Blending Digital & Traditional Strategies Could Be the Best Advertising

With the billions of social media users online and available to tap into, it’s only natural that advertising campaigns tend to favor digital media over a more traditional advertising strategy.

It’s important not to completely throw out the old for the new. Traditional marketing methods can still have a broad reach and make an impact on your audiences. That’s why blending a strategy that incorporates traditional media with digital media could be the best decision you ever made.

Why you should use a unified advertising strategy

Using only digital advertising is like putting all of your eggs into one basket. And it can cause you to alienate a huge part of your audience. People still watch television, listen to the radio, and read all kinds of publications.

Take Pepsi, for example. After decades of successful TV advertising campaigns, they switched to 100 percent social media advertising. The effects were immediate. The losses were huge. It wasn’t long before Pepsi changed their strategy back to incorporate traditional methods once again.

Getting traditional and digital to work in tandem

How do you strike the right balance for both digital and traditional? The answer lies in leading the customer from one to the other using specific calls to action.

Here are a few examples:

• Company websites or social media advertising that directs customers to their brick and mortar stores. They might do this by offering local discounts or access to time-sensitive in-store events.
• TV and radio ads inviting individuals to visit a company website, offering a personalized shopping experience.
• Printed ads in publications with an invitation to engage with a company’s social media. In return, visitors receive a discount code. Print ads might ask people to join a digital group so that they can be the first to receive offers, information, or free product trials.

This type content marketing encourages the consumer to visit all types of advertising channels, creating an advertising experience that promotes engagement.

Getting it right

Where Pepsi failed by choosing digital solely over traditional advertising, its biggest competitor, Coca Cola, got it right. In 2013, the brand launched the “Share a Coke” campaign. This campaign beautifully unified traditional and digital methods.

Personalized bottles were available in stores, but consumers were also invited to go online and order any name they wanted. This encouraged people to start collecting the bottles and sharing their photos online.

Their social media went viral with the hashtag “shareacoke,” resulting in 998 million Twitter impressions.

Blending works if the two elements flow into one another. At its best, you won’t be able to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Sometimes your audiences will want to receive information passively. Other times, they will want to be actively engaged.

By getting the balance right, your consumers will want to engage with your traditional and digital methods. And with thoughtful execution, your advertising will be just right for the media you choose and just right for your ideal customer.