What is hybrid marketing — and why should your business consider it?

5 min readNov 7, 2022

Changing times bring new ways for brands to engage with their customers, and therefore, methods also change. But some methods shouldn’t change and Hybrid marketing is here to make it clear.

How many times were you positively surprised by the timeless working solutions presented to you by your grandparents? Even without a proper scientific explanation — other than “we’ve been doing this like this for centuries” — the truth is that many old techniques still work for a reason. And shouldn’t be ignored just because there are new ways of doing things.

That’s what we are talking about when we talk about Hybrid Marketing. It can be seen as the result of this evolutionary process — it’s the sweet spot where experience and tradition meets technology advancements and new business practices.

So what exactly is hybrid marketing? It can be explained by the combination of traditional marketing methods with new ones. You may also have heard it as omni-channel marketing or multi-channel marketing.

Recently, marketeers using this approach consider it more useful and efficient. It’s undeniable that brands have to keep growing using the latest marketing developments and taking advantage of new practices. But it’s also true that old strategies don’t always get outdated.

There’s the possibility to create fully integrated marketing campaigns using both approaches, as long as your business is able to identify where your audience interacts with the brand.

Traditional marketing vs Digital marketing

Traditional marketing includes methods that don’t need the use of the internet. We are used to it for a long time, but some of these methods are less and less used nowadays, such as flyers, outdoors, promotional cards or even some formats of merchandising.

On the other hand, Digital marketing methods refer to all the marketing strategies being developed online on various electronic devices.

Combining these two is a way to more efficiently reach different audiences, such as older vs. younger customers or female vs. male customers — based on the platforms you choose. For example, you can target older buyers with direct mail and younger buyers with social media.

But why continue to use traditional methods if they are less popular? Because some of them still have a lot of value, mostly when combined with the new digital methods. When one can get a happy marriage between both, real value is added to the communication.

Are brands investing in hybrid marketing?

According to Bannerflow’s The State of In-housing 2021 report, 30% of brands are now using a hybrid system for their marketing strategy. Traditional methods are only adopted by 3% more. With full digital competency being the model 36% of brands choose.

Brands found they also benefit from a hybrid marketing model by harnessing niche expertise (19%) and new ideas (17%). But they often can’t do it alone and that’s why businesses are asking specialist partners for help in order to improve:

Capacity (22%)
Execution (22%)
Strategy (20%)

Benefits of hybrid marketing

The objective is the same as in every other marketing strategy: bring the best customer experience possible. By joining both marketing methods, promotion gets more agile and adaptable to the audience, turning into a good perception of the brand by users. But this isn’t the only advantage. Here are some more:

More audience insights

Through hybrid marketing, you can track the customer’s journey across various touchpoints (both online and offline), from the first contact until the purchase. By having these insights, you discover the type of messaging, channels, or offers that convert your target, which translates into more sales for future campaigns.

2. Improvement in consumer experience

Nowadays, with the variety of channels that are out there, your target may be looking for information, interacting, and buying across different channels. Thus, regardless of the touchpoint being used, the experience is continuous, connects smoothly after each contact, and should be improved to take the customer towards the end of the funnel.

3. Higher conversion

Allowing consumers to access your products through a hybrid concept over a single method can help divide the campaign’s focus. If you expand the promotion of your products to a wider audience, it leads to more sales and conversions.

4. Greater brand visibility

Since you rely on several channels, and there’s a good chance of connecting with your brand across them all, more customers will notice your business, engage, and talk about your products / services to others. Hybrid marketing is the key to placing you in the channels and timings that are more favorable for your customers. As a result, revenue and brand awareness are both improved.

5. Cost-effective

In the beginning, you may think developing a hybrid marketing strategy is expensive. You need time and resources to have the right tools and approach to collect your audience data, analyze it, and create an effective consistent marketing message across all channels. However, when it is correctly done, the overall profit makes up for the investment.

Define your metrics and keep your data analysis up to date to make informed decisions and invest the right amount on the correct channels, targeting strategies, and marketing campaigns.

Designing your hybrid marketing plan

As a starting point for any marketing strategy, including a hybrid marketing one, you should begin by asking these questions:

Having the answers to these questions, you must identify the journey and channels where there’s more possibility to connect with your target audience and reach your goals.

Ready to take your brand to success?

We live in a world where people use dozens of platforms to make connections both in-person and online. If you want to be successful, it’s essential to leverage those opportunities to promote your brand, products, and services.

To every plan, that has to be a consistent strategy, regardless of the channels where your business is at. And you have to find where your audience is in order to achieve the results you’re looking for.

As the marketing sector evolves, hybrid marketing, which has been proven very efficient when promoting a brand, will definitely continue to be the main approach. If you want your company to remain competitive, start searching how to turn your marketing strategy hybrid, implement it, and see the results!

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