Traditional Marketing vs.

Digital Marketing

As the debate on finding a better and/or more effective marketing tool or

approach rages on, one thing that is sure is the fact that companies can no
longer ignore the importance of not only having, but monitoring their presence
online. Though many businesses are still at a crossroad, one simply cannot wish
away the effects or impacts technology has, and is still making in our business
environments today.
Some interesting questions related to digital marketing and traditional marketing
are: What is the most beneficial marketing approach comparing traditional and
digital marketing? Which marketing tools are the most used ones in practice and
which are preferred by real life companies? Is digital marketing a contemporary
version of traditional marketing and, are the two kinds of marketing independent
of, or complementary to each other?

Aim:
The aim of this study is to:

Compare traditional marketing with digital marketing and show the

differences in characteristics between them

Defining:
Marketing is considered to be a collective process where individuals or groups can
exchange goods and services based on their needs and wants. Philip Kotler (2003)
defines marketing as, the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing,
promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange that
satisfies individual and organisational objectives.

The theory of marketing mix has been analysed and rewritten many times by many
authors but, it was Neil Borden, who presented the content of this process as a
marketing mix for the first time in 1953. Kotler himself considers marketing mix as a
mixture of different tools or instruments for pursuing a marketing plan.
Traditional Marketing: this is a process of promoting through well known and
established channels like Billboards, Print Media, TV commercials, Radio
jingles, Door-2-Door marketing, Banner Adverts, Street promos, Mobile
Adverts, etc. The objective here is to attract the attention of your target
customers, discover and satisfy their wants and needs.
Digital Marketing: digital marketing is a new tool that companies can use to reach
their customers. It can be seen as traditional marketing done online, as the
basic premise remain the same engaging the customers and responding to
their concerns. It is defined as the application of the internet and related digital
technologies to achieve marketing objectives and support the modern
marketing concept.

Clarifying the Differences:

Traditional marketing approach is about utilising channels like display ads,

billboards, banner ads, TV commercials, print media advertising,
brochures and radio jingles. Digital marketing in itself is about promoting a
brand/company through the Internet, utilising channels like Websites,
Blogs, Google Adwords, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube videos, Pinterest, etc.
This is generally referred to as online marketing or maintaining social
networking presence.

While traditional marketing targets and finds specific customers, based on

demographics, digital marketing puts companies out in the open, allowing
people to find them

Digital marketing has a far reaching ability in todays business world when
compared to traditional marketing. And not just that, the speed with which
customers can be reached digitally is nothing like the traditional.

One of the limitations of digital marketing is that, unlike the traditional

marketing where adverts are carried out on the pages of a newspaper,
through TV commercials, radio jingles, billboards and street displays,
which are accessible to, and easily understood by large number of people;
the potential customers must have access to internet and be familiar with
the channels used to target them. Where there is no internet access or
knowledge of digital channels, then the advert is wasted.

One of the limitations of traditional marketing is the inability to track and

monitor your campaign performance. Digital marketing gives you the ability
to monitor responses and see how your campaign is doing and measure
its effects. You can easily find out how many people visit your website on a
regular basis; the demography and all.

Avoiding the very high cost of acquiring a small space in a local

newspaper or little air-time in one of the local radio and television stations
which is associated with traditional marketing, digital marketing offers you
the ability to create multiple campaigns at the same time, on a budget that
suits you, targeting different countries, interest groups, ages and genders.
You equally have the ability to evaluate and refine your campaigns as
much and as often as you find needful at no extra costs.

Although both varieties allow for personal interaction with target

audiences, some channels of traditional marketing like street marketing,
offers the chance of having personal interaction with your potential
customers and having a direct and real time feedback which is extremely
valuable when you are testing ground for a new product.

When it comes to measuring and increasing ROI (Return on Investment),

digital marketing stands out as your better choice. The various analytical
platforms available online makes it easier as against traditional marketing

where you have to rely on potential customers being interested in your

product and actually taking an action.

Conclusion:
Based on the above, it will be wrong to generalise and advice to choose one over the
other, as both have their merits and demerits. But, depending on your companys
goals, products, targets audience and budget, the right choice of marketing tool can
be made. Strategies and Budgets should be fine-tuned and streamlined based on
your companys sector and objective.
And, in stressing further, it will be good to say that the best marketing plan would be
the one that can integrate both tools a plan that can locate the areas of
consistency between the two approaches and try to harness them towards achieving
the companys goals; especially where objectives are the same

Reference:
Chaffey, Dave et al (2000): Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and
Practice, Pearson Education Ltd.,
Hoffman, Donna L; Novak, Thomas P (1999): Marketing in Hypermedia ComputerMediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations; Working Paper No.1 (Revised)
Kotler, Philip (2003): Marketing Management; 11th Edition, Prentice Hall,
Newman, Daniel (Nov. 2014): Understanding the Channels: An Overview of Social,
Mobile, Digital and Traditional Marketing for B2B; Forbes Magazine accessed
online on 06 July, 2015 via http://www.forbes.com
Shima, Alfa; Varfan, Mona (2008): Traditional Marketing vs. Internet Marketing: A
Comparison; Thesis submitted for a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration in
Malardalen University, Sweden.

Van Waterschoot, Walter; Van den Bulte, Christopher (1992): The 4Ps classification
of marketing mix revisited; Journal of Marketing