The Pros And Cons Of Online Vs. Offline Marketing

Online marketing, or digital marketing, is any type of marketing done on the Web, while marketing not done on the Web is considered offline marketing. Offline marketing is often referred to traditional marketing.

Online marketing often involves search engine optimization, email marketing, social media marketing, affiliate marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. On the other hand, offline marketing involves brochures, newspaper ads, radio ads, television ads, and word-of-mouth marketing.

Offline Marketing Pros

1. Offline marketing allows you to have a personal approach. Giving a brochure to a potential customer is much more personal than just sending emails to random people. Calling a lead is definitely more intimate than just letting people see a video of you.

2. It makes your business tangible. People can see your materials in person, not just on the computer.

3. It allows you to market to the older generations of your target audience, many of whom are not into computers.

Offline Marketing Cons

1. The results of offline marketing can be difficult to track and monitor.

2. Your reach can be limited. And your reach directly correlates to your budget.

3. Offline marketing is costly when it comes to resources: money, time, and labor.

Online Marketing Pros

1. Online marketings biggest advantage is cost. You can opt for low-cost strategies, and still experience big returns in terms of impressions and conversions.

2. It has global reach. You can expose your business to the whole world. You can also focus your marketing locally.

3. It’s always working. Your advertisements can be present anytime and all the time. You also have the option to target a specific time range, in order to reduce costs.

Online Marketing Cons

1. Building trust using online marketing is difficult. No one will just trust a company that sent them an email. The phrase, Not everything is true on the Internet, greatly hurts online marketing.

2. Competition is stiff on the Web. Since everybody can start a marketing campaign on a whim, you’ll need to get ahead in the rat race to get noticed by your audience.

3. There’s a steep learning curve. It can be difficult for a non-tech-savvy person to dive deep into online marketing from the get-go. Getting help from other companies also requires at least a decent amount of knowledge about online marketing, in order to prevent getting scammed and fooled by malicious organizations.

The Bottom Line

Yes, there are pros and cons for both types of marketing. However, if money is of no concern, both online and offline marketing can be utilized for optimum effect. On the other hand, if you have limited resources, one type of marketing is often good for certain industries, so you should do some research to find out what will work best for you.

Alternatively, if your business is new, it’s advisable for you to start with online marketing first, since it offers lower risks but has a huge possibility of having great returns. Your first step is to create a website and a social media account for your business.

Be reminded that when you start a website, you need to regularly maintain it. And in case you are still unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Web and websites, you should get the help of professional web developers.