THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL AND DIGITAL MARKETING.
Hello guys, I think it’s time to see these two giants in black and white. We need to create a clear description of these two marketing methods. I also want to be clear that each of these marketing methods have many components in them so they are really big topics that can’t be explained fully in one article by trust me am going to do my best to make them clear to all of us in a simple article. Ok let’s dive into this, I will am going to explain the different aspects of these two forms of marketing. Like
1. Technology used.
2. Effectiveness
3. Cost
4. How fast new circulates.
5. Audience
6. Revenue etc.
Before digital technology traditional marketing was the only form of marketing and this has just shifted a little in Uganda when the country adopted the digital methods due to the introduction of the internet and computers. By let’s start by explaining the different components in the traditional methods of marketing, and these include;
1. TVs
2. Radio
3. Magazines
4. Billboards etc.
I think most of us are familiar with these kinds of advertising, I believe they have out lived there purpose and usefulness, though some are still very strong and useful in our setting (Uganda). OK it’s true that some are very effective and should still be used for some years to come like Radio. Uganda is mostly a rural country so most of the people still listen to radio (80%) and it’s where they get most of the information so this renders Radio a very big advertising tool in Uganda. For TV and billboards I don’t think so. These have to go, they are the biggest reason why I have written this article. See TV and billboards have been badly damaged by digitizing.
TV is expensive to purchase in Uganda but that should not be an issue if town people had them which it is, but digitizing has changed the way people watch TV. People now watch shows they need only, and they watch them as they use their phones and some even skip ads on TV making it ineffective advertising platform. If TV remains the same way even the current few viewers are going to leave so that field needs reinventing but I think we can let it go cause we have lot of cheaper effective user friendly replacements like YouTube and Netflix to mention a few. The viewing experience changed and TV stayed in the old way people want to see something any time anyway and so tired of the boring programming and advertising 10-15 minutes of viewing.
The billboards lost their purpose when people got more smart phones, I want to paint a picture to you guys, have you been a taxis lately and got stopped y a traffic light. That round about that has like 4 billboards. Next time try to look around in the car and see what most people will be doing. I promise that most people in traffic jam look down because they are all looking down on their phones. Even the driver but still look out of the car and look and the people walking around. It’s still the same posture. People in the 21ts century people walk looking down on their phones. So tell me the effective of the big billboards today. I believe that some might still be effective to some advertisers not to promote anything in particular but they have now become gestures to make a statement that they still exist as a company and we can still afford billboards. So any new company that is just starting should not use this type of marketing because its very expensive and not effective in anyway so I think that should go.
Lastly let me talk about Newspapers, OK see the world has shifted you see in a country when people don’t read a lot like Uganda I don’t know how people still use these tools. Let me explain newspapers are not easy to make, they are very expensive to run. You need paper, ink and articles from writers and need to transport them and marketing the paper its self and all of this costs a lot. In this new age were we need first effective and reliable marketing all the types are don’t qualify?
This is what they have in common, the methods are very expansive to use making them un reliable, all the methods are very limited by audience because they can’t reach more than 70,000 people in Uganda that’s is a very small audience. All methods are still limited by time like TV, Radio and the rest. No the final blow is that all these methods one can’t measure the effectiveness of an advert. I was in a conference where we had big names in the marketing world but those in traditional marketing told us that if they we to measure how effective an advert was they had to invest in a lot of money to get feedback from people and they think that project would cost more than the advert its self. To tell you all the truth all these methods had their time but now when customers want to know how effective their advert was, these methods don’t fit the bill.
But there is a method that truly addresses these bottlenecks, and you guested it, its digital marketing and to answer the question of difference let me talk about the characteristics of this method.
1. Technology used.
2. Effectiveness
3. Cost
4. How fast new circulates.
5. Audience
6. Revenue etc.
The technology used in digital marketing is a computer or smart phone making very easy to use. All one needs is the knowledge and skills to produce effective and good adverts. With digital all of adverts effectiveness can be measured in real time as they run. Even adjustments can be made as the ad run and feedback can be seen in real time. No need to hire someone one to see how effective your ad performed. All of the advert data is seen in real time and actions are take right away. This method has proven to be the cheapest in all marketing methods as 1$ dollar can help you advertise to over 1000 people and more.
Making it the fastest mean of adverting because you can run an advert in the whole Uganda from the comfort of your home at once with no need of transportation costs, digital marketing has an audience targeting tool that helps you get the right audience by demographics, age, income, hobbies and more to help you reach the right people other methods just promise people will see your advert. And mostly you can know how the advert is working and even see the conversions depending on what your intention was and this again is seen in real time so results are see maybe by people buying your goods and services or subscribing or sharing your content etc.
Other methods according to Uganda are still good but they are dying out, for a wise business man I think that since most of the people on the digital platforms are 18-35 years of age are not all ready to consume your products. Use the digital methods to reach them and get them hooked on your company so that when the time is right they already have your company in mind otherwise in t5 years from now companies that have not embraced technology / digital marketing will be closing down. Every day traditional marketing is shrinking so one needs to adopt to new ways fast. You may not makes sales today on digital but you will make huge ones tomorrow.
I want all of us to think of the companies that have used these methods and grew big like Google, Amazon, EBay and Facebook etc. so think hope I have tried to break it down and you all got the difference, to all business owners contact me or my company to see how we get you up to speed on the digital world and prepare you for the big online market.
Kaweesi Ahmed
CEO
Startboom Digital.