How Digital Marketing Is Different From

 Traditional Marketing 


Main Difference 

The main difference between digital and traditional marketing is the medium through which an audience encounters a marketing message. While traditional marketing uses traditional media like magazines and newspapers, digital marketing uses digital media, such as social media or websites.


Traditional Marketing 

 when the marketing activities are undertaken in a conventional fashion, i.e. by way of newspaper, television radio and magazine.

Digital Marketing 

when we use the online platform to promote the products and services of our company .

Explanation

Marketing involves those activities which assist the company in promoting the offerings and converting the prospects into leads. In today’s scenario, marketing has completely changed its form, i.e. from physical to digital. So, it is not wrong to say that an average individual comes across thousands of ads in a single day, no matter the mode traditional or digital.

Now coming to our topic of discussion, traditional marketing differs from digital marketing in a number of ways, and one such difference between the two is that in traditional marketing the reach is local, whereas digital marketing is known for its global reach, i.e. the ads that have been placed on the internet can be seen by people belonging to all walks of life and that’s the power of digitalization.

 Traditional Marketing Vs Digital Marketing

Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR COMPARISONTRADITIONAL MARKETINGDIGITAL MARKETING
MeaningTraditional Marketing refers to the marketing that uses traditional channels or media, for the purpose of marketing communication.Digital Marketing implies the marketing of products and services via digital channels, such as the internet, smartphone, display ads, and other digital medium.
NatureStaticDynamic
ConversionSlowComparatively fast
EngagementLowComparatively high
Return on InvestmentCannot be measured easily.Can be measured easily.
Effectiveness and expensivenessLess effective more expensiveLess expensive more effective
TrackingNot possiblePossible
TargetingStandardizedCustomized
TweakingNot possible once the ad is placed.Can be performed anytime, even after the ad is placed.
ReachLocalGlobal
ResultsDelayed resultsQuick and real-time results
InterruptionsConsumers cannot skip the ads, as they are bound to see them.Allows the consumers to avoid or skip the ads which do not interest them.
Communication


One-way CommunicationTwo-way Communication

Definitions

Definition Of Traditional Marketing 

Traditional Marketing means the marketing of goods and services using those platforms, channels and techniques that involve one -way communication tool, instead of two-way flow. It integrates different forms of advertising which are easily recognizable yet expensive.

In finer terms, traditional marketing is the typical form of marketing which helps to reach the customer via offline advertising modes, like television, newspapers, magazines, posters, banners, radio, hoardings, etc.

Traditional Marketing is mainly concerned with reaching a wide range of audience and competing by numbers. This means that the larger the number of people watching or going through the ad, the higher will be the leads that you attract.

Definition Of Digital Marketing

Basically, digital marketing is the fundamental term that includes each and every online marketing effort. In digital marketing, companies make use of all the digital channels to reach the existing and potential customers. The channels may include Google search, social media, email, websites, so on and so forth. Further, the most important technology, upon which digital marketing relies is ‘Internet‘.

Simply put, any kind of marketing which is carried out online, comes under the periphery of digital marketing.

Key Differences Between Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing

The difference between traditional marketing and digital marketing are stated hereunder:

  1. Traditional Marketing implies any sort of promotion, advertising or campaign, used by the companies over the years for publicizing the products and services, by using conventional channels like radio, television newspaper, etc. On the other hand, Digital Marketing is the process of promoting and selling the company’s products and services by using online marketing channels and tactics.
  2. While traditional marketing is static, whereas digital marketing is dynamic in nature.
  3. The rate of conversion from a prospect to lead is faster in digital marketing as compared to traditional marketing. This is because, digital marketing is data-driven marketing and ads are shown to people according to their likes and interests, and this helps in generating qualified leads.
  4. Customer engagement refers to the interaction between a customer and a company via different online or offline channels. So, the rate of customer engagement is higher in digital marketing as compared to traditional marketing. This is because, the customers can directly view the product details and other offers, just by a click in case of digital marketing and they don’t need to visit the showroom or the company to get the details of the product.
  5. Return on Investment cannot be calculated in the case of traditional marketing, but one can easily calculate the same in the case of digital marketing.
  6. While traditional marketing is less effective more expensive, digital marketing is less expensive more effective.
  7. With digital marketing, one can easily keep an eye on where the buyer is coming from, which is the most viewed product, how many customers are actually buying the product, who are interested in the product, etc. On the other hand, in traditional marketing, tracking the customer is not at all possible.
  8. Traditional Marketing uses standardized methods to target customers, and therefore, it involves mass marketing with a very low personal touch. On the contrary, digital marketing uses personalization in the sense that only those products are shown to the customers in which they have shown interest recently or they are searching for it over the internet for quite some time.
  9. In the case of traditional marketing, tweakings are not possible once the ad is placed. As against, tweaking can be performed anytime, even after the ad is placed.
  10. As the traditional marketing caters the audience of the specific geographical area only, so the reach is local or limited to the concerned area where the ad is shown. On the other hand, as digital marketing uses the internet, the products and services that are being promoted can fetch demand globally. Thus, digital marketing is not confined to a specific area only.
  11. Coming to the results,  traditional marketing takes time to show the results of the marketing activities. But, digital marketing shows quick and real-time results to the marketer.
  12. In case of traditional marketing, consumers cannot skip the ads, as they are bound to watch them, however, there is no such limitation in case of digital marketing as it allows the consumers to avoid or skip the ads which they do not find useful or they are not interested in.
  13. While traditional marketing is a one-way communication, where the company spreads information about the product or services offered, digital marketing is two-way communication, where along with the ads placed by the company to spread information, customers also provide their feedback about the products and services, in the form of reviews, etc.