Lauren Thurman
By: Lauren Thurman – Bayshore Solutions Digital Marketing Team
Over the last 15 years, the term “digital marketing” has hit the ground running; and with that comes a multitude of terms such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media platforms, and additional tactics. With all of the current technology and ways to reach a customer or client, we often forget that our marketing efforts should work together instead of compete with each other.
So how can all of the digital marketing tactics work directly with traditional advertising – radio and TV commercials, newspaper ads and direct mail – to create a successful advertising and marketing plan?
It’s Not an “Or” Situation
Don’t try to make a decision whether to invest in digital or traditional advertising. The best campaigns have a consistent message spread across all platforms. For example, if a company is running an “It’s the Hottest Sale” campaign, the same logo, font, and offers should be on both digital and traditional marketing messages. Doing this reinforces the message to the client on your website after seeing it on TV, in the newspaper, or hearing it on the radio. Your one most powerful message speaks to them at all the points they come in contact with your brand instead of distracting them with mixed themes and messaging.
Public Relations and Link Building Work Together
A brilliant man once said to me, “Marketers love stories.” By creating a story around your company and using a savvy communications strategy, the community and/or industry will start talking. More than likely, a story will appear in the local news media, or there will be a live interview broadcasted. Without thinking about it, you’ve automatically helped the digital side of marketing. With that interview or story, there’s probably a link from that news channel’s website to yours. In the digital marketing world, we call that a backlink. The more high-quality, authoritative backlinks your site has the more credible it will be viewed in a search engine’s eyes. This means your site will rank higher on the search engine results pages, thus letting your prospective customers more easily find your page.
Social Media Does Help
Embracing social media profiles and advertising to your Facebook fans and #Twitter followers is a great way to combine digital and traditional efforts. Incentives such as free shipping, 40 percent off one day only, or an “Enter to Win” game not only lures customers to your website, but it’s also a very cost-efficient way of gaining leads and sales, as well as followers or fans. Giving the visitors reason to click on the offer, benefits not only the prospective customer, but the company with increased visits.
Digital can Direct Word of Mouth Advertising
The other night I was out to dinner with a group of friends and we started talking about what restaurant we should dine at the following week. One friend suggested a restaurant that was brand new in town that the rest of us had never heard of. What did we do? Automatically, we searched the internet for it, went to their website, looked at the menu, and got a feel for the restaurant. After reading a few online reviews and looking at the menu from our phones, the restaurant had earned our business. By having clients enjoy themselves with your business’s digital showroom, they will spread the word to their friends and social media platforms; which in turn increases the percentage of new visits to your website and possible conversions.
Digital and traditional marketing channels ultimately work well together creating not only a brand image, but an enticing sales invitation to your prospective and current customers. Bayshore Solutions can suggest the best way for you to cost-effectively allocate your “marketing pot” between digital and traditional marketing efforts and realize measurable results. Contact us on how to create a successful marketing plan.
Lauren Thurman is a Digital Marketing team member at Bayshore Solutions—a Tampa Web Design, Web Development, and Internet Marketing Company.