How can you choose between digital and traditional media for advertising?

Understand the limitations and benefits of both traditional and digital media. If a business is local (like a restaurant) traditional media outlets (radio, television) can be utilized with success, but that local biz can also take advantage of social media outlets and create engaging content. If a company is digitally native, then digital over traditional, but this doesn't hold true for a person creating a blog to cover eating establishments in their city. In this instance creating an old school flyer with a QR code will create the best of both worlds especially if the blog has done a great review of a local establishment and that business is interested in highlighting the review. There is no set path. A/B testing is needed at all times.

I believe that traditional media still plays an important and key role. The key is looking for ways to ensure that it is integrated as much as possible. While digital does give us much more insight and detail into 'users' behavior TV, radio, print, outdoor, and direct mail which are integrated well with digital will still provide fantastic insights.

Digital media is like the flashy new kid on the block, constantly plugged in and ready to engage with your audience. It's like having a Swiss army knife of marketing tools at your disposal, with analytics that make Sherlock Holmes jealous. Traditional media, on the other hand, is the wise old sage who's been around forever. It's like the trusty family recipe passed down through generations – you know it's reliable and can still whip up a tasty dish. But here's the punchline: it's like choosing between a smartphone and a vintage record player in today's marketing world. Why not have both? Blend the digital dazzle with the classic charm for a marketing mix that's music to your customers' ears!

Both media have a vital role in the public that uses them, which is why the target to be exposed to has to be extremely clear. Considering that today digital media have more reach due to its easy availability to its niche/users, integration with the still-relevant traditional media outlets can always be a great tool that has to be considered into the strategy.

Additionally, digital media helps to understand the thinking and users' behavior through the user journey online. It is beneficial to measure and monitor the funnel of the users through the pipeline until the campaign or action goal, in order to be able to notice which specific step of the journey is most fragile. That could help marketers or specialists to do little changes in order to improve or test the funnel step. What I've noticed is that sometimes little to no expenses such as minor changes in the funnel step could improve results immensely helping to achieve the desired goal.

Digital media is like a budget-friendly unicorn in the marketing realm. It's cost-effective magic that lets you adjust your spells (budget) in real-time for maximum enchantment (ROI). But wait, there's more! It's also like having X-ray vision for your campaigns. You can see who's looking at your ads, clicking them, and turning into loyal minions (customers). And the pièce de résistance? It's like hosting a virtual circus where your audience watches the show and joins in as clowns, acrobats, and fire-breathers. Your brand becomes the ringmaster, and the crowd can't get enough. In short, digital media isn't just marketing; it's a whimsical, spellbinding, and downright absurd adventure for your brand. ??????

There are challenges to consider carefully when engaging digital media marketing: over saturation; ad fatigue; privacy concerns; accurate data analysis; inaccurate targeting; diminishing attention spans; constant digital evolution; and heavy platform dependency. But with thoughtful strategies to address these issues, digital marketing still has the potential to reach further and wider relevant audiences than not.

Digital media can be like trying to stand out at a noisy party – crowded and competitive. It's also like solving a complex puzzle with various scattered pieces, and the risk of annoying your audience is ever-present due to ad fatigue, ad blockers, and privacy rules. While digital media offers tremendous opportunities, it comes with hurdles that can make your marketing journey a bit like navigating an obstacle course.

The biggest benefits are scale and impact. Traditional broadcast media, along with OOH, can provide both scale and impact. And don't forget about print, where you can target people based on their interests and lifestyles. If your strategic research indicates that the target audience consumes print, then identify their lifestyle and interests. There are still viable print vehicles that can be effective at building awareness in a targeted manner. For example, if your audience likes to golf, and is over 45 years old, there's a good chance golf magazines are worth consideration! Magazines also have a lot of information about their readers. Do your homework to find the right titles!

Traditional media also still holds a powerful share of earned media outlets. Earned media is a mention of a product, service, or campaign that you haven’t paid to place. An effective public relations campaign can target traditional print, television, and radio news outlets, which are often still viewed as unbiased third parties. Favorable earned media mentions are harder to get, but can be exponentially more valuable than paid media.

Traditional media has drawbacks, starting with the upfront cost – it's like buying a luxury car. Unlike digital campaigns, once your ads are out, they're hard to change. You also have less control over tracking and rely on estimates. Amid the noise, it's like conversing at a crowded party where people often tune out. Ad skipping and avoidance can further reduce your impact. In a nutshell, while a veteran, traditional media comes with fixed costs, limited flexibility, and less control compared to the digital advertising playground. In the era of split-testing useless small details, checking on your ad spend and having no control over anything in the marketing department, losing even more power is... meh.

In addition to the out-of-pocket cost, lack of timely flexibility, and unique messaging considerations, the difficulty in tracking is the biggest drawback. Careful understanding of your target audience's media consumption is the first priority when determining the media mix. If research indicates that the audience consumes traditional media, and if it matches your objectives (best for awareness), then proceed knowing that it will be very difficult to measure. Brand impact studies can be done, but they are very expensive. It's critical to understand the objectives of the advertising, the audience media consumption, and how it will be measured.

It's important to note that classifying mediums as 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' shouldn't distract marketers and lead to the creation of silos within the marketing team. While this does not undermine the need for digital specialists, you just need to define roles appropriately to integrate marketing communication efforts. At the end of the day, it's important to remember that the only medium that matters is what your target audience consumes.

The choice comes down to 3 factors.. 1. The product 2. The story you want to communicate 3. The context (medium/format/message) which will make the most impact on consumers What is sometimes missed is that certain combinations of these three factors just don’t work on certain media. TV, Print, OOH, Cinema etc just cannot be ignored for the emotions they can elicit and what that can do for memory structures over the long term. And for all its clutter and ephemerality, sometimes digital just helps you cut right to the point and in some cases a direct sale which traditional media just cannot compete with. So the choice needs to be made accordingly.

To me both can still go together especially in a society where there's no much digital presence. In a third world societies traditional advertising is still the order of the day. Also if digitalisation fails we fall back to the tradition.

People do not live in the matrix, they are exposed to real life all the time. A car ride, a walk, radio, the mall, etc. The same way you look into the digital "journey" of your ICP, look at their real life journey. You do have enough info to figure what they do outside the internet, and many times, traditional marketing can be cheaper than digital campaigns. Create a jingle for your brand. Have a billboard done Do an activation at a mall Create a pop-up store on a busy street. All of these can be easily combined and provide an endless source of content for your digital approach. So instead of creating a "good looking" Canva post for your SoMe, get out on the street, and record people having fun and enjoying what you are selling!!