Businesses are becoming more and more digitized everyday and
the marketing industry is following suit.
There are many benefits to digital media compared to traditional, such as more leads with less
cost and larger audience.
We’re going to dig deeper into three of the main pillars of
marketing today and see how digital is doing a better job than traditional.
Measurement
One of the largest challenges of traditional media is
calculating accurate metrics. Whether you’re attaching a unique phone number to
each billboard, comparing TV ratings, or number of newspapers sold – there is
no way to be fully confident in the results you (may) receive. There is also no
way to have real time metrics available if you are looking for a status report.
Digital marketing is the opposite of traditional marketing. You
can see everything, whenever you would like to, including real time metrics.
With measurements readily accessible, it allows you to see what is working and
what isn’t rather quickly, to optimize your resources and efficiently utilize
your budget.
Wow Factor
Beside printed Augmented Reality (AR) markers, there has not been any game changing tech introduced
to the traditional media environment in quite some time. With that said, there
has been some advancements in areas such as billboard technology.
Digital activations are now being pegged to billboards in a
variety of ways, two of the most popular are geotargeting and different
interactive contests. Popular in prime areas, such as Times Square,
geotargeting allows features, discounts, or awards to be unlocked only when a
user stands near the billboard. Contests include exclusive offers for customers
who post a selfie with a billboard and tag the company in the photo.
On the digital side, there are always new developments. New
technologies, such as Augmented Reality or Virtual Reality, are allowing
businesses to provide unique and immersive experiences to consumers. Marketers
can take advantage of this and create digital content for consumers to interact
with.
For example, Facebook has filters that will be placed as an
overlay on your face. A filter could be a character from Justice League to
promote the movie and brand. While this is clearly a promotional filter,
children and adults can both enjoy it and send photos of themselves using it to
their friends or post it on any digital channel.
Recently, the cost of these filters has become extremely
affordable as different social networks battle for business. Snapchat was once
seen as the leader in this space, though Instagram and Facebook have both been pushing
their story features heavily. Additionally, all platforms have increased
performance tracking capabilities for these stories, so marketers can now track
their goals accurately and confidently.
From a sales and marketing perspective, filters wouldn’t be
for every client, though if the goal is to target a younger audience, increase
brand awareness, or build brand recognition, a filter would be a strong option.
For instance, you don’t pay per impression or clicks for a filter, it is a set
amount of time. Therefore, if you have an engaging filter, there is potential
for great success in your campaign.
Personalization
Everyone enjoys being catered to. In traditional media you
can choose placement of your advertisements, though there is no way to truly
personalize the experience to every individual. For example, if you place an ad
for a quad in a Hunting & Fishing Magazine, you’re liking hitting your
target market, though not everyone reading this magazine is in the market for a
quad.
Instead of putting your budget towards an ad in a magazine,
where not all readers are interested in purchasing a quad, wouldn’t you rather
advertise to those who are currently looking for a quad? Digital marketing
allows for you to target these people.
Through more personalized experiences, which gives consumers
a sense of empowerment, you can target personalized ads at different demographics
of people and see in real time which ones perform better so you better allocate
your resources.
An example of personalization in digital media can be seen
in the fitness industry. Say you’re searching for six-week fitness plan to
become more defined and browse through a few related websites. You may notice
some ads appear for you to take a fitness quiz to see what plan is best for
your body type. You click on the ad, take the quiz, and it delivers you a plan,
but you decide to leave it for the time. Tomorrow, you’re now looking at your
local news online and notice an ad calling you to lean out your body today.
With this personalized ad, it triggers follow through with the purchase of the
plan.
While there is, and always will be, a place for traditional
media, it is important for your business to find the right balance between the
two to be successful. If you’re interested in seeing how your business can
begin the journey to being noticed, contact us at Sherpa Marketing!
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