Old Fashioned Marketing Tools. Do they still fit in?
What’s that phrase, the more things change, the more they stay the same? In today’s marketing landscape, there are seemingly a million “tactics” both old and new to increase brand awareness, drive new sales, etc. But how do we, as marketers, or those pursuing a marketing strategy for your business, wade through those options? Well, to start, we have to look at who we are marketing to. How do consumers behave today, and what resonates with them?
The Start of Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing started as true advertising by definition. Without the onslaught of the internet, it was quite simply an answer to the question: “How do I put my business out there? How will people know about my business?”. Think posters on street signs, headshots on bus stop benches, newspaper ads, billboards, postcards, mailers, etc. All the “tactics” consisted of either putting the marketing material physically into a customer's hand/mailbox or putting it directly in front of their path, i.e. a billboard, for them to see it.
Where Does it All Fit?
Now, in today’s world, with the emergence of technology, and social media, the options in which to promote your business have expanded. However, it begs the question, with all these new options like Instagram reels, SEO, geofencing, geotagging, TikTok… where do traditional marketing tools still fit in? Or do they at all? Well, the short answer is yes, traditional marketing tools do still fit in.
Frustration Today
What I’ve found is that many consumers have begun to feel annoyed, irritated, and frustrated with the sheer amount of digital marketing tactics. Frustrated that these Instagram reel ads continually interrupt their peaceful scrolling, frustrated that they keep getting targeted for ads they have no interest in because they are geofenced by a particular brand on the backend, and frustrated that their information is at risk and being shared oftentimes, without their consent. My point is these new tools do have a place in today’s world, but with a steady stream of digital tools always being created, there will still be a place for the things that work, i.e., the traditional, the traditional which have been tested and measured for years and years, proving their efficacy.
Always a Place
With digital marketing tools, they can be a great asset to marketers but will hardly eclipse all traditional tools. One reason is there is a level of skill development needed to utilize a large majority of these technical tools. With Curious Minds, for example, if you weren’t an expert in SEO but knew you needed it, we have SEO experts in-house that can assist with just that. Gone are the days of hiring huge marketing firms for a single marketing need. As long as businesses exist, so will marketing tools, but, in my opinion, there will always be space for a good old-fashioned handwritten postcard.
