As a business owner, marketing is one of the most valuable and expensive tools that can be utilized to help grow a business. Marketing contains many different branches and opportunities, from newspaper articles to street advertisements to television commercials.
These all differ in the people they reach, how they market to them, and in price.
With the advent and consumerism of the Internet, a new field has evolved, and it has changed the scope of marketing. From marketing a television commercial that reaches millions of people to only reaching a few thousand, how marketing is produced and consumed has dramatically shifted. It has thus created a problem for business owners- where should my money go- into traditional marketing or into new age marketing?
The answer to this question is dependent on the business and their customers. If the product is generic, and can work for many different people or is in need by many different customer profiles, then traditional marketing might work best for the company. However, if the product is specific and narrowed down to a very definitive type of customer, for example, wealthy, middle aged, woman who is healthy and interested in beauty products and care- this would require a more direct marketing plan to be effective.
Here are some details and pros and cons on each of these marketing paths:
Traditional:
This includes newspapers, television, radio announcements, or any other type of media that broadcasts to large numbers of people. Here, the quantity of viewers outweighs the specificity of the ad, because the product can appeal to most people.
Pros:
-Reaches the largest audience it can
-Focus is on the product
-Can be affordable enough to fit the business’ marketing budget
Cons:
-Unable to get customer/viewer feedback
-Is difficult to stay current with constant changing trends
-Repetitive- could bore potential clients
New Media:
This includes interactive advertisements online that entice the customer to view the ad in another window or allow the client to be redirected to the business’ website. This ranges from banner ads at the top of an internet page to display advertisements on the side bar of a webpage.
Pros:
-Developed with a specific target audience in mind, and only shown to that audience, which greatly increases ROI
-Able to be changed and replaced with a new ad very quickly
-Interacts with the audience, and allows the business to get immediate feedback from potential customers
Cons:
-Multiple ads are needed for different sites
-Research and time is needed to develop proper ads
-Usually more expensive than traditional advertising
