Internet Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing: Two very different approaches
The approach to marketing on the Internet and the approach to traditional marketing are two very different animals. Traditional Marketers strive to find a publication or media source that reaches a target demographic, either by age, gender, income, interest or other that best fit the product’s target market. It is a constant subtraction game, narrowing the field from “everyone” down to a specific demographic who read a specific publication, and even then there is no guarantee the consumer will take notice the advertisements.
Internet marketing is the exact opposite.
Internet marketing starts with a consumer who is looking for something specific in a search. The search then finds relevant information from the web and presents it to the consumer. Here the consumer is actively looking for the product or service. It is the internet marketer’s strategy to place their product in front of the consumer when they are looking to buy. According to Internet World Statistics, 71.4 % of the US population uses the Internet. Of those internet users, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found in a 2003 study, 67.1% of managers and professionals use the Internet at work. In the last 5 years, those numbers have surely grown, so we can only assume that your target customer is online, either at home or at work.
Traditional Marketing uses demographics to attempt to narrow a large population down to a targeted ‘potential’ viewer.
Internet Marketing is the opposite, requiring no demographics, because the targeted viewer (consumer) is the one searching for the specific content.
Suite 171 will help you understand the differences between how you market “offline” and how you must market online. We will also help you understand how to use what you’re already doing in your traditional marketing to increase your online effectiveness. The two different approaches to marketing can and do work well together and Suite 171 can show you how to make it happen.
