6 Ways to Combine Traditional & Digital Marketing

In today’s digitally connected world effective marketing campaigns that reach consumers across multiple channels are crucial to your business’ success, but, with so many strategies and tools at your disposal, where do you even begin?

We live in an exciting time in which we can reach customers in more ways than ever before by using data to deliver relevant and meaningful messages that are across both traditional and digital marketing channels. Even Marketing professionals who work in digital fields can sometimes underestimate the power of traditional marketing methods. To be successful it’s important to understand how traditional and digital marketing approaches can be combined to make marketing campaigns more effective. The best solutions often come from blending old-school methods with newer ones.

Cold Calling and Intent Data

Cold calling is becoming less effective as time goes on, but data remains one of a marketer’s most powerful assets. By combining traditional cold calling with intent data from digital platforms, the result is a surefire method to identify prospects who are ready and willing to do business with you. Intent Data can also convert that prospect into a lead with an email nurturing campaign turning warm leads into customers just as effectively.

Companies need every advantage they can get in order to succeed. When potential customers are researching your product or service online that means there is intent data that you can use. Intent data from mobile browsing habits allows you to know where your customers are coming from: keywords searches, and social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram posts. After all, something as simple as determining the online habits of your potential customers could help drive an SEO strategy for your website.

Keep a CRM or intent data database. You should have a way of following up with leads that you speak with in person. If you have their contact information, then follow up with them via email and social media. This is called intent data and can help determine if your prospect is actually interested in your product or service before investing more time in converting them into a lead.

Traditional Content Platforms and Geotargeting

Traditional platforms like print media don’t have to be discarded to make room for digital marketing; in fact, leveraging traditional platforms like print has its benefits. Geotargeting is one way that advertisers can blend data from both traditional media, like zip codes and physical addresses, and digital media, such as IP Addresses and location history from devices. This type of information can allow businesses like retailers that rely on foot traffic to appeal specifically to local customers, bringing users back into stores based on store location or providing exclusive discounts based on users’ previous purchases in-store.

The objective of targeting geographies is pretty straightforward—people want information that they specifically need at a specific time. By creating content through banner ads and on platforms like Facebook that have local intent data built into them, you can easily narrow down who sees your product and why. Geotargeting is also great for creating memorable branding opportunities at big events where there is an increased number of potential customers in one place at one time.

Print Media and Deep Media (or Omni-Channel) Nurturing

Deep media or Omni-channel nurturing refers to direct mail pieces that go hand in hand with website retargeting and social media advertisements. Essentially, companies use a combination of all marketing channels, including email, in order to create a consistent message for customers.

Depending on your niche, traditional print can still be a great channel for building brand awareness and credibility in your industry. However, before you just start buying ad space in local papers and journals, make sure you know how you’re going to interact with customers who call or email as a result of their exposure to your ad.

Consider things like:

• Do you have someone available during non-business hours?
• Will that person respond within 24 hours?
• What are they going to say if asked about an order?
• How will they handle complaints?
• How do they ship orders?

If it’s not convenient or consistent with your brand culture it’s probably best to leave this approach out of your customer interaction strategy until your employees are prepared for all possible scenarios.

Direct Mail and Lead Nurturing/Retargeting

Direct mail is a beneficial tool for many different businesses but is often relegated to sending brochures and samples. You can however also use direct mail as an effective way to target prospects in your database. Additionally, as personalization becomes more prevalent across all marketing channels, direct mail can serve as a perfect foundation for data-driven strategies like lead nurturing and retargeting campaigns. If you want your sales reps to nurture leads over time rather than writing them off), or if you want your brand message to follow consumers around while online, consider how direct mail might be able to do that for you. You may even find some creative ways, like printable coupons, to let your customers know about digital experiences they’ll enjoy after they’ve responded to print offers.

Your direct mail piece can contain a simple call-to-action, such as downloading an e-book, or scheduling a webinar. If someone does take action and provide their contact information, that person is then in your retargeting data pool meaning you can promote future content directly via their digital media behaviors.

Television + Streaming TV and Repurpose for Social Media

Television remains a very powerful medium for businesses looking to get their message in front of consumers. But now there’s streaming TV which is where things get really interesting. Streaming can now be delivered over all digital platforms, including Smart TV, mobile devices and desktop computers.

When you’re producing original content on social media, it can be hard to get eyeballs without a large ad budget and that’s why you need cross-channel promotion. If your target demographic watches TV and also follows your business on social media, then it makes sense for them to watch and share through social media. Even if they don’t share the post immediately, there is still a chance that your video will appear in their feed again in the future.

Traditional Radio and Programmatic Audio

Take advantage of traditional radio and programmatic audio as another way to reach out and connect with your target market. Programmatic or automated buying allows for extremely precise targeting. If you have an audience of lawyers in Chicago and want to reach them at certain times of day, with relevant content, on specific platforms (E.g., mobile versus desktop), then programmatic audio allows for that kind of granular targeting without any extra work from your agency or ad server team.

If you’re focused on building digital audiences, think about ways that traditional media can help. For example, if you have a content-rich website with long-form articles or white papers, contact a local radio station about repurposing your content for their airwaves or podcasts. Additionally, you could experiment with Facebook ads that lead people directly into audio-on-demand experiences via your podcast.

Many companies are now combining traditional and digital marketing methods by creating custom radio ads for specific audiences, broadcasting them through satellite radio or streaming platforms and pushing that audience to social media for more information.