Udonis Inc.

Posted on Dec 16, 2019

Mobile Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing (Advantages, Pros and Cons)

While some proclaim traditional marketing is dead, others still hold on to it. So who’s right?

Since the mobile marketing vs. traditional marketing debate is still going on, we’re going to weigh in on it. If you ever wondered what the advantages and disadvantages of each one are, now you’re going to find out. We take an honest look at both traditional and mobile marketing to see which one is better. Based on facts, not wishful thinking.

Traditional Marketing Pros and Cons

Is traditional marketing relevant in 2020? Should you still use traditional marketing techniques? What are its benefits? These are all important questions.

Let’s look at traditional marketing pros and cons to see how it stacks up.

Pros

Easy to Understand

One of the biggest advantages of traditional marketing is that people are used to it and understand it easily. Everybody knows what a TV commercial is or how to read a billboard ad. Traditional marketing channels are easy to grasp and deliver the message in a very simple way.

It’s Tangible

Something that mobile marketing lacks is things we can touch, feel, and keep in our home. Whether it’s a coupon made from actual paper or a newspaper ad you can hold in your hands, traditional marketing is big on tangible objects.

However, it is questionable whether that aspect of traditional marketing is something a significant number of consumers miss.

Face-to-Face

When it comes to sales, an experienced salesman may find it easier to communicate with a potential customer face-to-face or at least by phone. It is a much more direct approach to selling than a social media ad or a text message.

However, direct selling methods don’t allow you to reach enough people. You can reach millions of people with a Google ad almost instantly. How many can you call or talk to in person in one day?

Cons

It Costs a Lot of Money

When you consider how expensive traditional marketing is, you start wondering whether it’s even worth it. For example, Adage reports that the average cost of a 30-second TV commercial was $115,000 in 2019. If you want to place your ad during the Super Bowl, you will pay more than $5 million. That’s a lot of money to spend considering less and less people watch TV. On the other hand, the average cost for a PPC Google ad is just $2.

It begs the question is traditional marketing worth the cost? Especially when you consider that the performance of traditional ads is currently very questionable. Not to mention very hard to track.

Difficult to Track and Measure Results

When it comes to traditional marketing methods like print or TV ads, it’s very hard to measure the results of a campaign. For example, you spend thousands of dollars on a TV ad but have no way of tracking ROI. How can you know how many people that saw your TV ad liked it and went on to purchase your product? Can you know how many were interested, but didn’t make a purchase? Not really. A lot of it is based on guesswork and estimation.

You could do surveys and ask people, “Hey, how did you hear about our company? Was it our TV ad or our billboards?” But that data may not be complete or correct. Plus, it sounds so outdated when you consider we have access to modern digital marketing.

Less Engaging and Not as Effective

In the age of the Internet and social media, traditional ads are not as engaging as they used to be. It’s hard to draw attention to them. You can make the best billboard ad ever, but what’s the point when most people are not going to notice it because they’re looking at their phones all the time?

Look at direct mail. Do you think people in this day and age even open up their mail unless it’s something really important? Of course they don’t. They throw it into the recycling bin immediately. We even pay our bills electronically.

It’s Outdated

I’m sorry to break it to you, but traditional marketing is kind of outdated. Yes, it might work in some respects, but let’s be honest, it’s dying out. People’s habits have changed. The way they consume content has changed. Traditional marketing methods don’t have the power to engage the average consumer. People want exciting, eye-catching, and interactive content that will grab their attention. Traditional marketing doesn’t do that for people anymore.

Traditional marketing channels are either disappearing or going online. Just look at newspapers, direct mail, and TV. According to Statista, the United States Newspaper industry shrunk by more than $4.5 billion in the last couple of years.

Companies that still hold on to traditional marketing and refuse to embrace current marketing methods are in big trouble.

When it comes to marketing, one of the most important things is to keep up with the times and embrace current trends. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time and money while you slowly disappear and end up forgotten.

Mobile Marketing Pros and Cons

What’s the state of mobile marketing in 2020? What are its main advantages and disadvantages? How does it compare to traditional marketing? Let’s take a look at some mobile marketing pros and cons.

Pros

Many Different Channels to Choose From

There’s a plethora of mobile marketing channels you can utilize. Your website, social media, email, SMS marketing, apps, etc. Each of those are effective and current, unlike traditional marketing channels. Plus, mobile marketing trends like voice search, voice-activated ads, AI, and AR are going to rule 2020 and years to come.

Reach Your Audience Anywhere and Anytime

There’s no delay in mobile marketing. The messages you want to send to the users are received instantly. That cannot be said for traditional marketing methods. We live in a fast-paced world where information needs to be spread quickly, and mobile marketing is the perfect way to do that.

You’re no longer constrained by the borders of your country, town, or region. You can target anybody who has a mobile device no matter which side of the world they’re on. Btw, that’s 5 billion mobile users globally, according to Hootsuite.

Better Targeting and Personalization Options

With mobile marketing techniques, you can choose exactly who to target and what message you want to send out. The ability to personalize messages you send out is one of the big advantages of mobile marketing. That result is content and ads that are highly relevant to the users. In fact, according to eMarketer, 35% of users want more personalized content.

Less Expensive

If you’re smart and effective with your mobile marketing campaign, it will cost you a lot less than a traditional one. You need to have a huge budget to be able to pay for TV commercials, radio ads, and giant billboards. That’s why small businesses struggled in the age of traditional marketing. Mobile marketing, on the other hand, is not as expensive, but equally or more effective.

For example, you need to pay about $10,000 for a full-page newspaper ad. A social media ad that reaches 1000 people will cost you only a few dollars.

Also, you can do social media and content marketing for free in case you have no marketing budget at all, which is not that uncommon for small startups. It’s not only doable but can be quite effective. That’s why mobile marketing, and digital marketing in general, is so exciting for small businesses. It brings them endless possibilities. That’s why the time we live in right now is so exciting. It’s abundant with opportunities.

Easier to Track Results

When you create a mobile marketing campaign, you can track all the important metrics that help you see how successful it is. Marketers rely heavily on data, which is why mobile marketing is superior to traditional marketing methods. You can see exactly how many people clicked on your social media ad or how many daily active users your app has. You can find out who those people are and what are their interests and behaviors. All the data is right there.

You can’t do that with traditional marketing. There’s no way of knowing how many people saw your newspaper ad or how people engaged with it. You can only guess, and that’s not what marketing is all about.

Cons

Privacy Issues

The only concern when it comes to mobile marketing is the various privacy issues that have come up. Users’ mobile data is used for different types of targeted advertising. An example is location-based mobile marketing or sending push notifications. That’s ok, but only if users agree to it and opt-in. Otherwise, it’s spamming. People nowadays are very careful about their data and privacy, which is why we have laws and regulations like GDPR.

So the challenge for mobile marketers is to remain transparent and be ethical at all times.

Mobile Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing: A Summary

If we weigh in all the pros and cons it is obvious that mobile marketing wins. I’m not saying that traditional marketing doesn’t have any advantages because it certainly does. However, traditional marketing techniques are outdated. They just make no sense in 2020. We’ve moved on. That’s the cold hard truth about traditional marketing. It concludes the mobile marketing vs. traditional marketing debate well. Businesses who are stuck in their old marketing ways are going to fail miserably. Don’t be one of them and create your mobile marketing strategy ASAP!

Read More About Mobile Marketing

About Udonis:

In 2018 & 2019, Udonis Inc. served over 14.1 billion ads & acquired over 50 million users for mobile apps & games. We’re recognized as a leading mobile marketing agency by 5 major marketing review firms. We helped over 20 mobile apps & games reach the top charts. Want to know how we make it look so effortless? Meet us to find out.