Effective marketing improves brand visibility and reach and is one of the key elements of continuing success, so understanding its different forms is vital. Today, tangible advertising and digital advertising are the two main elements of marketing that drive business growth. So, what’s the best way to advertise your products?
Are print ads like flyers and newspapers and physical branded items enough to keep you on top of the competition? Or is it time to switch from traditional products to digital options like email marketing or online ads? What about a combination of these powerful marketing methods? This post covers the differences between tangible and digital advertising to help you find the best option for your brand.
Tangible Advertising vs. Digital Advertising
Marketing comes in two forms: tangible and digital. The primary difference between the two is that traditional advertising relies on tangible items that can be touched, heard and smelled. Digital advertising is done mostly on the internet using digital technologies. Examples include websites, blogs, YouTube videos and banner ads.
The differences between tangible marketing and digital marketing go far beyond smelling and touching products. Let’s look deeper into the qualities that separate the two methods and why both are part of a robust advertising strategy.
Understanding Tangible Marketing
People are familiar with traditional advertising. It’s involved in many regular activities, such as reading billboards off the highway or receiving product samples in the mail. A well-thought-out tangible marketing strategy entails knowing your audience and creating relationships through the engagement of senses.
Promotional products offered at trade shows and other big events are popular examples of tangible marketing. Swag is widely used among businesses to expand brand awareness and visibility. These branded items can also create a unique company culture that most employees appreciate.
With this type of marketing, advertisers can reach a local audience and the materials are kept. This helps form deeper connections with customers, as they can browse through the items again and again.
Perhaps the strongest benefit of tangible marketing is brand loyalty. Placing a promotional item into the hands of customers shows that you understand their needs. Such interaction with potential clients and recurring customers on a personal level shapes a solid relationship. And by giving individuals merchandise with your brand that they can wear or use, you inadvertently transform them into walking advertisements.
You can also use these items to give prospects direct access to your email, phone number and social media accounts. In a world where people are consumed by online advertisements, tangible marketing is refreshing and memorable.
Some of the industries that benefit from tangible marketing, specifically brand swag, include:
- Sports: Wearing branded merchandise is a typical scene in a sports game. Capitalize on this culture and provide branded apparel and accessories that showcase support and affiliation to your team. Some of the most common sports merchandise are caps, jerseys and shirts.
- Corporate: In a corporate setting, promotional products are deemed essential to stand out from the competition and create a lasting impression among clients. Tangible marketing items, like swag, allow businesses to showcase their identity while offering customers something beneficial.
- Education: Colleges and universities also make use of branded merchandise to represent their school or department. The variety of tangible products for the educational sector is impressive, ranging from writing materials to identification accessories like lanyards and name badges.
Understanding Digital Marketing
Digital marketing may not put physical products into customers’ hands, but it is certainly effective in terms of promoting products and generating brand awareness. With digital advertising, you can reach highly targeted audiences, choose how content will be received and measure campaign performance.
Digital content can also be interactive and done in real-time. This helps build strong brand-customer relationships. As you learn about your audience and their behaviors, you can use this data to tweak your campaigns. Unlike physical products that are printed and ordered ahead of time, digital marketing allows you to jump in and make changes that result in greater success.
Why Both Methods Are Necessary
Tangible marketing should support digital marketing and vice versa. For example, trade show attendance benefits from both tangible and digital efforts. Your booth might include signage, interactive activities and branded merchandise for investors to take home. To get people excited, you might promote the event on your blog and use social media to share photos and updates.
In the end, don’t feel that you need to take an all-or-nothing approach. Use both tangible and digital advertising to reach customers, generate brand awareness and build stronger connections.
Develop an Effective Marketing Strategy With Inkwell
Tangible advertising and digital marketing methods work hand in hand in improving business success. Employ digital marketing to create a broader audience and back it up with traditional techniques to optimize your brand further.
Inkwell Global Marketing can help you boost your brand through high-quality, creative brand products at reasonable prices. Fill out our contact form to learn more about our service and find different marketing solutions for company visibility and growth.
