It's all Digital

Steve Zobrist, resident overthinker

I was recently in a meeting with a client, discussing marketing strategy and how analog and digital marketing should coexist and work together. 

During the meeting, I couldn't help but continually wonder: Is there even a difference?

Granted, this client utilizes email campaigns, print media, conference events, and other traditional marketing avenues; at the end of the day, though, what are these methods building? How are they being used and how is success being measured?

In nearly every case, even traditional offline marketing channels are being brought into the digital world. Customers are tracked in a CRM, emails are tracked in SendGrid, event attendees are stored in EventBrite or a spreadsheet.

At the end of the day, everything is digital if it is in any way supporting or related to a digital environment. 

Truth be told, there is no such thing as analog marketing. If your measure of success is by website registrations or sale orders, even these offline channels are drivers towards it.

In short:

All marketing is digital marketing. 

In a digital ecosystem, all of these parts contribute to a greater whole. If the main measure of success is the website, all marketing online and off is digital marketing. A printed flyer sent out to represent the brand is helping to drive user registrations. A printed product catalog sent out is helping drive orders to the website. 

The fact that an interaction may not occur strictly online does not mean this interaction is not, in fact, digital. Digital and analog are not separate worlds. Maybe a user found your site through SEO efforts, or maybe they heard through word of mouth from another person. The end result is the same: these users end up in the digital space. 

Even if you don't have an eCommerce site or registration-based website, if you are tracking customers or marketing initiatives in digital tools, then you are doing digital marketing. It's all digital!

It doesn't matter what industry you're in, what product you are selling, or if you're a non-profit; you are a digital company. And your marketing is no different. You are a digital team, and to succeed in a digital world, it is a necessity to acknowledge and adapt. 

Interested in learning more? Disagree, and looking for a constructive discussion? I welcome your emails for any reason - including disagreement. Debating such topics is a favorite past-time of mine, so fire up gmail, outlook, or, if you must, hotmail or aol and let me know your thoughts. Looking forward to hearing from you!