In the early part of the 20th century when advertising became quite widespread, no one could have predicted the way in which it would have evolved. In recent times, numerous methods of digital marketing have emerged and are available to marketers all around. Capitalising on this trend, the digital marketing agency has taken the industry by storm in recent times, offering services that range from social media marketing to website design and development. Now we'll look in detail at the workings of both, and finish off with a prediction of what is going to become of the existing agencies that still continue to do traditional marketing.
Traditional Marketing Methods
The original face of marketing was print media. However, most people think of print media as something that happened rather recently, but the truth is, usage of print media has been going on for a long time – long before the 20th century. In the 1830’s, automobile sellers started using billboards to showcase their latest models, and the first handbill can actually be traced back to medieval times. Till today, this still forms a large part of the business for many agencies.
Traditional marketing channels include newspaper, direct mail, telephone solicitation, radio, television and of course, signs and billboards. As compared to several years back, such channels are much less influential now due to the rise of digital media. Marketing methods leveraging on digital media present the world with vastly more options for the advertising of any product or service.
Digital Marketing Technologies & Methods
We'll now cover some of the most common digital marketing methods that modern agencies utilise. As you'll probably expect, most of them revolve around the internet due to its vast reach. So here are the three key methods that are use to bring the best results - Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing.
There are various ways to reach out to a prospective buyer through email marketing. An obvious method would be to collect contact information from a subscription form on your website and follow up from there. Alternatively, you can engage in periodic email blasting that consists of sending out promotional emails (to existing lists) to get the buyer invested and ready to buy. Of course, marketers commonly engage in both methods simultaneously.
SEO is the process of getting organic traffic to a web page by leveraging on several factors that Google and other search engines use to rank websites. For example, a new website that sold men’s underwear would likely be placed much farther down on search results as compared to a clothing retailer like Sears that had been optimizing their sites for years. In essence, you are telling Google that your site is worth something and that they should rank it higher in their results. However, achieving this can be a pretty tall order unless you are focusing on a very narrow niche with little competition. Otherwise, there will be other sites already ranked higher than you.
If you can’t get your website ranked high organically, there are some methods of getting your website in front of people. Google Adwords Is an advertising program where you pay to be listed on the first page of search results. Whether or not you actually get on page one depends on how much you bid for the spot. There are many other pay-per-click setups to market yourself digitally as well.
Finally, there is social media marketing. If your agency isn’t using this method to advertise, it is high time you found yourself a new one. Social media is one of the very best ways to advertise. The use of Facebook promoted posts and Twitter paid tweets can net great results, and there are other methods as well. Make sure that your digital marketing includes social media accounts at the very least, and make use of Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr and other websites, as well as Facebook & Twitter.
Summary and Prediction
There is no doubt that digital marketing has begun to surpass traditional marketing, and that gap will continue to grow as traditional methods become less relevant and can’t keep up with the times. Unless traditional marketing agencies evolve by adopting new methods, they will gradually see a decrease in their business and fade out over time. Make no doubt, it's a different ballgame now in the world of marketing agencies as brands slowly but surely adopt digital marketing into their repertoire.
Traditional Marketing Methods
The original face of marketing was print media. However, most people think of print media as something that happened rather recently, but the truth is, usage of print media has been going on for a long time – long before the 20th century. In the 1830’s, automobile sellers started using billboards to showcase their latest models, and the first handbill can actually be traced back to medieval times. Till today, this still forms a large part of the business for many agencies.
Traditional marketing channels include newspaper, direct mail, telephone solicitation, radio, television and of course, signs and billboards. As compared to several years back, such channels are much less influential now due to the rise of digital media. Marketing methods leveraging on digital media present the world with vastly more options for the advertising of any product or service.
Digital Marketing Technologies & Methods
We'll now cover some of the most common digital marketing methods that modern agencies utilise. As you'll probably expect, most of them revolve around the internet due to its vast reach. So here are the three key methods that are use to bring the best results - Email Marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing.
There are various ways to reach out to a prospective buyer through email marketing. An obvious method would be to collect contact information from a subscription form on your website and follow up from there. Alternatively, you can engage in periodic email blasting that consists of sending out promotional emails (to existing lists) to get the buyer invested and ready to buy. Of course, marketers commonly engage in both methods simultaneously.
SEO is the process of getting organic traffic to a web page by leveraging on several factors that Google and other search engines use to rank websites. For example, a new website that sold men’s underwear would likely be placed much farther down on search results as compared to a clothing retailer like Sears that had been optimizing their sites for years. In essence, you are telling Google that your site is worth something and that they should rank it higher in their results. However, achieving this can be a pretty tall order unless you are focusing on a very narrow niche with little competition. Otherwise, there will be other sites already ranked higher than you.
If you can’t get your website ranked high organically, there are some methods of getting your website in front of people. Google Adwords Is an advertising program where you pay to be listed on the first page of search results. Whether or not you actually get on page one depends on how much you bid for the spot. There are many other pay-per-click setups to market yourself digitally as well.
Finally, there is social media marketing. If your agency isn’t using this method to advertise, it is high time you found yourself a new one. Social media is one of the very best ways to advertise. The use of Facebook promoted posts and Twitter paid tweets can net great results, and there are other methods as well. Make sure that your digital marketing includes social media accounts at the very least, and make use of Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr and other websites, as well as Facebook & Twitter.
Summary and Prediction
There is no doubt that digital marketing has begun to surpass traditional marketing, and that gap will continue to grow as traditional methods become less relevant and can’t keep up with the times. Unless traditional marketing agencies evolve by adopting new methods, they will gradually see a decrease in their business and fade out over time. Make no doubt, it's a different ballgame now in the world of marketing agencies as brands slowly but surely adopt digital marketing into their repertoire.