\u2018So what?\u2019, you might be asking. Well, consider this. Much of the recent marketing talk (more like a loud roar, really) in the news media has focused mostly on social media. Valuations of Facebook at USD$10-billion, LinkedIn\u2019s IPO at USD$3-billion but growing post-launch to nearly USD$9-billion, and Google and Facebook mulling a takeover of Twitter, have all highlighted the marketing potential of social media. Why else would website companies be worth so much? Their only source of value is the subscriber data they make readily available to marketers who can use it to create highly cost-effective and very targeted marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

So why would traditional media ad spends increase by so much when powerful social media is competing with them for advertisers\u2019 dollars? Traditional marketing media is less targeted than social media, and they don\u2019t provide near-real-time tracking data that social media can. And yet, these companies are spending more on traditional media?<\/p>\n

Look at the industries with the biggest spends. 80% of them are mature industries that are older than the Internet. These are industries that helped create contemporary advertising. They know what it means to engage in marketing. They virtually invented it. Why haven\u2019t they jumped on the bandwagon and put all that money into social media?<\/p>\n

The fact is, all of the biggest spenders in traditional marketing know something that the news media hasn\u2019t yet made public. Smart marketers know that social media on its own will deliver only so many prospective clients. They know that social media is cluttered with hundreds of millions of people all broadcasting their own updates and brand preferences all at the same time. The clutter is made worse when you throw in advertising and contesting. Competing for attention is becoming tougher on social media.<\/p>\n

They also know that, more than anything, the goal is to drive people to the company\u2019s website where the company\u2019s story can be told in greater detail, where trust can be built, and products can be sold. While it is possible to use social media for reaching out to customers, it is much more effective when you complement a social media campaign with traditional marketing methods. The traditional marketing media act as wide-cast nets, engaging and funnelling prospective clients into social media, and sending them on to the website or in to a store.<\/p>\n

In short, traditional media makes prospective customers aware of you. Create enough interest, and they will go to your website to learn more about you. Do it right, and they will refer via social media friends and family to your company.<\/p>\n

Online marketing has become an imperative inclusion in every organisation\u2019s marketing toolkit. It is now, more than ever before, a strategic consideration that must be treated separately to advertising and promotion, and be given equal attention to all other marketing endeavours if it is going to achieve optimal results. As a component of an integrated marketing strategy, online marketing will achieve optimal results when it meshes with a traditional media campaign.<\/p>\n