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Last Updated on April 30, 2021 by Work In My Pajamas
With the increasing importance of social media in everyday life, the exact nature of how a startup should balance marketing between digital outlets and more traditional means of advertising is an important question. With the high stakes and limited resources of a startup, weighing your options and striking a balance can prove crucial to the ultimate success or failure of your enterprise.
In This Post:
The Case for Digital Marketing
Perhaps the greatest advantage of digital marketing, especially for startups, is the fact that it is, at least at the lowest level, free. Effectively utilizing social media accounts can bring absolutely enormous amounts of attention to your startup for absolutely no cost. Some companies, like Ballantine, know that the potential to bring in greater numbers of customers and a greater amount of exposure than print advertising makes digital marketing highly appealing. While social media is free, it is by no means certain in terms of success.
Circulation
A still risky, but more reliable way of garnering brand awareness is to purchase online ads. While this does require an investment, it is a much surer method of gaining brand awareness than gambling on social media success. Compared to print advertising, it has a broader circulation. Internet sites have a far greater level of readership than even the more well-known print media.
The Case for Print
While print marketing has fallen out of favor in the digital age, it still retains some advantages over new media, especially for startups. Customer retention is a major factor in growing a brand, and word of mouth is far better than any advertising campaign. Print advertising allows a startup to better target locals and guarantee that potential customers actually see the advertisements.
Digital Products and Services
There is much more content on the internet, making it easy for digital campaigns to be lost in the sheer volume of content. It’s also difficult to ensure that potential customers end up seeing the online campaign. Even for startups that provide digital products or services, local print advertising can still pay off. People are more inclined to support local startups than distant, faceless corporations.
In the end, it is clear that a combination of digital and print methods are needed for a successful public facing company in the modern era. Contemporary start-ups cannot survive without both a core customer base that can attest to the quality of product along with a vivacious digital presence that allows the company’s brand to spread virally.
