The Power of Traditional Marketing Channels

The Power of Traditional Marketing Channels:

While new marketing channels are probably here to stay, don’t disregard the power of traditional marketing channels. Direct mail with targeted GIS marketing, trade shows, newspaper advertising, radio and television, Email and telesales won’t be out of the picture soon, if ever.

According to an article on destinationCRM.com, titled Never Underestimate the Power of Traditional Methods, the power of traditional channels is as strong as that of social channels. Written by Paul Greenberg, president of consultancy The 56 Group, he states:

“ the power of traditional channels is as strong as that of social channels. Traditional channels are much harder to measure, don’t scale the same way, and thus are a lot less sexy. As a result, they aren’t given the importance they deserve.”

“Want at least a self-satisfying personal proof? Answer three questions:

1. If given the choice of being quoted in TechCrunch or The New York Times, which would you choose? 2. If given the choice of a half-hour video podcast that would be broadcast on a YouTube channel or a half-hour TV show on NBC, which would you choose? 3. If given the choice of self-publishing a book on the Web or having one done in print by a major publisher, like McGraw-Hill, which would you choose?”

He goes on to say: “The evidence is more than anecdotal. For example, just three years ago, DMG Consulting, run by contact center management guru Donna Fluss, developed a statistic that belies what people believe. Seventy-seven percent of all Gen Yers—the generation that lives on and for the social Web—prefer a phone contact when trying to resolve a problem.

Moreover, traditional channels still represent the bulk of consumer interactions with customer service. Communications software provider Nuance released a study in April that said, “When asked about their preferred methods for receiving customer service support, there was a fairly even split among: speaking with a live agent via mobile phone and/or landline phone, speaking over chat or IM, using a Web site, and sending an email.”

Note that Twitter and Facebook weren’t in the mix. Given that this was a Twitter usage survey, the result is even more eyebrow raising.

Another April study, titled “From Social Media to Social CRM,” by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, revealed that 70 percent of all the participants in social channels do it strictly for personal reasons, and only 23 percent interact with a company’s brand.”

Last, but not least, he states that “Never underestimate the power of offline, traditional channels. They still represent a substantial way to influence buying decisions and solve problems.

What channels are you using? How are they working to influence your customers and solve your challenges? We’d like to hear about your current ROI results between traditional marketing and social media marketing.