One thing has become evident in the constantly changing field of marketing: there are other options besides the traditional methods. For good reason, small and medium-sized businesses in St. Catharines and the larger Niagara area are embracing the power of digital marketing and eschewing traditional promotional techniques.
Digital marketing provides capabilities that were just not feasible with billboards, newspaper ads, or radio spots, like cost-effectiveness and quantifiable outcomes. We’ll look at the reasons behind the switch, the relative benefits, and the implications for the future of regional industries in this blog.
Traditional Advertising vs Digital Marketing: A Quick Comparison
Let’s start by looking at how the two approaches differ in cost and return on investment (ROI).
Costs
- Billboards and Print Ads: In St. Catharines, a single billboard can cost between $1,000 to $5,000 monthly, without any guarantee of impressions or engagement. Similarly, magazine and newspaper advertisements often have comparable pricing but limited reach due to declining readership.
- Digital Marketing (SEO, Social Media, PPC): Digital marketing’s honestly a lifesaver if you’re pinching pennies. Like, you can toss five bucks at a Facebook or Google ad and see what happens—no need to sell a kidney. Sure, SEO isn’t totally free at the start—gotta invest some time or cash—but once you get it rolling, those clicks keep coming even while you’re binge-watching Netflix. Organic traffic’s basically the gift that keeps on giving. Even email marketing is a more affordable alternative to printing flyers.
ROI
- Traditional methods are harder to track. You can track the number of automobiles that passed your billboard or the number of magazines that were produced, but you cannot trace the number of customers who actually came in as a result of the advertisement..
- Digital marketing campaigns provide immediate visibility into what is working. You can measure clicks, conversions, bounce rates and even the amount of revenue being generated by a campaign! This level of detail has led many to reach out to a professional St. Catharines digital marketing agency to take the reigns!
Why St. Catharines Businesses Are Making The Move
Small and medium businesses are realizing that digital marketing offers so much more visibility and control, and that businesses can work from within a certain budget. Campaigns can scale to a budget, so a local bakery can run a $50 Instagram ad just to users within a 10 km radius. Alternatively, a physiotherapy clinic can spend for Google Ads and SEO to receive consistent traffic to their website. When it comes to reach and efficiency of scale, no other form of marketing can come close to the speed and trustworthiness of digital marketing for moving your message. Furthermore, digital marketing can reach a laser-focused audience within the demographic age, location, and interests that is very specific – unlike traditional ads. Finally, we can change and adapt the digital campaigns in real-time if they aren’t working, whereas once you print or post a traditional ad, it’s simply gone, and there’s no guarantee of success.
Conclusion: Time for a Smarter Approach
For St. Catharines businesses, the shift to digital marketing is about making an informed economically and results driven decision. Regardless of the type of business you are – retail, healthcare or hospitality, your audience exists online. The question is: can they find you there?
Working with a digital marketing company in St. Catharines ensures that your business is seen by the right people, at the right time, with the right message without wasting your budget on guesswork.