Times are changing….

Traditional v digital, it’s been the battle of the ages

But who trumps who? We know that traditional and digital need to integrate with one another to create a seamless journey but as of recent times, digital may be taking precedent.

I know what you’re thinking…We may be a teeeeensy bit biased (we just love digital okay!) but are we seeing marketers finally see the light when it comes to where their marketing efforts and spend should be? Is digital marketing finally got the limelight it deserves? It seems to be the case.

Although over the recent months we’ve seen most organisations reduce their marketing efforts and spend to make their way through the storm, it’s become apparent that there has been a greater shift towards a more digital-focused activity.

Brands are beginning to take note of the many advantages of digital marketing when comparing it to it’s more traditional alternatives.

Just in case you haven’t heard us banging on about these benefits before now, here’s a couple.

Through digital forms of marketing, you can personalise the journey and experience for your consumers as you can make sure your audience’s needs, wants and preferences are addressed no matter what stage of the journey they’re in. This enables you to make each interaction more meaningful so they’re likely to convert.

Probably one of the most important benefits of digital, when compared to more traditional forms of marketing, is cost. Say an event, for example, organising a large, physical event takes a lot of time, resources and money. Businesses will most likely have to hire event spaces, staff, equipment alongside all the other costs associated with both the organisers and the attendees.

Virtual events, on the other hand, costs are greatly reduced as the event budget that would usually go into renting spaces and hiring staff can be transferred into hosting a virtual event that uses digital tools, interactive features and other means of gamification brands have in their arsenals. Giving attendees a memorable experience that doesn’t have to compromise on interactivity all from the comfort of their own homes.

Digital forms of marketing also offer an abundance of ways to measure ROI and performance that you’d struggle to do with traditional marketing. Take social media campaigns, brands have the ability to track key metrics that will help them stay on top of their KPI’s and measure whether they’re reaching the goals they’ve set out to achieve. These metrics give brands the ability to measure success, but they also have the ability to help them tailor the way in which they communicate with their audiences in order to consistently improve based on what their audiences want.

One example of a large business who has adapted and embraced digital during this time is Sony. During their latest Playstation 5 release, they opted to do an entirely virtual event. What was the outcome? Well, the Youtube figures indicated that the event didn’t get any less exposure when compared to previous years and the virtual alternative worked fine, if not better than events previously. Discover the full article here.

L’Oréal is another example of a business who have seen the change in consumer behaviour during the virus and how it’s sparked a change in the way women discover and shop for beauty products. Because of this, they’ve accelerated their digital transformation and shifted their budgets online in order to embrace this change both during and after the pandemic. Discover the full article here.

M&S have also cut their budgets by a third within their more traditional forms of marketing such as TV and press as they step up their shift to digital due to the demand they’ve witnessed of customers wanting to purchase online. Because of this, they’ve transferred their spend on social media and social marketing. Discover the full article here.

But are brands ready for this shift? A recent survey from Econsultancy and Marketing Week showed that 55% of respondents from large organisations said the shift online has exposed gaps in their customer experience. Therefore marketers are going to need to work hard to understand those gaps and work with digital specialists to create that full end to end customer experience. This means starting with your brand and making sure that it is ready for the digital world. We don’t mean just having a web font and colour, but making sure your brand personality comes across in everything that you do.

For more information on what brand digitisation actually entails, check out our new Sound Out series here: https://tall.agency/soundouts/what-is-brand-digitisation/.