It’s no secret that marketing has changed in the last 20 years. With the evolution of the Internet and increased accessibility of mobile devices, marketing has undergone a heavy shift from traditional to digital. Selecting the right marketing mix for a business can be challenging, but combining both traditional and digital strategies and diversifying marketing efforts can make for an even more successful marketing plan when done well.

Here are 4 tips on how to use digital marketing to complement traditional marketing campaigns.

1. Leverage audiences from traditional to digital

Audience targeting is the most powerful tool in digital marketing. The capability to craft specific audiences around an ideal type of customer is unmatched, and there are plenty of ways to get creative with audience building to complement traditional campaigns.

One way is by sending out a direct mail piece and pointing the receiver to a landing page. This provides the ability to create a URL-based audience to remarket to in a digital campaign. Plus, analyzing the landing page traffic gives further insight on the users who took action on the direct mail piece and assists in determining the effectiveness of this traditional campaign.

2. Bridge the gap between physical and online

The global pandemic has shifted much of the world as we once knew it. People are staying home and using the Internet more often for everything from entertainment to grocery shopping. With more eyes on digital ads, digital advertising is an effective way to reach these people.

Taking the global pandemic out of the equation, physical marketing events, such as tradeshows and conferences, allow companies to connect with customers and provide a more personal networking experience. Adding elements of digital marketing can enhance the experience and ensure the working relationship continues beyond a tradeshow weekend. Collecting users’ email addresses is a smart way to stay in touch and provide a gateway for them to access exclusive offers via email marketing. These email addresses can also be uploaded to Facebook to create Custom Audience campaigns and Google Ads to create Customer Match campaigns. The possibilities are endless!

3. Keep branding consistent

There’s a theory that estimates a user must see a particular ad seven times before the message of the ad starts to sink in. In 2007, market research company Yankelovich estimated that the average American was exposed to 5,000 ads per day, ten times as many as in the 1970s. And with increased dependency on mobile devices, social media, and web browsing, accelerated further by the global pandemic, we can assume that the amount of ads a user sees per day has continued to increase.

This means that in order to get a message across, a comprehensive marketing campaign must be consistent in terms of images, color theme, and messaging. Combining traditional and digital marketing provides an advantage by serving users from multiple angles. Match a billboard ad to a social media radius-targeting campaign to expedite the time it takes users in a targeted area to truly notice an ad. Match a magazine print ad with a placement ad on the Google Display Network to target a specific demographic. Customers will be sure to notice the brand quicker as long as the messaging is consistent.

4. Pay attention to Google Analytics

Google Analytics does more than track how long a user spends on site and the bounce rate; there are other clear indicators that in Google Analytics that could point to the results of a traditional campaign that were previously unmeasurable. It’s important to look for trends when launching a new traditional campaign to determine an immediate impact. If websites visits from “direct” or branded keywords on a PPC campaign spike initially after airing a radio ad, it could be a clear indicator that the ad is driving direct traffic to the site. It’s a good idea to prepare PPC branded campaigns by ensuring they’re not limited by budget during the time of a launch. Further drilling down on the demographics can provide insight on the location of the user and time the user searched for the brand.

In conclusion, marketing works best when it’s consistent and diversified in the ways you reach your audience. For more help complementing traditional campaigns and generating value from your digital marketing campaigns, contact our team.

Share: