How Digital Marketing Mirrors Traditional Marketing

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Quality Content Is Better than Frequent Content

Too many businesses are struggling to keep up with an unrealistic posting schedule in an attempt to stick with what some experts have advised to a general business audience. As a result, content is being thrown together and widely distributed without strategic thought, without researching what is already out there, and even copying competitors in an effort to compete by getting out their version. Repetition abounds everywhere on the Internet, and it is overwhelming consumers, making it harder for them to know which brands to trust and where some of this information originated.

If you can't produce quality content everyday due to business commitments, then post 2-3 times a week or even once a week. You've heard the old saying that "less is more", well it is true where quality is concerned. Consumers would prefer 1-2 meaningful articles than 5-7 articles of the same old thing they can find anywhere with a quick Google search. This doesn't mean that some of your content won't be somewhat repetitious. There isn't a topic out there that someone hasn't written about, but you can write about the ones that are the least over-saturated and put a new spin on it.

Digital Marketing Levels the Playing Field for Small Businesses...Or Does it?

Some consider digital marketing to be in its infancy, but there are several businesses that have been doing this for a while and their experience is starting to change the way the Internet game is played. They have learned how to maximize paid advertising on the Web and they are making the most out of their investment and resources. This is where digital marketing is starting to mirror a segment of traditional marketing (to some extent).

Even though PPC (pay per click) ads and other ads are more affordable than traditional marketing ads, the bottom line boils down to this--big businesses can always afford to invest more money and resources, and therefore, are starting to monopolize the high traffic sites and paid search ranking spots that the small businesses can no longer afford. The same is true of digital marketers who are experts in their field and small businesses can't afford them. In fact, some of the larger companies have hired employees, consultants, contractors and freelancers that concentrate on paid digital advertising all day, every day. As with traditional marketing, most small businesses and nonprofits cannot afford to do this and are forced to hire a few select individuals who must divide their time up across multiple areas in digital marketing.

This is why SEO (search engine optimization) and SMM (social media marketing) has become so huge. If small and medium sized businesses can't afford to pay their way to reach consumers, they have to be clever and use "outside the box" approaches. Some small businesses have been very successful at the approaches they have chosen, but as more and more small businesses turn to digital marketing and big businesses flex their money muscles, some digital market segments are in danger of becoming over-saturated.

Paid SSM Hurts Medium & Small Businesses

Some studies have shown a 44% decrease in the reach of Facebook pages. Back in 2012, Facebook posted that brand pages only reach about 16% of their fans through organic posts, unless you pay to sponsor posts. Today, that percentage is even less. Other social media sites are following similar models for paid advertising. Like traditional marketing, this model no longer levels the playing field for small to medium sized businesses.

Unrealistic Expectations

For more Digital Marketing tips, visit Digital Altitude.