Traditional vs Digital Advertising
Digital marketing has become probably the most used way of marketing in the world today. Some experts forecast the disappearance of any other form of advertising. The dead of Television, the perish of Radio, the extinction of Print Media.
I ask:
Is digital marketing the only surviving way of advertising communication?
Are the other channels dead?
I will try to answer these questions by exploring both sides. And maybe, in the end, come back to neutral territory.
Mark Ritson, the famous expert marketer, brand consultant, and former marketing professor, says the word “digital” shouldn’t even be used when referring to Marketing, for the simple reason that we are living in a digital era anyway. As such, everything has become digital. Radio stations are now on the internet. Podcasts have become another form of radio over the internet.
Mark also thinks that Television is not dead as is not Radio or Print Media. He demonstrates with statistics and explains they just have changed, evolved.
In a recent article, Mark wrote on Marketing Week. He analyzed how today in order for an applicant to a marketing position to succeed, digital marketing training and experience are necessary. Even if this candidate has graduated and has done marketing respectable work.
Mark clearly sees social media and digital media as one of many channels available. And he sees the use of social media as a tactic. He feels some marketing fundamentals like Strategy and Targeting are being ignored. Just because “digital” has become the trend.
I went through some confusion myself. I wanted to study marketing, I started researching several marketing programs. Most marketing training programs available today have the word “digital” in their title. I knew fundamentals were very important before any campaign development in any channel. I didn’t know where to start. I decided to study a program in Fundamentals of Marketing. And then to study a Digital Marketing program.
Clint Lawrence at Brandastic in his article, Is digital marketing replacing traditional marketing?
Says: “These traditional marketing methods worked well for a century because they were the primary method by which the general public learned about new products. From 1895 to 1995, ‘consumer research’ involved being exposed to an advertisement and then visiting the store to sample the product.
Of course, today this is all defunct.”
Traditional
Television
Television advertising is growing, according to this article from Strategy-Business.com:
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/Transforming-TV-by-going-back-to-the-future?gko=49461
“This is a golden age of television. Cinema-quality programs such as Game of Thrones draw massive audiences. Events such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup, broadcast in real-time to a global viewership of 1.1 billion, prove the medium’s unique power to bring together truly massive live audiences. People are watching more television than ever, and advertising revenues continue to grow. According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, global television advertising rose 2 percent in 2018 of a very large base (US$164 billion) and will rise at a 1.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2023 (see “TV spot market”). There is a global arms race surrounding original programming. To keep up with Amazon and Netflix, which is expected to spend $15 billion on content in 2019, Sky announced that it would double its annual investment in original shows to £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) as part of its drive to become the “leading force in European content development and production.”
There is no indication that TV as a marketing channel is dead, on the contrary, it is growing. It is evolving to more streaming over internet media type of channel.
Radio
According to Insideradio.com:
“The traditional radio spends in 2020 is forecast to be $12.9 billion, and is expected to grow 20% to $15.5 billion by 2024. Broadcast radio’s online advertising, which comprises a smaller share of total radio revenue, is expected to grow at a faster CAGR of 7.1%”.
Print Media
According to Emarketer.com:
https://www.emarketer.com/content/3-key-trends-shaping-media-landscape-this-year
“Print audiences aren’t shrinking everywhere, but print newspapers and magazines did register many of the most dramatic decreases in media engagement this year. In South Africa, for example, the share of internet users who’d read a print newspaper in the month prior to polling fell almost 10 percentage points, and magazine penetration plunged 17 percentage points. Significant drops were also seen in Colombia, Hong Kong, and Romania, among others”.
If you look for statistics you will find that most of the traditional advertising channels are still growing, the one that is suffering is Print Media. Most newspapers are now digital, magazines like Marketing Week sell their subscriptions online. You get access to exclusive and better content with the subscription. New York Times operates the same way. I forgot when was the last time I had a newspaper in my hands.
In my research I found traditional media channels are evolving and adapting to the new technology. They are not disappearing. Like Mark Ritson says the forecast dead of Tv, Radio, and Newspaper was all dreams or maybe nightmares.
Digital and Social Media Marketing
We can’t be blind to the new opportunities that have evolved with the growth of Digital Marketing. In my opinion, there are actually many new avenues for marketers to get to work.
One huge advantage of Digital Marketing is that it can be used with a low budget. There are many tools that can even be used for free. This gives small businesses the opportunity to compete. Small businesses that don’t have access to advertising on Television can use digital channels and social media to engage their customers. Sometimes they don’t contract marketing agencies, they do the work themselves.
Influencer Marketing, for example, is a relatively new form of Social Media Marketing. It gives the possibility to the creation of a brand “star”. Trend leaders. These leaders have many followers. They inspire people and share lifestyles. They give their followers ideas. The followers communicate with them.
Conclusion
Businesses more than ever need to use several channels for their advertising. There is no winner in this competition. I would say the winner is the customer. Since they have many ways to communicate and receive information.
Everything around us is evolving. Technology develops at light speed, making the creation of new ways to do things a daily event. With Google, for example, we now have access to tools like Maps to find pretty much everything we want. With a touch of a finger or even with our voice we can complete many tasks on the smartphone or computer.
Marketing is not the exception to this ever-changing world. If anything, marketing today is reacher than ever with more possibilities. I think that is why I love it.
