It is no longer possible to ignore the fact that online marketing has experienced a tremendous rate of evolution over the past decade. In the past, the chief ways that you could expose your brand to the public were through the use of magazines, billboards, televisions and such media. However, now there is a new dawn that has arisen in the world of marketing and it has taken over by storm. This is digital marketing.
There are some experts in the field that can be quoted mentioning that digital marketing has surpassed the traditional way of marketing and rendered it obsolete. There are, however, others who have an opinion that digital marketing is just but a fleeting sensation and soon its flavor will die never to rise again.
Well, whoever is right between these two schools of thought is of little importance. The fact is that these two forms of marketing can co-exist in a harmonious fashion and work towards the expansion of your local brand giving you rewards like you have never seen before.
In as far as online marketing is concerned; businesses must look beyond the binary method of thinking if they hold any hopes of staying relevant in the fast-paced business world that we live in today. In order for these brands to stand out, they will need to make use of a mix of multiple online marketing tactics and strategies in order to get the most from the potential of their marketing and advertising.
The Great Chasm Between Online and Offline Marketing
Despite the fact that businesses have become more and more aware of the benefits of making use of both offline and online marketing tactics, there are very few businesses that have taken the time to integrate both in order to reap the full potential of these two.
Generally, most businesses have the perception that online marketing and offline marketing are two entirely separate machines that demand two different tactics. But the question is, are they really any different?
Well, to be entirely honest they are different. Nevertheless, as a marketer, you need to concert your efforts to avoid confusing your brand, and there is a very high likelihood of this happening if you have two separate marketing departments that are working autonomously. More often than not, the outcome is never good.
In today’s digital world it is commonplace that whenever a potential customer sees an advertisement on a billboard, they will follow up by just casually logging on to twitter to check if there is a social media ad for that brand. Now imagine what the outcome would be if those two campaigns, those two ads are making use of two completely different tones, strategies or voices?
From the perspective of the consumer, this is just one brand and not separate marketing departments and they will automatically be put off by lack of congruency. This divide between the two marketing strategies is one of the main reasons as to why your marketing campaigns need to ensure that both online and offline efforts are integrated.
The 4 C’s of Online Marketing
It is important that you make use of both the traditional and digital mediums to carry out the same campaign. For example, it is imperative that print ads have the same design and voice as an ad that is being run online. Additionally, the print ads should always encourage the consumers to go online; this may be to the actual website or to the social media accounts and it would be even better if they can go to both.
It is also important that you come up with a unique and useful hashtag to be used in your campaign and make use of this hashtag in all your marketing efforts. The essence of this is to ensure that you are getting your customers engaged while tapping into a larger audience.
Your business brand always needs to be aware of the 4 C’s in order to get the most out of the ROI in their campaign. The C’s are as follows:
- Coherence: It is important that the two kinds of communication are connected in a logical manner
- Consistency: You should ensure that all the multiple messages are working towards supporting and reinforcing the goal, and not in any way contradictory.
- Continuity: You should ensure that the communications have some sense of connectivity and are always consistent at all times.
- Complementary: You should ensure that there is some synergy in your marketing campaigns such that the sum of the individual parts should be greater than the whole.
An excellent example of an offline and online marketing campaign that is effectively integrated is done by none other than The Coca Cola Foundation. The Coca Cola brand has been known for
their consistent messaging, in so far as their primary brand is concerned. What is astonishing is that there are literally thousands of brand that are housed under the Coca Cola brand, in fact, there are so numerous that many people would have these products in their homes but they don’t even realize it.
However, thanks to the unwavering integrated marketing efforts of this company people are able to appreciate the Coke Classic brand. The brand recognition of Coca-Cola stands at a staggering 94 per cent. The Coca Cola brand is so recognized that studies have shown that the most common languages that are used in the world today are:
- Okay
- Hallelujah, and
- Coca Cola
What is the lesson that your brand and local business can learn from this?
Well, this simply shows that it is vital for businesses to concentrate on one chief piece of communication that disseminate from there. It is imperative that both the offline and online marketing efforts are linked to one another in a seamless manner in order for the campaign to be successful and not confusing to the end consumer.
Experts are of the opinion that for brands to get the message across and increase the overall brand awareness, then it is absolutely necessary to make use of every medium that is available to the consumer on a day to day basis.
It is imperative that the brand is present on multiple touch points. Therefore, you need to make sure that you have struck a balance between your offline and online marketing activities.