Many small businesses struggle with deciding which kind of marketing to do, because their budget will  only stretch to one or the other, not both. the use of print ads on newspapers and magazines is a simple example of traditional marketing.

Other examples include flyers that are put in mailboxes, commercials both on TV and radio and billboards. On the other hand, when a business invests on building a website, advertising the brand name through different social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, this kind strategy is called digital marketing.

Benefits of Traditional Marketing

• You can easily reach your target local audience. For example, a radio ad might play in one location: your city or region. Or mailbox flyers will go to households in a select number of suburbs.
• The materials can be kept. The audience can have a hard copy of materials of which they can read or browse through over and over again.
• It’s easy to understand. It can be easily understood by most people because they are already exposed to this kind of strategy.

The Downside of Traditional Marketing

• There is very little interaction between the medium used and the customers. It is more of providing information to the public that the brand exists with the hope of  these people patronizing the brand.
• Print or radio advertisements can be very costly. Printing materials can be expensive and you need to hire people to distribute these.

Benefits of Digital Marketing

• Digital marketing is cost-efficient. Though some invest on paid ads online; however, the cost is still cheaper compared to traditional marketing.
• Real time results: you don’t have to wait weeks for a boost to your business like you would have to waiting for a fax or form to be returned.  You can see the numbers of visitors to your site and its  subscribers increase, peak trading times, conversion rates and much more at the touch of a button.
• You can target a local audience, but also an international one. Further, you can tailor a campaign to specific audience demographics, such as gender, location, age and interests.

The Downside of Digital Marketing

• Time consuming – tasks such as optimizing online advertising campaigns and creating marketing content can take up a lot of time. It’s important to measure your results to ensure a return-on-investment.
• Skills and training – You will need to ensure that your staff have the right knowledge and expertise to carry out digital marketing with success. Tools, platforms and trends change rapidly and it’s vital that you keep up-to-date.