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Which Offline Channels Can Be Mingled with the Digital Marketing Strategy?
Companies today need to have a marketing mix (digital + traditional). They cannot solely rely on one marketing channel. Different channels offer marketers different target consumers, and the mode of communication also changes.
Hence, in this article, we will be diving deep into different digital marketing channels and different traditional marketing channels. We will also be covering certain offline marketing channels that can work with digital marketing strategies for business success.
The concept of traditional marketing and its various channels
Traditional marketing refers to all the marketing activities done by the business to promote its goods, services, or company name through non-digital platforms. Traditional marketing was the time when companies used to rely heavily on print media, radio spots, or television advertisement slots on non-digital platforms. Traditional marketing was the time when companies used to rely heavily on print media, radio spots, or television advertisement slots. These were the good times when the consumers were not overloaded with information and they enjoyed the advertisements as much as they enjoyed the free content. The various traditional marketing channels are −
Free commercial time on radio channels
Advertisements on television
Articles in Magazines
Articles in Newspapers
Personal selling involves physically meeting the customer.
Sales promotion, among others.
The concept of digital marketing and its various channels
Any marketing initiative taken by the company on digital platforms or the internet to promote or advertise its product, service, or brand name is known as digital marketing or online marketing. Companies today are leveraging the fact that consumers have access to high-speed internet and smartphones. The various wings of digital marketing are −
Social media marketing is marketing done through various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Hike, WhatsApp, Telegram, YouTube, and others.
Affiliate marketing is marketing done by famous people on social media platforms or in the digital world and by experts in a particular field. Here, the influencers or affiliate marketers try to convince the consumer to purchase a particular product and brand.
Search Engine Marketing or Paid Marketing − Techniques: Here, the company pays the browsing website to promote its content on the top of the SERP so that it can have more consumers and high website traffic.
Search Engine Optimization − Here the marketers focus on improving the ranking of the page or the website on the browsing site through various tips and tricks. It is an organic form of marketing.
Email marketing − In this type of marketing, businesses send e-mails to customers about products, services, price offers, discounts, or warm greetings on special occasions and holidays.
Content marketing is a type of marketing in which the company's product has an impact and persuades content to sell the company's products and services. This wing also has an important role to play in other forms of marketing because the company needs content to advertise its products.
Traditional marketing channels that can be mingled with digital marketing strategies
Though digital marketing strategies are taking over the stage in the business world today, we cannot forget the impact and success of certain offline or traditional marketing channels. These channels are successful and running smoothly. Many businesses completely operate on these models and are known for their success.
Network marketing − in this marketing channel, the company bestows the entire burden of sales on the members of the family. In the sense that the company comes up with programs where it onboards members to be a part of the sales umbrella. Now every month the company is vomiting up catalogs or special pieces for its members, which is far less than the MRP. Along with this, the company encourages the members to onboard other people working under them.
Anyone who is achieving the sales quote receives gifts, coupons, or products. Successful companies that are operating in this model are Anova, Oriflame, Modi care, and others. The companies mentioned above mostly sell skincare, cosmetics, and household chore products, and the members are the female counterparts of the household. Now companies that are relying on affiliate marketing in digital marketing can explore network marketing as an option. Network marketing is a good marketing channel for B2C companies generally for products in the medium price range. The lower price range will defeat the purpose, and products at higher price ranges are not affordable by most and need convincing.
Face-to-face meetings − Though the world is either running on generalized, i.e., mass advertising, or data-driven advertising, face-to-face meetings or personal selling do wonders. No matter how digitally forward we are the impact that an in-person meeting can create is beyond wonders. Here, the person selling can mold their pitch as per the mood. Pinch on different nerves and can convince better. Personal selling is very effective when it comes to technology products or for cracking B2B product deals. It might seem redundant in the case of low-priced products or FMCG goods because of its high turnaround, but technology products and B2B companies are good for personal selling.
As the prices of the deal go up the need for personal selling comes into the picture. Personal selling is also a good fit for unsought products. Unsought products are those that consumers are not willing to purchase on their own. These products make the consumer think about their mortality or invoke fear, so consumers avoid purchasing them; some examples are funeral plots, insurance, and others.
Phone calls − Here the company does the cold calling. They get the list of all the prospective buyers through data and call them to pitch their product offerings. This is also a good method of outbound marketing because consumers might not read the notification, email, or chat that you shared but will answer the call at least out of curiosity. This is also a method of personal selling, and the salesperson can mold their sales pitch as per the consumer, the mood of the conversation, the behavior of the consumer, and others.
In the banking or credit card domain, companies are using this method to get users for their products. This method is also useful when the product being sold by the company is relatively new and there is a need to create awareness as well as educate consumers about the same. It is good for products in the high range that need users. Technology products and B2B companies can also use this traditional method of marketing.
Print advertisements − Though the number of people buying hard copies of magazines or newspapers and reading them is gradually decreasing, companies cannot ignore the sheer number of readers already invested in them. Print advertisements also provide authenticity to consumers to a great extent because these are huge printing companies. Print advertisement is also shifting towards the digital world and hence it is crucial that if the business feels the need it should have a presence in it.
It is always better to invest your eggs in different baskets. This will not only bring diversity but ensure that the company has something to rely upon if something goes down. This is the era of continuous improvement, and companies have to keep this in mind and try out better and other channels. Read the data about your consumers, the industry's operation, and your consumers to attain an optimal digital marketing mix.
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