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Simply put, it’s complicated. But for starters, in order for a campaign to be the most successful, and reach the majority of the target audiences, you need to use both traditional and digital media.

Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing typically includes broadcast (radio and TV/cable), print (newspapers, magazines, collateral materials, etc.), and outdoor (billboards, banners, etc.). Traditional marketing has the ability to reach a wide range of people, including some that may not be considered a prime target, but an important fringe market and therefore allows you to reach additional prospects.

Traditional marketing can be considered a shotgun approach to marketing, in its ability to reach a primary target and also others that may have interest.

Digital Marketing
Digital marketing includes social media and online ads that are delivered to your computer or mobile device, and is more of a rifle approach with the ability to reach a well-defined target audience on a somewhat one-on-one basis.

Digital provides an interactive way of reaching a target audience vs. the traditional marketing’s one-way conversation. Digital also allows for measurement of effectiveness.

Forbes Magazine recently reported that more brands are shifting their advertising spend to digital, which is a trend that is expected to continue, and one in which helps combat John Wanamaker’s saying years ago, which was something along the lines of – “only half of my advertising works, I just wish I knew which half.”

Determining Factors
Here are some of the basic factors when trying to determine how much traditional and digital marketing one should use:

• If you are currently using traditional marketing and it is effective, don’t fix it. But if you are of the opinion that it can be improved, then it’s a great time to introduce digital to the mix. Most advertisers do not increase their budgets to include digital marketing. They simply reduce part of the traditional spend, which makes it important to have an understanding of where one is getting the most bang for their advertising buck.

• If you are a new business or introducing a new product or service, it will be important to gauge the success of your initial marketing efforts, which is easily obtained using digital advertising. Checking the results of such a campaign will also allow you to continually tweak your message in real time, to achieve a more responsive promotion.
• How well is your target audience defined? Digital is good to use when there is a target specific, well-defined audience, whereas traditional is the best at reaching the masses.

• Your target audience’s demographics are a major key. If the audience is young, millennials and younger, then you will need to include more digital in the percentage mix. This audience is reliant on obtaining information through digital means. If the audience is older, say baby boomer and older, traditional marketing typically is effective, but digital is also very important.

• If you are marketing business to business, then one needs to survey the range of media choices that are offered. If the target audience is closely affiliated with a trade organization, then trade periodicals, exhibits, and website efforts are very important.

• Regional target audiences vs. national and global audiences are also factors when deciding how much of traditional vs. digital marketing to use. There is a plethora of national/global marketing options to consider. Traditional marketing can be quite costly, in comparison to digital alternatives for such large audiences. On the other hand, a regional audience at times can be reached quite economically using more traditional media methods.

• Your budget is also a determining factor. Taking into account the above factors will help you decide if more traditional marketing is needed, or digital.

As noted, determining the right mix of traditional and digital marketing is rather complicated. Give us a call at 856.327.4141 and let us help you wade through the waters of traditional and new media advertising.