product marketing and brand marketing have much in common (such as the fact that they are both forms of marketing), they serve different purposes. Brand marketing is much more broad, encompassing everything from radio ads to billboards to magazine spreads. In contrast, product marketing usually refers to the direct,, one-to-one communication with a customer that is generated online (for example, landing pages, e-mail marketing, and social media).

Measuring Marketing Success

Every business is different, and not all forms of marketing will work well for you. That is why it is important to learn from past experiences and determine what is and is not effective based on your specific needs. To do this, you need to measure the success of your different forms of marketing. For example, you can measure the effectiveness of your radio ads by looking at how many people called to make a purchase or inquired about your product/service. This is typically measured through conversion statistics. Similarly, you can measure the success of your online marketing campaign by looking at how many people came to your website from various platforms (such as social media or search engine results).

You can get similar metrics when measuring the success of your offline marketing efforts. For example, you can measure the impact of your TV commercials by watching for increases in overall traffic or conversion rates to your website. You can measure the success of your print media ads by looking at how many people saw the ad and either purchased the product or contacted the business for more information.

When it comes to marketing, it is essential to learn from the experts and understand how to make the right decision for your business. By taking the time to learn the distinctions between traditional and digital marketing, as well as product and brand marketing, you will be able to make the right choices for your unique situation.