Jul 10, 2013
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The Pros and Cons of “Old-School” Marketing
Now that social media marketing has become so important to businesses, especially those that sell products online, many business owners are beginning to question using traditional marketing sources like television, radio, and print media. Small business owners are especially interested in dropping traditional media because it costs them a lot more than social media as every marketing dollar of their limited budget has to count.
The Advantages of Traditional Marketing
There are still some advantages of using traditional marketing. While many people are online, there are some who don’t use social media and don’t want to. Others use social media but are very strict on who they follow or what businesses they will like because they don’t want their feeds filled with marketing posts. Putting a small ad in a local newspaper may reach many of these customers who otherwise wouldn’t see your marketing.
Local television and radio stations can also be a very good marketing source for small businesses looking to attract only local customers. It’s easier to focus your local marketing using these resources. Unless you’ve built up a following of local customers, it may be difficult to quickly get the word out via social media.
Traditional marketing is also a good way of building up your social media following. Even if it’s nothing more than a flyer or a small newspaper ad, it can help you grow your list of online fans.
The Downsides
The biggest downside is, as mentioned above, the cost. Traditional advertising is much more expensive than social media, mainly because much of social media is free—the only cost is in time. Traditional media is only time-intensive upfront. Once you’ve created the television spot, radio announcement, or print ad, there’s not a lot of other work to do. However, creating the ad does take a good amount of time, especially for something elaborate.
Another downside is that you have to work with another agency to distribute the ad, such as a television station, radio station, newspaper, or magazine, and you have to work with their schedule. This means it takes longer to get your ad in front of your customers.
Is it worth it?
Is it worth using traditional media for marketing? It depends on what your advertising, your target audience, and your budget allow. Small businesses may be better off going with social media, at least in the beginning, while businesses looking to attract a large local customer base may see good results with traditional media.