Marketing has evolved throughout the years. It was as simple as handing out flyers to dozens of people in the street many years ago. Now we have all sorts of marketing, from TV ads to internet ads, the world of marketing has it. However, with these things in mind, one question is in every marketer’s mind, which is better traditional marketing or the more modern influencer-based marketing?
At this point, this seems like a decade-old question, and yet there isn’t a real answer to it as of now. As consumer perceptions change every year, our marketing strategies change alongside them too. But are modern techniques such as influencer-based marketing strategies truly more superior? First, let’s discuss each marketing strategy and what they can offer to the table.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing has been around since the dawn of marketing. It’s what we’ve been using, and it’s reliable and works reasonably well today. Traditional marketing has garnered a massive family of TV, radio, and newspaper ads. It has even adopted outsourced telemarketing or telesales as part of its family. All of these ads are reliable in informing and selling products to consumers.
We can’t also ignore that each traditional marketing strategy is worth millions of dollars. For example, the TV ads market has billions of dollars in funding. That’s pretty huge, but it’s not the only one that has that amount of funding. Huge companies spend billions of dollars on telemarketing too.
Traditional marketing is nowhere near being irrelevant. On the contrary, it’s still a reliable marketing option for all companies, big or small alike.
Influencer-based Marketing
For short, influencer-based marketing, or influencer marketing, is a brand-new form of marketing that utilizes the growth of influencer sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. It’s very different from the marketing we know, changing how we view marketing.
Many younger marketers rely on this kind of marketing because it’s cheap. It’s all about connections in influencer marketing. You can market products and companies cheaply if you have the right connections. Moreover, it’s all about ‘I scratch your back, you scratch mine,’ where influencers do favors for other influencers.
Moreover, these influencers are paid a lot to advertise specific products. Cristiano Ronaldo, a well-known football player, is known to charge $1.6 million per influencer advertisement. Another example is Kylie Jenner, who asks for more than $800,000 in payment.
No one will be spending this amount on influencer marketing unless it works fairly well, and from expert analysis, it works well. Many startups have known influencer marketing as a success overnight, and product sales can skyrocket after an influencer’s post. The numbers are tangible, and they look good.
Impact on Marketing
Now that we’ve discussed each marketing strategy, it’s time for us to weigh each option and which is considered better. First, let’s talk about generational influences.
Generational Influences
When it comes to the age of consumers, it seems that traditional marketing has gotten the attention of those who are older. Although older consumers are smaller in number, they currently have the highest spending power. On the other hand, influencer marketing appeals to those who are younger. Younger consumers might not have the fraction of the spending power of the older generation, but they will eventually get to that point. Many marketers consider influencer marketing as an investment because of this.
Brand Building
Next up is brand recognition and building. Branding is essential to every company today. This is the exact reason why Coca-Cola is a billion-dollar company today. Among the two, traditional marketing has taken the crown for better brand recognition and building.
Marketers argue that many companies who utilize influencer marketing ride off the influencer’s fame. This means that without the influencer, there will be no brand. If the influencer chooses to advertise a competitor’s product at some point, there is a huge chance that their followers will choose the influencer over the brand.
Affordability
However, if we look into the cost of each, influencer marketing is by far the cheapest. You don’t need to pay the hot stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylie Jenner for your influencer marketing strategy to be effective. You can opt for those that have about 500,000 followers below to advertise your product. They can deliver enough reach to help your company get new customers.
You’re bound to only spend a couple of thousands of dollars on average by utilizing influencer marketing. That’s compared to the average million-dollar costs of traditional marketing.
When we look back into it, each marketing strategies have their strengths and weaknesses. A combination of both would be ideal but risky. If you’re a new company, we suggest that you stick with influencer marketing. However, if you’re earning millions of dollars every year, it might be better to go traditional so that you can build your brand.
