Now and then I sit back and smirk whilst admiring those trends which have faded before their time, or as Elton puts it, ‘like a candle in the wind’. High waisted (mom-jeans) paired with a cropped T and round sunnies… what? That’s not cool!? Correction, it’s hip! The trick is knowing when to rock it and when to drop it. Suffice to say it’s safe to drop the legwarmers.
Building a comprehensive marketing campaign is no longer a tried and tested formula (Radio + TV + magazine ≠ hitting the lotto). If you skip the digital platform you may as well divide buy 0. It’s imperative to take note of the differences between traditional media and digital media in order to exploit them both to benefit your campaign.
| Traditional | Digital |
| Speaks at you | Speaks with you |
| One way flow of information | Two way flow of information |
| Passive | Interactive |
| Controlled by the advertiser | Control lies with the consumer |
| Once it has been published or aired | Can continually be improved in order |
| Constrained by publishing schedule | Schedules can be changed easily |
| Big budgets are required in order to | Smaller budgets can easily form |
| Results are very difficult to | Results are measurable |
The internet has been the catalyst in an extensive shift in the consumer-company relationship; the consumer is now in control, with the internet facilitating this interaction. They no longer have to sit through the same mind numbing washing powder TV ads over and over, instead should the mood strike them they can just Google, ‘What’s the best washing powder?’,. The consumer can now even start a conversation on a blog post about washing powder with like-minded people who might be considering the environmental consequences of using washing powder altogether.
The TV, radio and magazines broadcast a message not only to you, but to everyone in the vicinity, whether you care or not. The problem is that we have become immune to the continual bombardment of messages which hold no meaning or value to us. Society no longer sits back and passively receives whatever may come towards it. Very few adverts speak directly to us.
Online marketing has taken the reigns. Online you create a world tailored to you, your browser knows who you are and what is relevant to you, allowing the right kind of advertising to be directed towards you whilst also giving you the opportunity to respond. That’s the key, creating a two way dialogue between the consumer and the advertiser, thus ultimately holding the large corporations accountable for often unscrupulous actions and rewarding others for their great products, ethical practices or great customer care.
The internet is a game changer but that’s not to say an award winning TV ad is a waste of money. The trick now is to encourage the consumer to take cues from the traditional media and seek further information online.
The combination of traditional marketing and online marketing has allowed the rise of what is often termed guerrilla advertising. Some traditional advertising campaigns have become more vague and directed towards more specific niche markets, this approach then allows those who are actually interested to engage online in order to enter a conversation which ultimately yields better results for the advertiser.
The method has changed but the end goal is still the same, the client will keep selling and the consumer will keep consuming, you just have to ask yourself whether or not they are actually engaging?
