Marketing Communication Methods
Should we use traditional marketing or digital marketing? This question is top-of-mind for all marketers. The decision to use one platform or outlet can mean the difference between success or failure. Evaluating each option is time-consuming but essential for forming a cohesive, meaningful marketing effort. This section looks at a variety of traditional media activities, including advertising, public relations, sales promotions, and direct marketing. It also explores digital marketing, including websites, interactive tools, content marketing, SEO (search engine optimization), and other strategies. As you read, consider the criteria you might need to use when determining which strategies are right for your organization and offerings.
Digital Marketing: Inform, Entice, Engage
The Imperative to Use Digital Marketing
For virtually every organization that wants to do business in the world today, having some level of digital marketing presence is a requirement. A we site is quite literally an organization's digital address and calling card. People of all ages routinely use Web searches for information that shapes their purchasing decisions; using the Web helps them decide where to look, what to buy, where to find it, and how much to pay. Marketers must develop useful Web content and engage in search engine optimization (SEO) strategies in order to make sure their websites will be found when people come looking.
Social media marketing helps organizations tap into the power of word-of-mouth sharing, so that people hear about a company, product, or brand from trusted sources. Social media allow marketers to foster communities and listen in on timely conversations about their brands and products, providing insight into what's working or not working with their marketing or the customer experiences they provide. Email and mobile marketing reflect the dominant communication patterns in the developed world as well as in many developing countries. Communicating with prospects and customers effectively requires marketers to use these common, everyday tools.
Digital marketing tools are an integral part of most IMC campaigns, as they provide digital communication support to target and reinforce campaign messages and activities in other media. Examples of digital marketing tools supporting broader IMC activity include the following:
- Media companies host and monitor forums for fans to live-tweet during broadcast and cable TV programs, such as The Walking Dead and Empire, including commentary on the programming, advertising, the entertainment "brand," and nature of the fan community.
- Companies routinely upload television ads to YouTube and then work to create "buzz" by promoting this content through their websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
- Well-designed Web content such as research reports, articles, and e-books are used as informational giveaways to generate interest and cultivate leads during trade shows, conferences, and personal selling activities.