Marketing Clinic Feature by Dee Blick of The Marketing Gym & award winning Chartered Marketer.
Traditional marketing including local advertising is alive and thriving!
Last year I attended an event at which the speaker asserted that traditional marketing was dead.
The only way forwards was
marketing on the web. Sadly, I did not have a rotten tomato to hurl at the stage, but refl ecting on her advice afterwards, what really disturbed me was that many people in that room were hanging on to her every word.
Her advice was wrong. Now before we go any further, I want to reassure you that I am hugely in favour of online marketing being a voracious blogger, twitterer and online networker. What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that traditional marketing - local advertising, networking, direct mail, PR etc still works for millions of small businesses.
Let’s examine this more closely. The role of marketing is to communicate our products and services eff ectively to the people that have a deep underlying need to buy from us, and for these people to buy in suffi cient quantities for us to be profi table. We have to identify the communication channels that lead us to our potential buyers. This may or may not include social networking and online advertising. Even then, one particular online channel although eff ective may not in itself be the only route to riches.
A blended approach off ers the potential of a higher return with a lower risk. Let me illustrate this with one of my retained clients. They sell motor repair products through 1500 car accessory shops and motor factors.
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the last six years, we have increased sales by a staggering £1 million through a blend of ‘traditional marketing’; advertising, product off ers, PR and point of sale promotions. My client’s trade buyers are not especially Internet savvy.
Getting their e-mail address is like pulling teeth.
The social networks in which his
products are talked about by the end users are independent and any attempts by him to hijack them would be met with outrage.
If I
suggested to him that traditional marketing was dead, he would eject me from the building. Now, as an experienced marketer, I can see the fl aws in what the speaker said. What concerns me is the small business owner taking the advice at face value and plunging into social networking and online advertising - abandoning tried and tested traditional marketing communications simply because the Emperor’s new Clothes were on the face of it more appealing than his existing wardrobe. Not a good idea.
Does local advertising work? You bet it does. For millions of small businesses and millions of potential customers local advertising is the perfect matchmaker. It brings the two together on a shoestring budget. You’re reading this article in a local magazine now aren’t you?
In To advertise in thewire t. 07720 429 613 e.
the.wire@btinternet.com
Clinic
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