Digital vs Traditional Branding: How Technology Advancement Changed the Landscape

Featured article by Ankit Kumar, Independent Technology Author

Before mobile phones became ubiquitous, high-speed internet connections the norm, and social media a supreme power was the age of radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.

These were the most popular sources of entertainment for the people, and the chief avenues for the marketers and branding experts. But looking around today, it’s easy to notice a transformation has been brought in the way how brands are created now. But how did it change, and what are the differences?

Social Media Vs Traditional Media

In the traditional media, the marketers had little control. The communication with the audience was one-way, non-transparent, mild to completely professional, and typically reached the masses (one message for all). However, social media has changed the rules today.

One of the biggest changes that have been brought by the social media, is that it’s completely free. So, if a smart business is creative enough, it can reach a large number of people through all kinds of content- images, videos, etc. It’s free publicity and free branding.

Another notable change that can be observed from the branding’s perspective is the nature of communication. In the traditional media, the marketers didn’t exactly know how their campaign was doing. They did have a general idea, but the numbers weren’t quite there.

However, social media offers a whole slew of analytics tools (including the one by Facebook itself) and services that allows a company to take a closer look at how its brand is being perceived by the people. It can now receive direct messages, read comments, reactions, etc. that give a detailed insight into the overall process and its performance.

The Rise of the Websites, Blogs

The traditional media allowed a company to book only spots on radios, televisions, etc. However, the digital media allows them to maintain full-fledged entities on the Internet that have a huge impact on their branding. These entities are the company website and company blog.

Today, almost every competitive business has to have an appealing and useful website. You also have to learn how your web design can create a strong brand.

While a website allows you to sell your products and services, help customers/prospects to reach you through contact details, etc. and create a brand, a blog allows you to showcase your thought leadership, provide entertainment as well as industry-specific information, and drive organic traffic, all of which are extremely important.

Emails

Traditionally, snail mails were widely used for branding purposes. Since there was no Internet and even mobile phones for a long time, people would often send postcards, letters, etc. and the companies saw potential in this, which we now know in the form of “junk mail”.

That said, not much has changed in the “mail” marketing and branding even today. We still get junk mails, only these are emails. However, a notable improvement is the ROI and the convenience factor. According to a recent report, you can make $46 for every $1 spent on email marketing. As for the convenience, it’s not hard to see why shooting thousands of emails at the same time with a software program is easier than sending physical mails to a thousand addresses.

Affordable Branding Solutions

The small businesses always knew what branding was and how it can benefit them, but few were able to apply its principles due to budget and other constraints. After all, branding agencies were only available in the prominent cities and their prices were also quite high.

This has changed today.

Thanks to the modern technologies like AI and software automation, you can now enjoy logo design and branding solutions at rates that don’t burn a hole in your pocket. What’s more, now you don’t have to wait for days to get a logo done or to have your business presentation slides customized. These tools are capable of delivering the results in minutes!

Through the bird-eye view of the modern branding, it’s easy to see that today all businesses have a level playing field. The majority of branding and marketing technologies are either free or easily affordable. So, a startup is only limited by its own ability or willingness to work hard, and creativity. In fact, there is no dearth of small companies who serve as the quintessential “rags to riches” stories in the commercial arena.

Ankit Kumar

A tech enthusiast and avid reader, hailing from New Delhi – The Capital of India. He loves to write about latest technology, startups, and online businesses.  Currently, working as  Search Engine Specialist at Accunite, he also manages TechPluto editorial team. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer science engineering from Kurukshetra University.