Maybe it’s an inescapable trait of human beings to throw out the old in favor of the new. Cassettes replaced vinyl records, CDs replaced cassettes, and MP3s have largely replaced CDs. But was that really a linear path forward? If so, why do so many vinyl enthusiasts claim that we’ve never had that kind of audio quality since? People want the newest thing, but new doesn’t always mean better. The same dichotomy can be found in the present rush towards digital marketing.

Make no mistake about it, digital marketing is powerful. Your company should be taking advantage of tactics such as email campaigns, a strong social media presence, SEO, and perhaps even PPC advertising. But if you’re ignoring tried and true traditional marketing techniques such as direct mail, phone sales, and old media advertising, you could be making a big mistake. Thankfully, this is a choice you don’t have to make. The wise entrepreneur spreads his marketing budget over a wide swath of available approaches and will only eschew those campaigns that have failed already.

Combining Approaches

A multi-tiered marketing campaign can be an effective one. Online campaigns can be made more productive by augmenting them with TV campaigns and vice versa. This type of integration can be something as simple as advertising your Facebook page in a TV commercial or running ads for an online contest in the local newspaper. Has there been a general migration towards the Internet and away from traditional media? Of course. But that doesn’t mean old media has been left to rot, contrary to what many young up-and-comers believe.

4 Steps to Successful Integration

  1. Always use a powerful Call-to-Action. No advertising campaign—whether in the pages of a magazine or on the front page of Google—will succeed without this.
  2. Create a visual connection. Branding is important in business, but it becomes even more essential when combining new and old media strategies.
  3. Drive old media customers online. Plaster your traditional media campaign with Web addresses, QR codes, and other incentives to look you up online.
  4. Use custom landing pages for testing. By using individualized landing pages, you can easily test your marketing campaigns and ensure that you aren’t throwing good money after bad.