Is Traditional or Digital Marketing Best For Your Business?

With a variety of digital and traditional marketing methods available, marketers are now facing tougher choices than ever before about the best marketing strategies for them. But are there types of marketing that suit different industries better?

Leaflet distribution specialist Direct Letterbox Marketing has compiled some data on the best marketing methods for different industries. Where does your business sit? Find out below…

Direct Marketing

Target Marketing Magazine analyzed some of the most successful companies’ direct mail campaigns of that year. In the top 10 results – the following industries appeared:

• Financial
• Telecom/Cable
• Clubs/Associations
• Insurance

In addition to this, Startups analyzed brands that used effective door drop marketing campaigns:

Domino’s – Their targeted door drops are chosen by the time of the week (in relation to paydays) and by an area and its affluence. Domino’s spends $10m on door drop marketing a year, and it’s their second most effective form of marketing for TV advertising.

Freeview HD – Freeview got their audience to sign up to Freeview HD with direct mail by producing a pink feather door-drop promoting the quality of high-definition.

Wyevale Garden Centres – By acquiring up-to-date customer data through a membership scheme, Wyevale Garden Centres used door drop marketing to target people’s interests and give them up-to-the-minute messages.

From that, we can also add the following to the list of businesses that benefit from door drop marketing:

• Takeaway/food and restaurants
• Retail/specialist stores

Email Marketing

Email marketing still has a place in marketing efforts – in fact, according to the 2016 Email Industry Census – Key Sector Report, email ROI was up to 73% in 2016.

The census identified the top six sectors in the survey for using email marketing:

1. Charities, Government, and Not-For-Profit organizations. 84% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 65% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
2. Travel & Hospitality. 83% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 63% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
3. Retail/Mail Order. 82% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 57% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
4. Print/Publishing & Media. 77% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 73% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
5. Financial Services & Insurance. 67% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 56% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
6. Technology & Telecoms. 66% of respondents from this industry rated email ROI as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. 51% of respondents rated the performance of their company email campaigns as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

Social Media Marketing

According to Social Media Today, some industries get social media more right than others. Amongst their top-listed performers are:

Retail: Social media marketing works for retail businesses because it enables them to talk directly to their customers; they can share news about products, get feedback and share offers and promotions.

Food and drink: Eight out of 10 restaurant operators already use social media or are planning to use it in the next two years. Food provides attractive imagery that people want to take and share on their social accounts.

Fashion: Fashion is moving and developing, and there’s always something new coming to the market. Fashion brands create visually interesting posts on social media that their audience enjoys looking at – and sharing. Fashion influencers and bloggers are also very active on social media.

Entertainment: Written content is particularly effective for social media marketing in the entertainment sector, as 79.3% of the posts shared in this industry is informative, written content. Content about the entertainment industry is extremely shareable, so social media performance naturally does well.

Real Estate: Social media provides a great platform for selling properties and putting them in front of those looking to buy them. Instagram and Facebook have been proven to be effective in selling and leasing properties.

Marketing: It goes without saying that social media marketing will be utilized by marketers – 96% of marketers use it as a marketing tool. What type of content is the most effective? Video is one of the highest performing media’s last year, with 57% of marketers currently using it.

Education. In recent years, universities and colleges have had to drive forward their marketing efforts in order to recruit students. These platforms, Facebook, in particular, are a great place to encourage visits to open days and engage with students.

Conclusion

Traditional marketing strategies are still around for a reason – they work! But with newcomers like social media and email marketing, it’s no wonder some companies are unsure on which method to use to market their business.
Some techniques work better for some businesses than others. While takeaway businesses, such as Domino’s, are soaring with traditional techniques like direct door-dropping, real estate, retail and food and drink companies are performing great using social media platforms. Although there can be a slight overlap, there is nothing to say companies can’t invest in multiple marketing campaigns to increase their performance – but it might be wise to prioritize one method that will successfully target your audience, whilst engaging with them on a platform they are familiar with.