Traditional vs. Digital

 Over the course of my career in the world of marketing and advertising, I have had many clients adamantly tell me that they were moving to "THE Internet" as traditional channels (newspaper, broadcast, radio, etc.) were far too expensive.  This black and white thinking has created the idea that social media ("the internet") is a better means to building brand awareness and creating a lasting impression than a more tangible channel that can stimulate the senses. What these individuals are trying to say is: "we have been royally screwed by traditional channels that charge a ton of money, have limited to no means of measuring results and time after time have not given me a return on the investment"...(and let's be honest, it's quite a substantial investment). I get it! the fact that a full page in a prime position of a print publication such as the New York Times used to cost as much as $20,000 for one day, is a huge cost for any company for one shot. Radio and Television are much the same as their costs for prime air time is costly and your audience are even more difficult to engage as they just want to enjoy their programming. Thus the invention of PVR, Sirius Satellite Radio, etc. We want to consume the information and our patience is getting shorter with being interrupted for the sake of hearing the next pitch. 

Yet, in the digital realm, though it provides an all access pass to your audience at an affordable price point, we are still confronted with the same issue of capturing the user's attention. We have all seen the ads on Facebook that populate our feed as we scroll down our list of posts. Instead of your friend Jenny's post of her trip to Mexico, an advertisement from XYZ Photography comes up and interrupts you because your Facebook status shows you were recently engaged, so of course you need a photographer! You'll need a florist too, and suddenly you are bombarded with most posts on your feed being behaviorally targeted ads from various vendors in the wedding industry. After about a week of seeing these ads, you stop actually looking at them, instead you read around them (banner blindness so to speak). That's what I did after becoming engaged to my now husband -  and now that I have updated my status to "married| I no longer get fed that hefty volume of ads...I guess marriage makes me thrifty and not a good target audience. ;-)

Gone are the days of spray and pray. Now, marketers everywhere are scouting out effective ways to interrupt the audience using a variety of channels. Here is what that could look like...

Dan wakes up in the morning. He walks out to his door, grabs the paper on his step and opens it to the first section where he will read the local news while eating his breakfast. At the bottom of the page he is interrupted by an advertisement of his local grocery store - they are opening a new location and tonight is their grand opening. He glances it over with some interest and heads up to get dressed and commute to work. On his drive to work he listens to the radio where the same grocery store announces in a 30 second slot that their grand opening is that evening and will feature a variety of samples and sale items to take advantage of. During the work day, Dan checks his email and notices that the grocery store is having a grand opening and as a previous customer, he is personally invited to come out and can enjoy a free coffee while he shops.

Finally, on his way home Dan's wife calls. She needs Dan to pick up some food items for dinner on his way home and mentioned that she received a direct mail piece from the new store location and that she also saw a t.v. commercial advertising that they were going to have a large sale on. So Dan, after going through his day and having this grocery store make contact with him through multiple touch points, headed to the grocery store because they became top of mind and captured his attention in different ways using each channel. This truly is the most ideal way of working with a marketing mix.

So the next time you think Traditional vs. Digital, consider how your audience is touched by your message and what they are to do with each message when they come in contact with it. It is never black and white, the shades of grey influence just as much if not more.