Even as technology has changed the face of advertising, traditional methods are just as important as ever. While more and more businesses are turning to digital advertising and marketing, many successful business owners still find that tried and tested methods, such as posters and print advertising, continue to bring in customers and increase sales.
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Advertising in the Digital Age
Although digital media and advertising is catchy, it's greatest downfall is it's biggest benefit; it moves fast. Advertising companies that supply digital billboards and digital signage make their money off of selling advertising space. Instead of a company purchasing advertising space for a week, month or year, they are now forced to purchase advertising space by the minute or second. While this is great for advertising companies, who can now smash a variety of companies into one digital sign, it's bad for the consumer.
Capturing Attention
The goal of advertising is not just to catch the attention of a consumer, but also to draw them in. Flashing an advertisement for five seconds across a digital screen may catch a consumer's attention, but it's very unlikely to draw them in. In fact, they may not even have time to see or read the entire advertisement, leading to an increased wait time for the advertisement to come back around. This can actually turn a consumer off to the ad, leading to lost sales.
The cure to this problem, however, is to use traditional posters and signage. Posters allow you to advertise your products, services, promotions and brand, all in a consistent and well-planned manner. Consumers identify with posters because they are able to stop and really absorb the information being presented. Therefore, you can fit more information and detail in a poster, as it isn't something that is flashing on a screen for mere seconds.
Consider Costs
Another downfall to using digital advertising is the cost involved. If you're a small business, you may end up spending thousands of dollars on a digital display unit, only to have it be largely ignored by customers. By using posters, your costs are dramatically reduced, and you can change out the design anytime you wish. Posters are also great because they are a tangible object. As more and more businesses turn to digital advertising, consumers often tend to ignore the constant barrage of lights associated with electronic displays. Posters, on the other hand, actually stick out even more when compared to digital ads, simply because they aren't a passing moment on a screen.
If you're a business owner who is considering turning to digital advertising, you need to weigh the pros and cons carefully. While digital advertising can score you points with the technology crowd, those points will only last until the next best thing comes around.