We get it. At this point, we all know that marketing is necessary for your business. But do you know all the types of marketing you can use?

That’s right, there’s more than one way for you to market your services or products!

Knowing which types of marketing work for you will help in the long run. You can see an increase in sales, better communication with your customers and more trust within your community.

But all the different kinds of marketing can be a bit overwhelming, especially when you don’t know how many types there are! You also probably don’t have the time to research all the types of marketing and find out which ones best suit your needs.

We’re here to help you figure out which strategies best fit your time, budget and skill for the ultimate results. Let’s look at the pros and cons of marketing through traditional strategies, digital and online strategies and face-to-face strategies.

Traditional marketing strategies have stood the test of time. Print marketing has been in use since the ancient Egyptians created sales messages and wall posters on papyrus.

Loosely defined, traditional marketing strategies are all the strategies that businesses used before the widespread use of computers and the Internet. This includes printed and promotional materials, TV and radio advertisements, cold calling, direct mail marketing and newspaper articles or ads.

Generally, traditional marketing strategies have an extensive reach, are hard to ignore, and you can easily do them yourself. Unfortunately, these strategies make it hard to target your specific audience, cost a lot more and are less engaging.

Let’s dive deeper into specific traditional marketing techniques and their pros and cons.

Promotional materials are various documents or handouts that include information about your business. This can include business cards, brochures, marketing handouts or even branded products.

The pros of having promotional materials are that they’re cost-effective and you can have a variety of handouts to leave with prospects. This can make it easier for your business to stay top-of-mind and for your prospects to find your contact info. They can also serve as a physical document that shows your work or products.

Although, in today’s digital world, printed promotional materials are somewhat out of date. Most printed materials find themselves in the trash bin sooner rather than later. This is because printed materials are generally less engaging than other strategies. This being said, it is still beneficial for you to have digital versions of promotional materials ready to print in case you ever need to hand them out.

Pros:

• Cost-effective
• Different types of materials, i.e., marketing handouts, business cards
• Physical showcase of work

Cons:

• Outdated
• Less engaging
• Discarded quickly

TV and radio advertising aren’t just for the big businesses now. Placing advertisements is also available to you and your small business.

Because there’s usually more than one TV in a household and a radio in every car, these types of advertising have extensive reach. If you target local channels, you’ll have a greater chance of connecting with prospects around your area.

But most traditional advertising strategies are costly. These types of advertisements also don’t last as long and are difficult to measure. Using traditional advertisements also can be good or bad depending on your audience. Even though many people have TVs, the probability of them watching traditional television is lower. You’ll find that older generations of people are the ones who are still watching network TV.

Pros:

• Extensive reach
• Local audience
• Memorable

Cons:

• Hard to target a specific audience
• High costs
• High advertising clutter

Cold calling is probably something you’ve heard of before. It usually involves creating or buying a list of leads and then calling them to give them a deal or promote your business. Warm calling is similar to cold calling, except that the person is already somewhat interested.

The advantages of cold calling are that your business can reach new customers through a human connection. And continuously doing it will also help you nail down your sales pitch for any sales opportunity.

However, there are some negative connotations with cold calling. Most people on the other end will find it annoying. There’s also no guarantee that cold calling will help. It only works part of the time, and it may be hard to see big results. It also takes a large chunk of your time finding out who to call and actually doing it.

Pros:

• Reach new customers
• Master your sales pitch
• Gain relevant information and make a human connection

Cons:

• It can be annoying
• Only works part of the time
• Time-consuming

Many people, maybe even including you, only get bills and advertisements in their email these days. Because of that, there is an opportunity to get creative with original direct mail marketing tactics.

Most of the time, everyone throws junk mail directly in the garbage, but immediately opens personal notes or cards. So, sending personalized cards to your current customers, new customers can make them feel appreciated.

This method is also very measurable because it’s easy to track. You’ll know exactly when the mail is sent out and measure how many sales you get from that date. Direct mail marketing also has the highest response rate of all media, with direct mail hitting 9% compared to a 1% email response.

One problem with this tactic is that it is quite expensive. With direct mail marketing, you’re paying for each person to receive a piece of mail. Additionally, people get a lot of mail and tend to see this type of marketing as junk mail. Unfortunately, mail like this might go directly in the trash.

Therefore, if you choose this type of marketing, you’ll want to make sure it stands out and is worth the reader’s time. Make sure it’s genuine, and not just another sales tactic to get them to look at your content.

Pros:

• Highest response rate of all media
• A measurable media for cost and response
• High personalization

 Cons:

• Highest cost per exposure
• Over-saturation of the market (people get a lot of mail)
• Negative connotations about “junk mail”

Publishing articles, ads or letters to the editor gives you visibility and credibility. It’s a pretty strong marketing tactic that helps build your reputation and puts your name out there. It’s not just the newspaper either! You can also try getting published in local magazines or trade publications.

Additionally, you have many options for how much to write or the size of the advertisement because of the differences in ad sizes.

Depending on the newspaper, you might also reach a very broad audience. For example, The Chicago Tribune has a circulation of almost 900,000 people on Sundays.

Although this strategy reaches a lot of people, you may find that you’re only reaching a certain demographic of people. Like TV and radio advertising, newspapers tend to appeal to an older audience.

Pros:

• Viewed as trustworthy and credible
• Many choices in ad size
• Reach diverse audience in terms of geography

Cons:

• Not a long shelf life
• Not as engaging
• Appeals to a specific audience

Digital marketing is a broad term that refers to all types of marketing involving media that’s consumed online. This can include your website, social media, content marketing and email marketing. Today, digital marketing strategies are the most popular and most cost-effective.

Some general pros of digital strategies are that your business is accessible 24/7, it’s very affordable and you build authority. Unfortunately, these strategies do require a lot of learning, skill and time and you’ll have a lot of competition. Let’s dive deeper into digital marketing strategies.

Website marketing is the practice of attracting traffic to your website. Because the internet is always on, your website is marketing for your business 24/7. It may take a little work to get your website more visible, but it’s one of the easiest ways to reach your target market. This strategy is also an inexpensive way to bring in business.

The cons of this strategy are that you have a lot of competition on the internet. If done incorrectly, you won’t be found on the internet while your competitors are. It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to get your website working the way it should. You also won’t have immediate trust from people on the internet. It takes a lot of time to build authority and gain customers’ trust.

Pros:

• 24/7 marketing
• Reach target market easily
• Low-cost promotion strategy

Cons:

• Competition
• No instant trust
• Skill and knowledge required

SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a marketing technique that focuses on getting your website seen on search engines, like Google or Bing. This strategy is very complex and requires a lot of steps, like using related keywords, optimizing for mobile, making your website navigation easy to use, creating valuable content and more.

Internet users conduct millions of web searches every day, and SEO is one of the primary ways to drive traffic to your website. Once you optimize your website, you’ll start to see long-term growth over time. SEO can also increase your authority as an industry leader as you use relevant keywords to create valuable content for visitors.

The main drawback of SEO is it requires patience since results don’t happen right away. You’ll also find a lot of competition for certain keywords and phrases. Other businesses are trying to rank for the same keywords you are! It can also be expensive because it takes a lot of resources to build and maintain an optimized web presence.

Pros:

• Improved web traffic
• Improved web presence
• Gives you authority

Cons:

• Results are not instantaneous
• Very complex
• Competition

Email marketing is when you send emails to a list of current customers, people who have signed up on your website or leads you’ve gathered. This is the most efficient way of communicating with a large audience all at once. You can keep current and potential customers informed of all that’s going on with your business, like special deals, events and more.

Email marketing is also very affordable, customizable and measurable. Email marketing resources like MailChimp or Robly make it very easy for you to create your email, send it out and measure the results.

However, like traditional mail marketing, email marketing has a lot of congestion. People get hundreds of emails every day and tend to just mark them as read or move them to the trash without reading them. For this reason, your email needs to stand out and be worthy of the reader’s time. If it’s not written well, your email can feel impersonal and sales-y.

Email marketing is also time consuming. And it can be difficult to build email lists and get the campaign rolling.

Pros:

• Highest ROI of any digital marketing channel
• Build customer relationships
• Affordable and customizable
• Measurable

Cons:

• High competition for attention
• Requires consistency and time
• Can feel impersonal and sales-y

Social media marketing is the process of engaging with potential and current customers on social media channels, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can connect with your customers through content about your business, behind-the-scenes pictures and even contests on social media.

To get the most out of your social media marketing, you will want to choose a few platforms to master. After that, be consistent with posting content and interacting with your audience on each channel to get the best results.

Creating social media posts is also affordable and fast. The only time a cost may come in is when you decide to use social media ads. But posting and interacting with your audience is free!

This strategy does take a lot of time though. This is especially true if you want more brand awareness and to build a stronger connection with your customers. You must be consistent in regularly posting.

There’s also the risk of negative publicity if customers leave negative comments and reviews on your public pages. However, responding to these in an effective way will help mitigate the damage.

Pros:

• Low cost
• Can quickly create posts
• Close Interaction with customers

Cons:

• Time-consuming
• Long time on ROI
• Risk of negative publicity

Content marketing relates to creating and distributing content across multiple channels. The goal of content marketing is to produce content that will get attention and be shared by your readers or viewers. With your content, you want to guide a customer to action, whether that be buying your product or learning more about your business. Some specific types of content marketing include blog posts, podcasts, videos and infographics

Depending on what kind of content you develop, this strategy is relatively cheap and creates assets that last a long time. Creating valuable content can also build authority and help improve website, SEO and social media marketing.

However, creating quality content takes a lot of time and is challenging to manage. It’s important to consistently develop and create content to build authority in the digital space. And if you don’t have creative or writing skills, it may be more difficult for you than is necessary.

Pros:

• Cheap
• Creates long-lasting assets
• Builds authority

Cons:

• Challenging to manage
• Time-consuming
• Requires writing and creative skills

If you want your business to be more visible, face-to-face marketing strategies are something you should consider. This is because these strategies help you to develop strong and genuine connections with the people around you.

Some pros of these strategies are that you’ll build relationships and can gain new leads and clients. But face-to-face marketing can also be time-consuming, difficult to measure and expensive. Let’s take a closer look at some strategies within face-to-face marketing.

Networking is the strategy of growing your customer base by developing personal relationships and creating connections.

Fortunately, there’s more than one way to build your network. For example, you could join your local chamber of commerce or find professional organizations specific to your industry.

When you start networking, you’ll find that you have more access to ideas for your business, and you might find a few more clients when talking to others.

On the negative side, this type of marketing yields inconsistent results and can be expensive if the group requires fees. Plus, it does take up a bit of your time.

Pros:

• Make business connections
• Access to more ideas
• Gain new clients

Cons:

• Time-consuming
• Inconsistent results
• Expensive

Community involvement is a great way to build more awareness of your business. Some tactics include volunteering, being present at community events and putting together initiatives that help others.

By getting involved in your community, you help create a positive local environment while also giving your business a positive boost. Consumers are more committed to companies that give back, and a Fortune Magazine poll stated that millennials prefer companies that give back to the community.

The cons of community involvement are that it is time-consuming, your return on investment is hard to measure and there’s no guarantee of earning money while volunteering or getting involved in the community. Still, if you want your business to come off as community-oriented, you’ll want to take the time to get involved.

Pros:

• Positive reputation
• Connect with community
• Better customer relations

Cons:

• Time-consuming
• ROI is difficult to measure
• You don’t earn money while volunteering

Association and trade shows take place across the country and in many industries. Attending association and trade shows is a valuable marketing strategy for many reasons, especially if the show is local and specific to your industry. You can network with other businesses, get brand exposure and possibly find sales opportunities and leads.

Unfortunately, you will also have a lot of competition and it may cost a lot to set up a booth. There’s also no guarantee that you’ll find results attending one of these events.

Pros:

• Brand Exposure
• Business networking
• Lead generation and sales opportunities

Cons:

• Costs
• Competition
• Potential low results

Weighing all the pros and cons of marketing can make it difficult to decide which way to go. The team at Frontier Marketing in Fox Lake, IL, can help you! We can help you decide which strategies would work best for your company.

Most of the cons of these types of marketing are that they’re time-consuming and require skill or knowledge. We have the time and marketing expertise to help you get the best results. Contact us today to learn more!