Why Digital Advertising Is Not Enough
“Google only loves you when everybody else loves you first.” Wendy Piersall
Just so we’re clear, I love digital marketing as much as the next guy (or gal). I love that my team can launch a campaign and within minutes get instant feedback about whether it’s going to be a winner - or whether the headline, body copy or image needs more work. That sure beats paying for a billboard a month ahead of time, getting it installed and then waiting..waiting.. to see what your call volume looks like. Digital marketing is also extremely inexpensive by comparison to traditional advertising - you can run an ad on Facebook for as little as $5 a day. At the click of a button you can launch your campaign across many different advertising platforms, quickly having your ad optimized through technology instead of needing a graphic designer to do it. Seems like digital advertising truly is the best of all worlds, right?
Not so fast. Here comes the BUT.
BUT.
For the same reasons why we love digital marketing, it’s also a major thorn in our side. Namely:
Because it’s cheap and easy and instant - EVERYONE and their grandma is doing digital advertising. This means crummy, boring ads are everywhere and we are all being pummeled to death by messages we don’t care about, from companies we have no interest in doing business with. And because digital marketing has such a low barrier to entry, you can blow a lot of money very quickly because you can easily get fooled into accepting, for example Facebook’s suggestions for how to “optimize your ad”. Facebook is in the business of selling ad space. They’re looking at giving you ingenious ways to maximize your ad spend with them. Yes it would be nice if you had some success with them, because that way you’ll likely stay longer and spend more. But as you’re just one of a billion advertisers on their platform - they’re just as happy to give you ad suggestions that are in their best interests - not yours, and take your money.
Another reason you have to be careful with digital marketing is that just because an ad gets traffic, doesn’t mean it’s good quality traffic (meaning people who will actually buy). I could run an online ad right now for purple zit cream and in less than an hour could have over 10,000 people view the ad. But how many of these same people would be actual buyers? Likely very few if any.
You see the reason why you still need to be doing good old traditional marketing for your business can be summarized as follows:
1) there’s less competition. You should always be looking to advertise your business in overlooked areas of media where your competitors are not advertising. As long as your target market is there - you are gold.
2) it takes a lot more effort - your prospects appreciate this. When was the last time you got an actual gift in the mail from a company? How did that make you feel? How did that compare to getting an online coupon in your inbox?
3) It still works! Like crazy! You can get a much higher quality of lead from traditional marketing and, when done correctly your response rate and ROI can easily be double or triple those of your online leads.
4) When you advertise online your competition is just 1 click away… when you advertise using traditional media you have far less competing distractions and a more captive audience!
Have I convinced you yet? Of course I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t do digital advertising. But I am suggesting that as part of your marketing engine you also need to consider including traditional forms of media too - direct mail, bus shelter ads, billboard advertising etc. Adding these can make a big difference to the success of your campaigns!
