The ways that consumers interact with a brand and make buying decisions has changed significantly over the years. As such, businesses have had to change their approach to marketing in order to maintain a modern image and appeal to today’s dominant audience.
Many businesses have had to make the difficult decision about where to direct most of the budget: offline or online?
Offline marketing is without doubt getting a lot less attention than it used to, but research has found that there are plenty of offline marketing techniques that remain effective and successful in helping people to discover brands and purchase goods or services in the process. In particular, local newspapers remain a trusted source of information, particularly in the world of local business.
That being said, a study carried out by Social Media Today found that 28% of marketers have reduced their offline marketing budget in favour of a focus on digital marketing followed by social media marketing. Both digital marketing and social media have become integral to a business’ marketing strategy, helping to lead it to success.
Digital marketing, from Facebook posts, tweets, blog posts, PPC advertising and much more is very powerful and has certainly become incredibly relevant and ubiquitous with regards to marketing. More and more consumers are transitioning to communicating and purchasing via the internet, which is why yearly digital marketing budgets now represent around 2.5% of a company’s revenue.
What online marketing channels do companies spend the most amount of money on?
- Analytics and Metrics
- Email marketing
- Social media
- Organic and paid search
- Mobile marketing
What offline marketing channels do companies spend the most amount of money on?
- Radio advertising
- TV advertising
- Direct mail
- Newspapers and magazines
With the above in mind, let’s take a look at the influence of offline and online marketing to determine how the two can work together:
According to estimates, 84% of internet users across the globe watch videos and TV shows online, whether from their tablet, desktop, PC or smartphone. However, 59% of US music listeners listen to a traditional or online radio, which drives 5.8% of US retail sales. Finally, 69% of adults continue to trust physical local newspapers, while 54% of customers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it in a newspaper or magazine.
As you can see, the digital world is incredibly influential for businesses looking to successfully advertise themselves. And although offline marketing is clearly still influencing buying decisions and driving sales, it is obvious that the digital world is by far the most influential.
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*Photo credit Andrew Small
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