We recently had the pleasure of having Claudia Berger from the digital marketing agency Digital Briefcase on our podcast. We had a great time chatting to her about the marketing world, how it’s changed. The biggest take-away we took from this chat was definitely just how beneficial digital marketing can be, and all the advantages that it has over traditional marketing techniques.
When we use the term ‘traditional marketing’ we’re referring to things such as newspaper ads, TV adverts, billboards etc. While these are definitely still in use today and do still work, they have some drawbacks compared to the digital world.
The first of these drawbacks is without a doubt the cost. You’d be amazed at how much traditional marketing techniques actually cost, even for a small ad in a newspaper. During our chat with Claudia we learned that a billboard can cost R100 000 for just one month! You might be thinking that it’s still worth it considering how many people will see a billboard on the side of the highway in Johannesburg.
Here’s the catch, you can imagine that a lot of people will see it, but you’ll never actually know how many did. Adding to the uncertainty, unless you ask each customer, you won’t know how many people actually bought your product because of that billboard. This means that you can estimate your return on investment (ROI) but you don’t have any concrete figures to base your future decisions on.
With all that in mind, we can talk about what is arguably the biggest advantage digital marketing has, numbers. With digital marketing techniques and services, you can measure exactly how many people have seen your ad, how many have clicked on it, who those people are, and how much they spent. This means you’ll know exactly how much money your ad has made compared to how much it cost, meaning you can accurately track your ROI.
All the other data you gain such as who is actually interested in your business and where they are gives you invaluable information on your target market. As we’ve discussed in one of our previous blogs, knowing your target market is absolutely essential when it comes to making informed decisions within your business.
So, digital marketing gives you accurate data about how much money your ad has made, and information about your client base. If something is giving you this much value, surely it must be super expensive? It’s not! With the ability for ads to target specific areas and demographics and having a very low cost of entry (you can even spend just R50 on a post) you can basically tailor your ad-spend to your current budget. The targeting also ensures that you aren’t spending money on people who simply aren’t interested or have no use for your product/service.
So if you’ve been using exclusively traditional methods of advertising, or you haven’t built an online presence for your business yet, now is definitely the time! Check out the full podcast with Claudia here.
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