Businesses of all sizes and types have no choice but to create value through all customer touchpoints to survive and sustain themselves. Advertising was a great practice then and is even now. However, modern marketing is different, and there is a wide mismatch of the industry mindset. Advertisements rose from being generic, a mass communication activity, to being more personalized and need-based, driven purely by customer behaviors and demographics.

Today, advertising is not just about branding; it widely discusses the brand and society, creating higher levels of engagement and trust. There is more transparency, control, creativity, and access to ads. Precisely, ads are designed with customer knowledge.

Due to digitization and sophisticated technological advancements, most of the advertising techniques that worked a few years ago may or may not work today. Does this mean they are obsolete? Will a few models continue to coexist with the new-generation methods? What new value-creation opportunities does the new digital advertising offer to businesses? Is it purely created for ROI benefit? Does it create a better experience for customers? What does the future of advertising look like? Will there be any takers for the traditional methods of advertising? 

Here, GoodFirms is attempting to get answers to all the above questions. This survey, titled “Traditional Advertising Vs. Digital Advertising,” aims to share the benefits and drawbacks of traditional and digital advertising. It also attempts to shed light on the transition of advertising methods with the rising dominance of digital marketing and multiple touchpoints.

Introduction

Advertising has been the catalyst for helping businesses grow for centuries. Although the modes of advertising have evolved from time to time, the purpose has remained consistent. 

Traditional advertising comprises a number of ways to convey a brand’s message, including newspapers, television broadcasts, flyers, and radio broadcasts, among others. While the traditional form of advertising is capable of racing the masses and has its own credibility, it has surely lost its charm in recent years. 

Modern-day advertising includes social media advertising, in-app advertising, live streaming, and search engine optimization, to name a few. Modern advertising is purely based on the client’s demands. Whether it is branding or rebranding, integrated marketing via well-planned adverts using modern technologies is interesting, easily reachable, and result-oriented. 

Traditional advertising and digital advertising both have their own advantages and drawbacks. It is crucial to understand how businesses perceive traditional and digital advertising and how they differ from each other. Prior to the 1980s, most businesses had a budget only for traditional advertising, but with digitization, with the proliferation of devices, internet, and social media applications, more businesses are favoring modern-day digital advertising - a method that is easy, effective, affordable, measurable, and real-time.

GoodFirms, in an attempt to understand the role of the type of advertising implemented in growing a business and what an effective advertising strategy must look like, conducted a thorough research titled “Traditional Advertising Vs. Digital Advertising.”

Survey Data and Analysis

With the growing popularity of digital advertising, there has been a section in the business world of the view that traditional advertising is on the verge of extinction. However, with the urge to understand the current business environment and advertising channels being used, GoodFirms conducted a survey seeking the views of businesses on the state of the advertising media. 

GoodFirms’ survey queried 760 businesses (national and international) to know the adoption of advertising methods and their benefits and drawbacks for their business. The survey attempts to gather data on the current marketing trends, interests, methods, and outcomes.

Adoption of Advertising Methods

When asked about the advertising channels being leveraged, the survey revealed that digital advertising is being used for promoting products by over 64.9% of the businesses.

While merely 2.7% of the businesses solely rely on traditional advertising, more than 32% of the surveyed businesses use a combination of both traditional and digital advertising.

Budget Allocation

When asked about the budget allocation for traditional advertising, 59.9% of the businesses allotted less than 25% of their marketing budget for traditional advertising.

While 15.3% of the businesses admitted to allotting between 26% to 50% of their marketing budget for traditional advertising, a little less than 4% of the businesses allot 51% to 75% of their marketing budget for traditional advertising.

A mere 1.3% of businesses allot more than 75% of their marketing budget for traditional advertising. Interestingly nearly 19.8% survey respondents do not have a marketing budget allocated for traditional advertising. This percentage of businesses either have completely progressed towards modern-day advertising methods, or they don’t rely on any advertising methodologies.

When it comes to digital advertising, there are businesses allocating budgets for advertising based on their requirement and their overall budget. Around 14.1% of the businesses allot less than 25% of their marketing budget for digital advertising. About 22.4% of the businesses allot between 26% and 50% of their marketing budget for digital advertising, and around 33.8% of the businesses allot 51% to 75% of the budget for digital advertising.

Nearly 30% of businesses allot more than 75% of their marketing budget for digital advertising.

When asked about the future plans of the businesses regarding their investment in advertising campaigns, a whopping 66.5% of the businesses are willing to increase their investment in digital advertising.

Around 27.2% of the businesses said that they would decide their investment in advertising based on future trends.

Nearly 3.7% of the businesses do not intend to increase their investment in any form of advertising, whereas only 2.6% of the businesses intend to increase their investment in traditional advertising.

Why is Traditional Advertising Still Relevant?

Traditional advertising deals with the mass media that were predominantly used by businesses for advertising. These advertisements were meant to spread the brand messages to a larger audience irrespective of their interests. 

The best examples of traditional advertising include TV advertising, radio advertising, newspaper advertising, cinema advertising, billboards, and telephone advertising. 

With the growing shift towards digital advertising, traditional advertising has evidently taken a backseat in the past few years. However, traditional methods still hold significance based on the nature, target audience, scale, and location of the business. 

To the 2.7% of respondents who agreed that they are still dealing with traditional advertising, GoodFirms further queried their advertising types, impact, and benefits. Here is a breakup of the same;

When asked about the most effective traditional advertising forms for their businesses, respondents of this GoodFirms survey revealed that telephone advertising is quite effective in spreading their brand message. About 45.7% of respondents mentioned that telephone advertising is still effective for their business, while newspaper advertising is significant for around 38.9% of the survey participants.

21.2% of the survey responders find television advertising beneficial for their business, whereas billboards are prominent in the marketing campaigns of around 17.5% of the surveyees.

Radio advertising is an effective advertising medium for more than 9% of the surveyed businesses, while only 2.3% of the businesses employ cinema advertising to promote their goods or services.

Benefits of Traditional Advertising Even Today

Traditional advertising might have lost its charm in recent times. However, it is still relevant for brands that can leverage its potential. Although digital ads seem to have overshadowed traditional advertising, they have their own benefits.

Traditional Advertising Still Boosts Business Credibility

A positive impression always adds trust and reliability of a brand. Professionally designed traditional advertising has the potential to boost the credibility of a business. Collaborating with established media houses is the best thing that can enforce the sense of credibility of business among the audience. 

“Traditional advertising is proven to be more trustworthy because of its credibility and regulatory standards,” said PureLogics LLC.

The quality of production of TV advertisements, newspaper ads, or billboards adds to the legitimacy of the advertisement, which promotes the credibility of the brands. Also, traditional advertising is subject to stricter regulations which further instill trust. The amount of money spent on traditional ads is another factor that boosts the business's credibility.

Traditional Advertising Enables Easy Targeting of  Local Audiences

Traditional advertising is quite effective when it comes to targeting a local audience. Traditional methods like radio advertising and newspaper ads can be beneficial for businesses that aim to build a local community and offer services in the local areas. 

“While digital advertising offers powerful targeting and tracking, traditional methods can still be a good fit for building local brand awareness and reaching audiences less active online. It might become more niche, but I think it will stay relevant for specific situations,” shared  Technbrains

Launching a business at specific locations requires a marketing strategy to target the local audience, which can be efficiently done using radio advertising, local television ads, and newspaper ads. Radio advertising for local businesses is a great way to connect with the local communities.

Carney Technologies Services said, “Local businesses and industries, such as retail stores, restaurants, and real estate, benefit from traditional advertising methods like local newspapers, community radio, and outdoor billboards. These methods effectively target specific geographic areas, reaching potential customers within a localized region.” 

Traditional Advertising can be Highly Engaging

Traditional ads can be highly engaging when done in the right way. With the technically skilled workforce and modern technology, TV commercials can create an effective audio-visual experience for the viewers. 

With creativity and storytelling techniques, television advertisements have always been captivating. Also, TV ads and radio ads can efficiently serve the purpose of retargeting with the consistent broadcast. 

TechStaunch shared, “Even with the rise of digital ads, traditional methods like TV, radio, and print still have unique strengths. They reach broad audiences, especially older folks and areas with less internet access, and they build trust in a way digital ads sometimes can't. Plus, physical ads like billboards offer a tangible presence.”

Placement of billboards or OOH (out-of-house) adverts at spots with high visibility can help captivate the audience's attention. 

Traditional Advertising Still Improves Brand Recognition

The various modes of traditional advertising can be extremely crucial for a business's brand recognition. With its captivating nature, TV and radio ads can stay on top of consumers’ minds and create a brand image. On average, nearly 30.6% of the audience across age groups consider TV commercials responsible for brand recognition.(2)

Digilite said, “While digital advertising dominates, traditional ads can still be a niche strength for building brand awareness or reaching specific demographics. They'll likely continue to evolve and find their place in the marketing mix.” 

The various types of OOH advertising are a great way to help improve brand recognition for a business at a new location.

Traditional Advertising is Still Cost-effective: (a few methods)

While it is a common statement that digital advertising is better than traditional advertising in terms of costs, there are some methods of traditional advertising that are cost-effective. A small business that is restricted to a small area can leverage radio advertising at cheaper rates to reach the target audience. 

Community newspapers are another cost-efficient method for spreading the word about a business and building a local community. Print media is a cost-effective option for small businesses to address the target audience. 

Drawbacks of Traditional Advertising

The major reason why traditional advertising has seen a decline in popularity is the number of drawbacks it comes with. The participants of this GoodFirms survey enlisted the drawbacks they think are evident with traditional advertising.

Difficult to Target and Segment the Audience

About 87.4% of the survey respondents said that it is difficult to target and segment the audience with traditional advertising.

Although traditional advertising can widen the reach of a brand, it however makes it difficult to target the audience with TV ads precisely. With TV or radio ads, businesses cannot essentially address the right audience for them based on factors like demographics and interests. This lack of targeting the niche audience can result in a lower ROI, which is a risk for smaller businesses.

Also, traditional advertising methods lack the ability to segment based on common demographics or interests, which can be helpful for personalizing the ads for that specific segment.

Higher Costs

Traditional advertising costs are higher for a few methods, according to 79.3% of the surveyed businesses.

Traditional advertising is quite expensive when compared to digital advertising. It might cost businesses a high amount to buy a broadcast spot on television or radio. Moreover, it's necessary to buy numerous spots to improve the visibility of the ad. Therefore, it might account for upto several dollars for a TV campaign to be successful. 

“One of the biggest issues is COST and measuring the effectiveness of the campaign for example, with digital marketing, we can track cookies, no of visitors, locations, and IPs and opt for retarget marketing to convert warm leads but with traditional marketing scopes are pretty limited,” mentioned Abhi Content Writer.

On the other hand, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can be leveraged for advertising at a much cheaper cost. Also, these platforms offer flexible pricing options based on client requirements.

Traditional Advertising is Time-consuming

Over 68% of the surveyees believe that traditional advertising is time-consuming.

Almost every channel of traditional advertising follows a proper process to publish an ad. Ranging from the production, editing, approving, and then publishing, the entire process is time consuming.

The fact that even minor edits in these ads are not possible to be made after it is published, makes it even more crucial to focus on the error-free and perfect ad published in the first go. There is no option to edit information in print advertising once the newspaper, magazine, or leaflets are distributed. The accuracy in this case thus becomes critical and needs more time.

Effectiveness of Traditional Advertising is Difficult to Measure 

One of the major drawbacks of traditional advertising is that it is difficult to measure its effectiveness, said 62.6% of the survey participants.

It is very difficult to measure the effectiveness of a particular ad that is broadcast on TV or radio. It gets almost impossible in the case of OOH advertising or print advertising Effectiveness of billboard advertising is also tricky to be measured. The impact of an ad on the customer's buying decision is crucial for the success of a marketing campaign. Measuring the ROI of traditional advertising is thus a challenge. 

Conducting surveys is, however, an option to understand the views of the audience about a particular ad. However, it is not easy to understand the impact of a particular advertising mode when a business is running a marketing campaign through multiple modes.

Traditional Advertising Communicates MassInformation

Traditional advertising communicates mass information, stated 41.5% of the survey participants.

When running an advertisement through broadcast advertising, businesses have the limit of a time slot in which they need to convey their message. Similarly, in the case of print advertising, the limit is the space. Moreover, more space or more time can result in higher costs. This results in less information being communicated to the consumers.

In the case of digital advertising, a CTA can lead the customer to the website, and businesses can offer ample information for the customer to make a decision. 

Do you think traditional advertising is still relevant to some industries? If yes, why?

With the high penetration of the internet and extended use of modern technology, digital ads have gained a lot of traction globally. While this might be true, traditional advertising still has its own significance. With the benefits that traditional ads can have for a business and their nature to be beneficial for certain industrial sectors, it still has its own place. 

Radio advertising for local businesses, print advertising, and advertising through magazines or newspapers are still critical for creating brand awareness among the local communities for the brand to grow.

The ad spending in the traditional Out-of-Home Advertising(OOH) market is expected to reach USD 21.68 billion in the year 2024 globally. It is also projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.22% and account for around USD 25.4 billion by the year 2029.(3)

When asked about their thoughts on the relevance of traditional advertising for specific industries, they came up with a number of responses, some of which are mentioned here.

“Yes, multinational brands that want to grow their brand recognition will continue to find opportunities in traditional advertising.” –SEO Vendor LLC

“Traditional advertising is still a big part of brand building.” –Kollective

“Yes, Because not all industries have the same audience which can be digitally reachable” –Storm Studio Marketing Agency  

“Yes, consumer product which needs public awareness” –Zoewebs Sdn Bhd

“Traditional & digital marketing together? Yes, Traditional grabs a broad audience, but digital targets them precisely.  This combo builds brand trust (traditional) and drives online action (digital), reaching more customers across channels.” –Aveshost

“Yes, for brick and mortar stores that sell branded items, it is effective.” –Cloudester Software LLC

“Yes, traditional advertising remains relevant for some industries because it offers wide reach, credibility, and effectiveness in targeting specific demographics, particularly older adults who may not be as active online. It is also beneficial for local businesses and industries like healthcare, automotive, and luxury goods, where tangible and high-impact advertising methods like TV, print, and outdoor ads can effectively capture and retain audience attention.” –Brandingnuts

“Traditional advertising is just not worth it anymore. The ROI is horrible in most cases” –Sublimio - Brand Strategy and Brand Design.

“Sure. It definitely has its purpose, especially for the B2C business, because these are more focused on creating communities or bringing the consumer in direct contact with the product, which is less likely to happen in the B2B sector, especially when it comes to Services.” – WPRiders.

“For the majority of the industries, traditional advertising still is the main source of marketing” –Creatif Agency.

“Yes, the industries that have the fixed and old-aged audience, it can be done there.” –Infowind Technologies.

“Traditional advertising continues to be relevant in FnB, Automotive, Travel, and HoReCa industries due to its ability to reach a broad audience, build trust, and create an impactful sensory experience.” –Timspark

“It is good for brick and mortar businesses and local reach.” –Offshore Development Center

“Maybe for global brands, like beverages brands eg.” –Dashbouquet Development

“Yes. Traditional advertising still works for the food, beauty, and apparel industries. These consumers highly depend on the awareness stage. The more they see your product, the more they know about it and the more is the chance to buy” –The Techload

Do you think traditional advertising will become obsolete in the near future?

The growing increase of digital ads has often led to skepticism about traditional advertising. The obsoletion of traditional advertising is often a topic of discussion. However, marketers predict a rise in traditional ad spending in contrast to the trends seen historically. (4)

The changed approach seen in the use of traditional advertising and following unique trends like targeted advertising, better storytelling, and integrating digital campaigns with traditional advertising have made it more interesting.

Interestingly, the businesses surveyed for this survey have responded in favor of the existence of traditional advertising. Following are some of their views:

“While digital advertising offers advanced targeting and real-time analytics, traditional methods continue to have unique strengths in certain ways. Traditional advertising can leave a lasting impression due to their visual or physical presence. Therefore, rather than becoming obsolete, traditional advertising is likely to evolve alongside digital strategies as part of a broader marketing approach.” –FilePino, Inc.

“With AI in the picture, digital advertising continues to dominate the marketing landscape. However, traditional advertising is unlikely to become completely obsolete in the near future. It still offers unique benefits such as targeting specific demographics, local market penetration, brand trust through established media, and synergies with digital strategies. As industries evolve, a blend of both traditional and digital approaches often proves most effective in reaching diverse audiences.” –Copper Digital

“Not really, just like TV and papers haven't died out when the internet was adopted” –StableWP

“It is unlikely that traditional advertising will become completely obsolete in the near future. While the landscape of advertising continues to evolve rapidly with the rise of digital and mobile platforms, traditional advertising still holds significant value for various reasons” –Frenchy Digital L.L.C

“No traditional marketing will stay for many more decades. While digital advertising continues to grow, traditional advertising will remain a crucial part of a well-rounded marketing strategy for many industries. Integrating both traditional and digital methods can often achieve the best results.” –Grovention

“No, because you will always need that brand awareness but I do believe traditional marketing will become more specialized to focus on specific demographics or situations.” –Semgeeks

“Traditional advertising creates a sense of personability and trust, therefore it will never become obsolete. While digital advertising continues to grow, traditional methods like print, radio, and outdoor ads foster a personal connection that resonates with many consumers.” –Life Web & Design

“No, on B2C and local B2B markets, it will not. On the contrary, with the rapid development of AI, there are a number of challenges ahead of digital marketing. For example, traditional web browsers are already losing their position to AI chats.” –GrowMy.Tech

“No - not all the methods, at least.” –Newman Web Solutions

“Eventually, eventually, perhaps yes.  However, there will have to be a mass acceptance of an online/digital form of marketing.  That would require a lot of local businesses to change their business and/or the "dinosaurs" to die off for someone younger who will be willing to accept online marketing.” –Williams Web Solutions 

“Traditional advertising is unlikely to become obsolete in the near future, but its role will likely evolve. Some forms of traditional advertising, like magazines or billboards, can be strategically used to target specific demographics. Additionally, traditional ads can create a more emotional connection with viewers, which can be beneficial for certain industries.” –FewerClicks

“No, It has adapted very well for the main drivers associated with traditional advertising, for instance, radio advertising is now not terrestrial as well, and newspapers and magazines have digital copies and subscriptions, etc... maybe some of the traditional advertising methods might die out but not all.” –Blink Digital Consulting 

“It won't become obsolete, definitely. It is losing its popularity but for many businesses, it is still effective.” –CleverDev Software

“While digital advertising is growing rapidly, traditional methods still have their place. They're good for building brand awareness, targeting specific groups, and making a lasting impression.” –Softuvo Solutions Private Limited.  

“No, traditional advertising will not become obsolete in the near future. While digital advertising continues to grow, traditional methods like TV, print, and outdoor ads still hold significant value.” –Emizen Tech Pvt Ltd

“Traditional advertising will stay around. Just like the theaters did not become obsolete with the inception of television and, later, the internet.  It is an impactful tool of human perception.” –SEOPLUS

“Despite encountering challenges in the evolving media landscape, traditional advertising is unlikely to become obsolete soon. This is due to its ability to cater to diverse audience preferences, complement digital strategies, maintain local and regional relevance, offer tangibility and impact, establish trust and credibility, and adapt to innovation.” –VeeRuby Technologies Pvt Ltd.

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising uses digital media, mainly the Internet, to promote products. With a trail of benefits offered by digital advertising, it has become popular among marketers. Coverage of the global audience sitting at one corner of the world has been made possible through digital advertising. 

The global digital advertising market accounted for around USD 365.37 billion in the year 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15.5% till the year 2030. (5)

When asked about the various channels of digital advertising leveraged, participants of the GoodFirms survey mentioned social media advertising as the most favorite. About 94.5% of the survey participants opt for social media ads to promote their products. Facebook ads and Instagram ads have the ability to reach a wide audience while targeting them based on their demographics.

Content marketing is used by 91.5% of the businesses, whereas 87.3% of the businesses opt for Google Ads. Google ads are a great way to leverage the benefits of SEM. Search engine marketing helps businesses improve their visibility on the SERPs.

Email marketing is the choice amongst digital advertising channels for 68.4% of the business, while 63.1% of the surveyees leverage PPC. Personalized email marketing campaigns are crucial in enhancing the customer relationship. PPC is an excellent example of a digital advertising channel based on the marketing budget.

While 53.6% of the businesses use mobile advertising, 45.8% of the survey participants opt for YouTube advertising.

Benefits of Digital Advertising

Digital advertising has seen a great rise in its adoption. The very nature of digital ads to reach a wider audience and offer features to target the right audience makes it very beneficial for businesses to increase the conversion rates. 

Global Reach

Digital ads in any form are capable of giving a business a global reach. Just an internet connection and the ad can be seen by the audience across the globe.It can considerably enhance the visibility and reach of your marketing campaign. 

SunTec.AI suggested, “Small businesses can leverage social media, search engines, and display ads to reach their specific audience without the high costs associated with traditional advertising mediums like TV, radio, or print ads.” 

By leveraging social media platforms and search engine advertising, businesses can reach an untapped market and improve their consumer base. 

Cost-Effective

While traditional advertising requires a lot of investment, digital advertising is highly cost-effective. Social media ads can be made easily with very low assigned budgets. The availability of automation tools and the use of modern technology to create content without experts helps in creating ads at a much lower cost.

“Digital advertising is great for small businesses because while you do have to invest time and effort into it to make it work for you, you don't have to have a massive marketing budget to accomplish your goals.” –JS Interactive

Digital advertising platforms like PPC and other impressions offer affordable marketing campaign options that are suitable for small businesses. The implementation of proper SEO practices also helps in effective advertising options at lower prices.

Easy Monitoring

What makes digital advertising most beneficial is its ability to allow measuring the effectiveness of the campaign. With sophisticated tools and the power of AI, businesses can track the impact of advertising on the performance of a product or service.

“For small businesses, digital advertising is more suitable due to its cost-effectiveness, precise targeting, and measurable results,” mentioned Azilen Technologies

With detailed analytics and real-time performance tracking, digital advertising offers ad metrics and contributes to decision-making. Easy monitoring of an advertisement campaign allows marketers to optimize them as and when required. 

Precise Targeting

Social media advertising is a crucial part of digital advertising. These platforms are designed to collect customer data and analyze it to determine user preferences, behavior, and other details. With the systematic approach of social media platforms and digital advertising as a whole, businesses can precisely target their audience.

Visiontech Systems International LLC mentioned, “Digital advertising allows small businesses to reach specific audiences, adjust campaigns in real-time, and maximize their advertising budget. Traditional advertising can still be useful for local presence and credibility, but digital advertising offers greater flexibility and scalability for small businesses.”

Considering the details like age, location, and preferences of a user, businesses can leverage digital advertising to target the right audience and also practice retargeting to improve the probability of highly conversions and maintaining the customer base.

Drawbacks of Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is a hot topic and has grown popular mostly because of the numerous benefits that digital advertising offers. However, digital advertising also has a few drawbacks.

Tremendous Competition

About 82.9% of the businesses admit that tremendous competition is a major drawback of digital advertising.

Along with the tremendous audience reach supported by digital advertising, marketers also have to face tremendous competition. With too many options to choose from, selecting the right channel for promoting their goods and services is a challenge for the marketers. 

With the world going online, every digital ad has to compete with millions of competitors. Standing out among the fierce competition is crucial for sustaining in the current business landscape. 

Rapidly Changing Trends

Rapidly changing trends happen to be a drawback of digital advertising, according to 78.5% of the surveyed businesses.

Staying with the current trends is a major factor in staying ahead of the competition. However, the trends on social media are constantly changing and no trend remains new for a long time. Platforms like Facebook ads and Instagram ads exhibit rapidly changing trends leading to marketers always being on their toes. 

Constantly optimizing the marketing campaigns based on the changing internet trends can be annoying and also hamper the budget of the business. 

Difficulty in Hiring the Right Talent

One of the major drawbacks of digital advertising is difficulty in hiring the right talent, said 41.3% of surveyees.

Not only are the current trends contributing to the success of a marketing campaign, but also the right talent matters. The right skills and talent is essential to leverage modern tools and media channels to make a digital ad successful. 

With the advent of technologies like AI, marketers can surely target audiences with social media ads. However, businesses must ensure that their staff is well-equipped with the required knowledge and training to make the most of the available resources.

Security Threats

Around 39.2% of the survey participants believe that security threats are a major drawback of digital advertising.

The success of digital advertising is all about extracting customer data and targeting the right audience with the right content. Collecting user data might have become easy due to easy access to data. However, the humongous amounts of data available online have led to a threat to data privacy and security. 

Businesses have to be aware of data privacy issues and take steps to maintain customer data secure. Compromising data security can result in hefty compensations and lack of trust from the customers.

Dependency on Technology

Nearly 35% of businesses think dependency on technology is a drawback of digital advertising. 

Digital ads are highly dependent on modern gadgets and technological developments. Technical glitches like slow website loading, maintenance issues, and website downtime are all probable factors that can impact the visibility of a digital ad.

Moreover, there are still consumers who do not use platforms like social media or other online platforms. Therefore, digital ads do not surely target the entire potential audience. 

Factors like the importance of SEO hold high significance when making a digital ad. The adoption of appropriate technology and keeping in mind all other technical aspects are extremely critical for reaching a broad audience through display advertising.

Negative Feedback

Negative feedback is a major drawback of digital advertising, asserted 21.8% of surveyed businesses.

While digital advertising gives marketers access to real-time analytics to measure the effectiveness of an ad, they are also subject to downvotes, dislikes, and honest criticism. With the availability of options to like and comment on an ad, customers can give their feedback then and there. Although positive feedback can be really beneficial for the business, negative feedback has a huge impact on the brand’s reputation.

It is crucial to respond to such negative feedback promptly as this feedback can also have a huge impact on the buying decisions of other customers.

What trends in digital advertising will dominate your marketing campaigns in the future?

Digital advertising is characterized by rapidly changing trends. While there have been a number of trends that have proved beneficial for businesses, the future of digital advertising has some more trends that can shape effective marketing strategies for a business. Some of the trends are mentioned below:

Hyper-personalization

Personalization is a great way to attract customers to buying a product. Personalized content or ads are very useful in creating a connection between the customer and the brand. Right from creating personalized recommendations to content that is curated specifically for a customer, personalization has created a great impact on digital ads.

“Personalization through AI-driven data analytics will be key, ensuring tailored content reaches specific audience segments,” said OKQA

Personalization in email marketing campaigns is also crucial for building trust among the customers for the brand. It is also important to provide a personalized and valuable experience to the client. 

Increased use of AI

Artificial intelligence is a revolutionary technology for digital advertising.

AI-driven advertising campaigns are a success factor for many businesses. From creating personalized experiences to generating content through generative AI, artificial intelligence is set to change the entire digital advertising sector.

Unified Infotech said, “The transformation GenAI is set to achieve is huge. Perhaps the enormity is as yet beyond comprehension. However, its utility in achieving a paradigm shift in the way data is currently segregated to achieve actionable insights and ease automation cannot be denied. Building digital marketing campaigns using these GenAI capabilities will help enhance their effectiveness and efficacy. At the same time, it will transform how personalized experiences are delivered, improving targeted strategies to achieve higher user engagement and driving conversions.”

Predictive analytics is also an area where AI and ML can help businesses. Identifying patterns in customer behavior and preferences can be leveraged to create effective ads.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Technologies like Augmented reality and Virtual Reality have enhanced the customer experience. Business can provide an immersive experience with the integration of AR/VR in digital ads.

With brands like Coca-Cola indulging in the use of AR for advertising, the popularity of the technology is more than ever.(6)

“In the future, digital advertising will be marked by trends such as increased personalization, AI-driven automation, optimization for voice search, growth in video content, integration of AR and VR, influencer marketing, native advertising, emphasis on privacy, interactive content, and a focus on sustainability and purpose-driven marketing,” said IT CRAFT

The use of AR and VR in the advertising industry is crucial for creating a personalized experience and improving trust among consumers.

Data Privacy and Security

Data privacy and security have gained a lot of importance in recent years. With consumers becoming more concerned about data privacy, businesses need to take proper steps to ensure data privacy.

Computools asserted, “Ethical considerations around data privacy and transparency will shape advertising strategies as consumers become more mindful of how their information is used.” 

While there are tremendous amounts of data available on the internet, maintaining its security must be the top priority of businesses.

Programmatic Buying for Display Advertising

Programmatic advertising is a trend to look out for in the future. The concept is set to revolutionize the way display advertising will work. The future of advertising will witness the increased use of programmatic buying for display advertising. 

By the year 2028, about 81% of the digital advertising revenue collected will be generated through programmatic advertising.(1)

Following are some of the statements about the future of digital advertising from our survey respondents:

The future of digital advertising is going to be only social media advertising, according to AnA Info

While Cosmico Studios predicts that it will be only via content marketing,  Limecom says AI-driven campaigns and Silk Data says “SMM targeted advertising.”

“Enhanced personalization. Focus on data privacy and compliance. Social media advertising. AI. Interactivity. Omni-channel strategies. Possibly gamification,” says Rocketech

“Analytics and other AI-driven tools” –4D Marketing & Business Solutions Firm

“Silent social - more time spent on referring partners and ambassadors on places like Slack, Discord and others.” –Jelly Digital Marketing & PR

“The popularity of video content is expected to increase, with more emphasis on short-form videos, live streaming, and interactive video ads on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.” –THATWARE LLP

“Competition, niche targeting, high-quality creatives” –Agicent Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

“The digital landscape is evolving rapidly, and competition in these areas is intensifying. It is no longer feasible to rely on a single digital channel to generate a significant number of leads. Consequently, we will utilize all available channels, with a primary focus on SEO, PPC, SMM, and PR.” –Elit-web

“AI is constantly evolving and driving new adjustments needed in digital advertising campaigns. With AI, there is even more precedence on highlighting your expertise/value to the audience, which requires higher quality marketing collateral and/or more creative marketing channels/endeavors.” –Flying V Group Digital Marketing 

“There are several trends that we have in our pipeline on which we will be increasing our efforts. Firstly there is PPC combined with SEO. Looking at recent Google updates, the marketing team at Codment understands and believes in the importance of a combined SEO and PPC strategy that can be a game changer for us in terms of lead generation.” –Codment 

“Data Privacy Compliance: Ensuring adherence to data privacy regulations for transparent and ethical advertising practices.” –yourDMARC

“Being agile, experienced planner who understands all channels” –Ebony+Ivory

“Leveraging the trust and authenticity of influencers and real user content in advertising campaigns. Integrating influencer marketing, brand partnerships, and UGC across digital platforms.” –Safnah IT Services

“Future marketing trends include a focus on creativity, contextual targeting, short-form video ads, conversational advertising, scalable personalization, the metaverse, omnichannel marketing, and transparency and authenticity. Audience-friendly ad creatives will be crucial as third-party cookies for ad targeting decline.” –Tech2Globe Web Solutions LLP.

Traditional Advertising Vs. Digital Advertising

Traditional advertising and digital advertising both have their own advantages and drawbacks. Following are some views expressed by the survey participants when asked the method that is more trustable according to them.

Which method is more trustable - Digital advertising or Traditional advertising?

“Relatively speaking, I can say both. It depends on the structure of each sector.” –BABEL Agency

“They need to go hand in hand. We digitize our print media through dynamic QR codes to A/B test landing pages and conversions. We recognize the synergy between print/traditional advertising and how it ties in to create a well-rounded digital campaign, ensuring brand trust every step of the way.” –Victoria Digital Marketing

“Traditional marketing, which is often regulated by editorial standards, will be perceived as more trustworthy and their physical presence provides a lasting impression. The chances of a prospect consuming traditional advertising and finding it trustable is much greater than a social newsfeed littered with unvetted advertising.” –So Good Digital

“It really depends. Digital advertising usually offers a much more detailed report and allows you to measure its impact, while traditional advertising is generally better perceived and trusted. It really goes down to what is your business, your target audience, your goal and budget.” –Bluemind Digital Marketing Services

“We agree that using both can expand reach. Traditional methods can drive brand awareness, while digital channels convert that awareness into measurable actions. This multi-channel approach creates a cohesive brand experience, reinforcing messages across different touchpoints for greater impact.” –Data4Amazon

Which method is suitable for small businesses - Digital Advertising or Traditional Advertising?

When queried as to which method is ideal for small businesses, these are the responses that GoodFirms gathered;

“At Fabrika Brendov, we work a lot with small companies. This allows us to state with a high degree of certainty that digital advertising is more suitable for them. Its advantages range from better budget allocation to having precise instruments to track real and potential clients.” –Fabrika-Brendov

“I think it really depends on the type of company, industry and target audience. A small company that operates in a specific location, might find traditional advertising easier to manage, while another company might find it easier and more effective to use digital advertising to reach their target audiences.” –Percepto

“Digital marketing is the most suitable method. It allows for precise targeting, real-time analytics, and cost-effective campaigns, ensuring we reach and engage our tech-savvy audience effectively.” –Addevice

“Search Engine Ads & Social Media” –Stepping EDGE

When used together, traditional and digital marketing can reach more audiences - what is your say on this?

While the suitability and trustability of the method clearly depend on the type of businesses and their audience, it is also true that when used together, traditional advertising and digital advertising can complete each other. 

With their own benefits and challenges, traditional and digital advertising, when used together, can prove more beneficial for the business. Interestingly, most of the survey participants agreed with this statement. Here are some of the responses to the question:

“I totally agree that using both traditional and digital marketing can help reach more people. Traditional methods like print ads, TV commercials, and billboards are great for reaching those who aren't always online. At the same time, digital marketing lets you target specific groups and engage with them on social media, websites, and email. Combining both strategies gives you a well-rounded approach that maximizes your reach and impact.” –ePromoters

“Using both traditional and digital marketing strategies together can indeed be highly effective. Leveraging both traditional and digital marketing channels can create a synergistic effect, expanding reach, improving targeting capabilities, driving engagement, and ultimately, maximizing the impact of marketing campaigns.” –UIUX Studio

“Of course, this is called the omnichannel approach, and there will always be an alignment of traditional and digital marketing. For us particularly, the on-ground/ traditional marketing activities are in perfect sync with our digital outreach and marketing.” –Ideofuzion Pvt. Ltd.

“Absolutely. Marketing is now all about multiple touchpoints to build relationships and earn trust. We think print is bad because its broad reach of printed materials is damaging to the environment, but it depends on the strategy. A brochure could be given out to prospects you are engaged with instead of blanket leaflet drops. And at some point, we will have to turn our attention to the environmental impact of all the servers running around the world to drive our digital ads.” –Vu Online

“Using both traditional and digital marketing allows a brand to be present in more places, increasing visibility and reinforcing brand messages across different touchpoints.” –NMG Technologies

“The two approaches can work together synergistically.  A catchy TV commercial can drive viewers to a landing page for more information, while a social media campaign can create buzz around a new product launch advertised traditionally.” –Studio52 Arts Production LLC Branch

“If Budget allows, you can build a campaign which covers traditional and digital advertising.” –PHOENIXSEO

“Yes, it depends on the business and audience.” –iWade Host 

“Using traditional and digital marketing together provides a comprehensive and versatile strategy that maximizes reach, engagement, and effectiveness. The strengths of each method complement the other, creating a well-rounded approach that leverages the broad reach and credibility of traditional media with the precision, interaction, and measurability of digital channels. This integrated strategy ensures that businesses can effectively target diverse audiences, reinforce their brand message, and achieve a higher return on investment.” –WebMediaTouch

“Using traditional and digital marketing together is highly effective in reaching more audiences. Traditional marketing offers broad reach and credibility, while digital marketing provides precise targeting and engagement. Combining both strategies ensures a comprehensive approach, maximizing exposure and impact across diverse demographic groups.” –Marketorr

“When used together, traditional and digital marketing can reach more audiences. However, the quality of audiences is as important as the quantity. While traditional advertising can help reach a broader audience, targeting the right audience is sometimes challenging. Given its higher cost compared to digital advertising, traditional methods require careful planning to ensure a favorable ROI.” –Titoma Design for Asian Manufacturing

“A combination of digital and traditional marketing can help you reach a wide and diverse audience, and the right balance of the two depends on your company and product. In fact, some businesses can operate almost entirely on traditional marketing, so it really depends on your situation.” –ACSIUS Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

“Combining traditional and digital marketing creates a synergistic effect, leveraging the broad reach and trust of traditional methods with the precision and engagement of digital strategies. This integrated approach maximizes audience reach and reinforces brand messaging across multiple touchpoints.” –World Web Technology Pvt. Ltd.

“Yes, as it would provide us with broader audience reach, increased brand visibility, enhanced engagement, data-driven insights, multi-channel campaigns.” –Mxpertz Infolabs 

“Traditional advertising methods can complement digital marketing efforts. By integrating both traditional and digital channels, businesses can create a cohesive and multi-faceted marketing strategy that maximizes exposure and engagement with customers across different touchpoints.” –CS Web Solutions

Key Findings:

•  64.9% of businesses are currently using digital advertising.

•  59.9% of the businesses allotted less than 25% of their marketing budget for traditional advertising.

• Nearly 30% of businesses allot more than 75% of their marketing budget for digital advertising.

• 66.5% of businesses are willing to increase their investment in digital advertising.

• 45.7% of respondents mentioned that telephone advertising is still effective for their business, while newspaper advertising is significant for around 38.9% of the survey participants.

• 87.4% of the survey respondents said that it is difficult to target and segment the audience with traditional advertising.

• Traditional advertising costs are higher, according to 79.3% of the surveyed businesses.

• 94.5% of the survey participants opt for social media ads to promote their products.

• 82.9% of businesses admit that tremendous competition is a major drawback of digital advertising.

• Rapidly changing trends happen to be a drawback of digital advertising, according to 78.5% of the surveyed businesses.

Conclusion

In the constantly evolving business landscape, both digital and traditional advertising hold their own significance. While traditional advertising can increase the credibility of a business, digital advertising can precisely target its audience. Overall, AI is definitely going to hold a stronger position in future of programmatic advertising.

However, businesses must consider all the factors that are responsible when choosing the advertising method for their business. With their unique features and drawbacks, a combination of both traditional and digital advertising backed with AI can reap maximum benefits for the brand.

We sincerely thank our Research Partners for their valuable insights.

Original Article:

Nathan Sebastian

Content Writer at GoodFirms

References

1. https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-advertising/worldwide 

2. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-july-global-statshot 

3. https://www.statista.com/outlook/amo/advertising/out-of-home-advertising/traditional-out-of-home-advertising/worldwide 

4. https://hbr.org/2022/04/why-marketers-are-returning-to-traditional-advertising 

5. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-advertising-market-report 

6. https://www.coca-cola.com/gb/en/media-center/coca-cola-zero-sugar-takeatastenow-campaign