Online versus traditional marketing

These days there are so many different ways to market your company's product or service.It's hard to choose just one option, especially with the prevalence of the internet in everyday life.We use the internet for business and pleasure; for school and information.It's also a great tool to use when marketing your business.So in order to help you decide if online marketing is right for you, here's a bit of information on online versus traditional marketing.

Marketing on the internet has many pros and cons.First of all, it can be a cheap and easy way to get your name, product and/or service out there.You can advertise your product or service for almost nothing, and websites are usually completely free.And think about all the people who are constantly perusing the internet looking for things to read, buy or amuse them.Just think about it- if you could post your product or service on the web for a minimal cost and know that thousands of people were surely going to see your information each day, wouldn't you do it?It is a great way to get people use to seeing your name and product information.And it's easy for them to find out more about you- with a quick click of the mouse, they can be on your company's homepage finding out more about your product, and maybe even purchasing it.

However, when you advertise on the internet, you are not requiring your potential consumers to have any sort of responsibility for your advertisement.This means that if you email someone about your product, or a pop up window appears on their screen, the person feels absolutely no guilt or obligation to reply to your email or look at your advertising pop up window.They don't see you or your product and know very little about you and your company, and so they feel no commitment to your product or service.

Another negative aspect of marketing online is that because of the low cost of posting an ad or sending mass emails, many unsavory characters have been attracted to the internet.People are sick and tired of getting SPAM mail in their inbox and seeing unclad women appear on their computer screens whenever they switch from webpage to webpage.Unfortunately, these rip-off artists have ruined the potentially rich source of marketing material for the rest of the world.

On the other hand, traditional marketing is a time-tested, proven way to market products and services.There is concrete evidence that sending out flyers, advertising on the TV or radio, printing advertisements in the news, etc. does indeed work as a marketing technique.With traditional marketing you get much more personal interaction with the potential customers.You can present more information in a shorter period of time, which may make the difference between a person wanting to find out more about your company and a person ignoring your marketing strategy.

Now, you also must remember that your particular type of business or the product or service that you offer will influence the type of marketing strategy that is best for you.For example, a company that was based solely on the internet (meaning it does not have a store that you can drive to and walk around in) might be best served by marketing their products on the internet.But that doesn't mean that they shouldn't also market in more traditional ways.There are hundreds of online businesses that market their products through television commercials, for example.The best way to find out which type of marketing you should do is just experiment with some different options until you find one that you like best.