Marketing: Traditional vs. Internet
Marketing refers to the activities of a firm related to buying and selling of products or services (Wilson and Nial 81). It involves advertising, buying, selling, and delivering of goods to people. Marketing determines the success or failure of a business whereby good marketing strategies lead to prosperity while poor approaches lead to the downfall of a firm. Traditional marketing was the norm that many past businesses used and even some current ones still employ the approach. Traditional marketing uses other channels that are not "digital" to promote products and brand firm's logos into the minds of people. They include the print media, telemarketing, direct mail, and broadcast mail. However, with the new technology, the majority of businesses have shifted their strategies by using the tools associated with the advancement such as the internet in marketing such as websites, Google ads, content marketing, and social networking sites. The increase in the need for supply of products and services between the firms and clients has also made many people use digital marketing (Wilson and Nial 84). In this paper, the differences between internet marketing and traditional marketing such as costs, accessibility, building close relationships with clients, effectiveness, tracking results, and price sensitivity will be discussed.
Accessibility: Online vs. Traditional Marketing
Concerning accessibility, internet marketing reaches many people at a faster rate while traditional marketing reaches fewer clients at a slower rate. The new technology has offered many people the chance to access the internet, thus when a product is posted online on any social media platform, it is viewed by a large number of clients. Almost everyone owns an internet device such as laptops, iPhones, iMacs, and other gadgets thus spending most of their time online. The digital media also offers people with the opportunity to even share pages and products that they like with their family members, friends, work colleagues, and business partners; hence, through that the products are able to reach a wider network at a short span. In contrast to this, traditional marketing whereby marketing is done on a person-to-person basis reaches fewer clients. The business owner will spend a lot of time trying to convince clients to buy the products with few new clients agreeing to purchase as the old ones buying as usual. When it comes to sharing the products among the clients, few people will also be able to reach those in their inner circle since carrying the goods and services physically is always a challenge (Ainscough 42).
Cost: Digital vs. Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing is cost-prohibitive and expensive whereby purchasing advertising for print, radio, or television can be costly to the majority of home-based business owners in an effort of reaching their clients. Printing business cards, brochures, and mailers hard copy are also expensive with the expenses mounting if the business owner mails them using direct mail. Moreover, TV and print advertising is also costly thereby providing only the established businesses with the chance. Conversely, digital marketing is cost-effective with the products even posted to online social forums sometimes-free (Degeratu et. al., 63). Posting of the adverts at times can be expensive in some popular social forums; however, cheaper in the end since information would have reached many people thus the business receiving maximum profits.
Building Relationships: Online vs. Traditional Marketing
Online marketing provides the ability for business owners to build direct and close relationships with their clients via social media (Grossnickle 268). Through communication between the client and owner, the trust relationship is developed. The techniques used include online groups, emails, Facebook, Twitter, and online chat-based sessions with the primary target of convincing and satisfying customers. The forum allows the client to offer feedback on the goods and services involved thereby offering the owners an opportunity to increase or improve their business techniques to meet their demands. On the other hand, traditional marketing does not bond or satisfy the clients' needs. Customers believe in feedback; however, with no person to talk to regarding the products obtained, they will lose interest. Trust is also built on the close relationship that occurs between the clients and the business owners and since the traditional approach does not offer that chance, the trust level is minimal (Grossnickle 268).
Effectiveness: Digital vs. Traditional Marketing
The traditional marketing strategy that involves the person-to-person selling of ideas and products is extremely effective (Degeratu et. al., 57). The approach offers an opportunity for demonstrations whereby clients tend to view the benefits or even the advantages of the product by themselves. The judgment lies with them, thus being satisfied with their decisions regarding the goods and services. Physical advertising also offers customers the opportunity to ask questions regarding the products and business; hence, creating a personal relationship with the company and the owner. Many people also prefer conducting their businesses with owners that they have met personally. On the other hand, digital marketing involves online chats thus communication not physical (Degeratu et. al., 58). The approach is fast in reaching a wider mass but not effective in client product satisfaction since the customers do not have the opportunity to judge the quality of the products by themselves but only through being convinced by the customer care of a business mogul. The clients also fail to build a personal relationship with the firm since they do not know those involved, their appearance, or their actions but only through their voice.
Tracking Results: Online vs. Traditional Marketing
In internet marketing, the results of the goods and services are much more measurable and easy to track since it is easy to see the methods that bring profits or losses to a firm thus offering business people the opportunity to concentrate on approaches that work (Degeratu et. al, 66). The strategy can be best derived from customers' feedback online whereby products that have good ratings or reviews are much more offered better production chances while the production of those that the clients do not prefer being reduced. Customers are also open, thus speaking the truth regarding the products since they do not know the owners personally; hence, careless of their response regarding the products. The evaluation that the online advertisements undergo every time assists in knowing the relevance of the products involved (Degeratu et. al., 66). Conversely, traditional marketing products' results are hard to track since newspapers are physically distributed thus tracking customers' reviews or rating being immeasurable. Once the traditional products are sold, tracking the number of buyers and even those who preferred the goods is a great challenge. For instance, when a newspaper is sold to a homeowner, he or she will read it at his or her leisure time, thereby following up on whether they disliked or liked it is quite impossible. It is also difficult to get a physical response from the buyer since they might feel uncomfortable in offering their views with the thought that they might hurt the sellers' feelings regarding their services. Some of the clients are also shy or face a language barrier thus making communication difficult. The less evaluation involved in traditional advertising makes it difficult to determine the relevance of the goods and service, which can lead to bad business with the firm losing many funds.
Management: Traditional vs. Online Marketing
Traditional marketing management comprises coordinating, planning, and controlling market activities (Hollensen 128). The approach involves carrying out an evaluation regarding consumers' views on the products and their number. Then planning whereby the firm first chooses the techniques that are appropriate and can be accessed by a large percentage of potential customers such as print, direct mail, broadcasting, or telemarketing with the choice depending on the message to be conveyed or budget. In planning also, the firm plans on the production of the goods to be produced to meet the number and demands of the clients. In control of the market activities, looking for competitors' products, target areas, weaknesses, and strengths is another step also important in ensuring the company succeeds in the business and reduction of any inconveniences likely to be faced. On the other hand, internet-marketing system involves market relationships, which are facets of customer relationship management that focus on the loyalty of the customer and long-term client engagement rather than short-term objectives such as personal sales and customer approvals (Hollensen 128). The goal of customer marketing relationships is to develop an effective customer relations to the company's brand, which can lead to free word of mouth promotions, continuation of business for a longer period, and positive information from clients that can lead to further growth of the company. Clients' opinions matter in this marketing relationship since they assist in the growth of the company by buying the products; hence, profits. The business firm and the client have a two-way communication relationship when it comes to digital marketing whereby customers communicate with the owners in expressing their views, which are put into consideration. The clients assist in giving out new ideas that can lead to the improvement or maintenance of the products due to their preference, especially when a number of them present the same views consequently.
Price Sensitivity: Online vs. Traditional Marketing
Online marketing has resulted in the customer's commodities becoming price-sensitive, which has affected the choices of the consumers (Degeratu 71). Moreover, the majority of clients currently are well conversant with commodity brands. Price sensitivity has made some customers unwilling to spend the extra dollar on some goods, especially if another product sells the same products at a cheaper price. The approach affects the productivity and profit-making of some firms who suffer at the expense of other people who want to sell their product without caring about their profits. Business is developed for gains to be achieved. Digital marketing offers a good opportunity to sell ideas and products; however, since the internet is available to every person and business, the competition also rises. Some owners, in need to attract many consumers, will place a discount on their products. However, that harms the ones that do not have discount rates thereby interfering with the productivity. The combined effect of promotions and discount rates on goods and services makes the advertising competition uneven. But in the case of traditional marketing, price sensitivity has no adverse effects on the goods and services (Degeratu 71). That can be attributed to a person-to-person relationship whereby products are sold at a personal level; hence, promotions and discounts are only placed at the convenience of the business owners. The competition is also limited since the majority of businesses shifted to digital marketing after the new technology had been invented, thus the few remaining traditional marketing businesses operating at their own pace without worrying about the production level of their rivals. The traditional firms also have loyal clients who do not prefer moving to online marketing, thus they do not worry much about spending their cash on their favorite places. They tend to understand the customs, quality, prices, discount, and promotion periods of the firms, therefore, do not complain much about the price of commodities.
Conclusion
Technology has managed to change society in how humans operate, communicate, and reason. It changed the traditional marketing system that involved the usage of telemarketing, prints, direct mail, and broadcast mail to the current digital marketing that encompasses the usage of the internet. Due to the changes, the two marketing systems also have different operating systems discussed in the paper. For instance, online marketing being cheap, faster in reaching many people, encompasses price sensitivity, involves market relationships, and is measurable and easy to track results. On the other hand, traditional marketing proves to be expensive, slower in reaching numerous people, not affected much by price sensitivity, involves also coordinating, planning, and controlling market activities. Both marketing strategies discussed have their differences, thus being beneficial to the society since none is perfect, with each having its own strengths and weaknesses. Currently, the majority of society members rely on online marketing, which can be connected to the rise of technological gadgets such as laptops, iPhones, and others. However, due to the saying that old is gold, some people who were used to traditional marketing have refused to shift to online marketing.
Works Cited
Ainscough, Thomas L. "The Internet for the rest of us: marketing on the World Wide Web." Journal of consumer marketing 13.2 (1996): 36-47.
Degeratu, Alexandru M., Arvind Rangaswamy, and Jianan Wu. "Consumer choice behavior in online and traditional supermarkets: The effects of brand name, price, and other search attributes." International Journal of Research in Marketing 17.1 (2000): 55-78.
Grossnickle, Joshua. The handbook of online marketing research: knowing your customer using the Net. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 2001.
Hollensen, Svend. Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education, 2010.
Wilson, Alan, and Nial Laskey. "Internet-based marketing research: a serious alternative to traditional research methods?" Marketing Intelligence " Planning 21.2 (2003): 79-84.
