Digital Marketing vs Traditional Marketing: Which Produces Better ROI?
The definition of digital marketing is a process in which organizations and existing or potential customers use the internet to create value and products as well as interchange them (Visser et al., 2018). Digital marketing is becoming increasingly important. According to Deloitte Chief Marketing (CMO) Survey, digital marketing spending is expected to increase by almost 15% by the end of 2021, while traditional advertising will slightly decrease (Deloitte). Additionally, the survey highlights that digital marketing has become a pillar for companies’ success during this pandemic year. Across all sectors, the contribution of digital marketing to the companies’ performance increased on average by 33% in 2020, marketers reported.
Apparently, digital marketing produces better ROI. It has little interaction because traditional marketing is a one-way street where a business is able to broadcast or provide information to its target audience about its product or service. It has no control over timing, traditional marketing is dependent on promotional methods that once executed cannot be updated. Also, it got a higher cost. The recurring costs in traditional marketing can prove to be a huge investment that may or may not give a good return. In addition, it cannot be easily updated, it takes a lot of effort to tweak. Finally, the poor campaign measurement. When executing a traditional marketing strategy, it’s essential to know how effective it is to ensure you’re not investing in the wrong direction. However, for digital marketing, customers’ demand for information is more easily and simply met thanks to the internet. The boundary is getting smaller and more accessible. The internet allows for the provision of tailor-made information. It’s more personalized. The effects of marketing communication on the internet can be easily measured. And a high level of interactivity with customers is possible. Also, digital marketing can be more efficient than traditional marketing. For example, it is possible to share large quantities of information with potential customers at a low cost. The marketing budget can be more purposefully assigned due to the fact that the effects of marketing communications are more easily measurable. The reasons that digital marketing will replace traditional marketing practices in the near future are the higher level of customer engagement, ease of measuring results, bigger audience range, and less expensive and more effective.
1. Higher Level of Customer Engagement
Traditional marketing doesn’t allow direct interaction with customers, whereas digital marketing offers a higher level of engagement and interaction. Whether it is through social media comments or email messages. Your target audience is instantly connected with you through various digital marketing channels. Your brand can also easily build better and long-lasting relationships with customers by interacting with them via video, surveys or webinars. Your business performs better when it runs in conjunction with the requirements of your customers. And digital marketing lets you do that as you can engage with customers and solve their issues/problems without wasting time.
2. Ease of Measuring Results
When you give away brochures, distribute fliers or advertise in magazines, you don’t know how far your marketing is going to be successful. You may be headed in the wrong direction, but there’s no way to tell. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing lets you measure results. It allows you to play a clear-sighted marketing game, rather than a blind one. You have access to a ton a information about your prospects and customers to help you understand where you are going. Right from how many people are visiting/leaving your website to what percentage of them are converting. Imagine the level of tweaking/testing you can do with digital marketing, which is literally absent in traditional marketing.
3. Bigger Audience Range
Traditional marketing is limited in many ways. But one of the biggest restrictions that comes with it is the inability to go beyond a regional or local audience. Your business may not be geographically bound, so why limit your reach? Using digital marketing, you can create a highly customized campaign and widen your reach to different cities or even different countries.
4. Less Expensive & More Effective
When it comes to spending money on marketing, your return on investment decides whether your campaign was successful or not. There is no surprise that digital marketing fetches you a better ROI because it’s cheaper than traditional marketing/advertising in more than one way.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is a good way to advertise a small business. It is good for businesses that have already tried traditional marketing before and haven’t seen the rapid growth results they want. There is little risk and great reward. That’s not a combo you see often in the business world.
