Most adults remember the days of Saturday morning cartoons. Waking up early, claiming a seat on the couch with a tv tray and bowl of cereal, and spending all morning watching the only cartoons that would be on all week.
Kids didn’t just love Saturday mornings for the cartoons. Part of the fun was the specialized commercials, designed to reach children. New toys, sugary snacks and cereals, and pretty much anything the young child desired, were given their own one-minute time slot each Saturday morning.
This bit of traditional marketing was the 80s and 90s version of reaching a target market. Businesses knew exactly when their target would be watching tv and they focused the majority of their marketing efforts on getting their advertisements in front of them.
Traditional marketing tools such as commercials, billboards, and print ads did a fairly decent job of plastering products in front of the faces of the intended demographic. Consumers were product-focused, merely looking for a good quality solution to their problems. They were often easy to sway with bells and whistles, which traditional marketing techniques had in droves.
When it came to marketing to children, however, the Saturday morning tactic was most effective in annoying parents.
While traditional marketing tools are still around and regularly used by marketers today, times have definitely changed. The digital revolution has provided people with a number of new capabilities that seemed impossible just twenty years ago. Not only that, consumers have progressed along with society, caring more about values, authenticity, and connection than about only finding a solution to their problem.
Enter Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the most relevant and effective marketing method around for the modern consumer and culture. When utilizing a digital marketing strategy, brands use digital tools such as social media, email, SEO, and websites as a means of increasing their visibility, as well as gaining leads and conversions.
When implementing digital marketing, brands use various platforms and tools to reach their target market in their everyday life. These days, practically everyone is on social media, uses search engines to look for businesses, products, and services, and consumes content through websites, videos, and email.
Digital mediums are a part of the everyday culture of today. Using them for marketing provides businesses an opportunity to continuously put themself in front of their target market. It’s said that it takes 5-10 exposures for a person to commit to buying from a brand.
With traditional marketing, it was difficult to get the needed amount of exposures. Your commercials were running and your ads were in the newspaper, but there was no guarantee and little likelihood that they’d be seen often enough by the right people.
With digital marketing, you can actually get the right number of exposures in just a day or two! By regularly posting on social media, running PPC ads on the same platforms, sending out email newsletters, and adding content to your website, you’re increasing your opportunities for visibility.
Reaching the Consumer with Digital Marketing
Not only does digital marketing increase your visibility, it also allows you to connect with your target market. Connection and authenticity are two of the values that consumers are most looking for these days, and digital tools provide an incredible opportunity for it.
Social media allows brands and followers to engage and communicate. The content that brands post gives them the ability to show that they’re relevant and knowledgeable, setting themselves apart as an expert in their industry.
The more great content that the business provides, the more their audience appreciates them and considers them. When the audience shares their content with others, the business increases its visibility and leads even more.
Digital marketing really provides an incredible opportunity for business growth and success. It allows them to reach further and connect on a deeper level than other marketing methods have traditionally allowed.
While digital marketing is the most effective and relevant marketing method out there today, that doesn’t mean that there is no place for traditional marketing. Most of a brand’s marketing will be digital, however, they should reserve a place for the traditional.
People are overwhelmed and inundated with the digital world, and typically find it to be a nice break to step aside from that and read a newspaper or magazine. Traditional marketing tools have a place right there; in the sliver of space where people are seeking balance and solace away from a screen.
When marketing your business, you will want to put a large emphasis on growing your online following and utilizing the great digital tools that are out there today. You’re also going to want to make sure to not let traditional tools go quite yet. In an increasingly digital society, there is still a
place for something you can hold in your hand. Just as there is still a place for an old cartoon on a Saturday morning.
