What are Traditional Sales Tactics?
Traditional sales tactics are something we are all familiar with and usually present themselves in 5 major categories:
- Print (magazines, newspapers, etc.)
- Broadcast (TV, radio, etc.)
- Direct Mail (brochures, catalogues, etc.)
- Telephone (telemarketing, sms marketing, etc.)
- Outdoor (billboards, fliers, etc.)
While many brands have shifted to digital marketing, traditional marketing still plays a big role in marketing campaigns.
However, there are drawbacks when it comes to this strategy.
With traditional sales tactics, the biggest problem is that there is not much interaction with your audience. Traditional sales tactics may come off as impersonal because these tactics generally rely on providing information to the public that the brand exists and they provide. While this may certainly get customers, this does not encourage conversion and brand switching because the consumers do not have a connection with the brand.
Another problem is that traditional sales tactics can be very expensive. While this may not be a problem for bigger brands with dedicated budgets, smaller brands may not be able to afford ad space that reaches their target audience, causing them to lose money on the long run.
Therefore, while traditional sales tactics can still bring in success for brands, it has its share of drawbacks.
What is Branding?
Branding is about perception. It is about building an image for the brand and allowing consumers to form a connection with it. Branding is defined as the process of creating a strong, positive perception of a company, and its products or services in the customer’s mind by combining elements such as their logo, design, mission and a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications. This helps build loyal customer bases and encourage advocacy.
Branding also allows your consumers to understand what and who your brand is and what they can hope to expect from it. This sets your brand apart from your competitors , and will appeal to consumers because of its strong identity and values. After all, what humans crave the most is connection!
An example is Nike. Nike associates its brand and its products with world-renowned athletes. This is not just a marketing strategy to leverage on the athlete’s influence, but a way to get its audience to transfer the emotional connection they have with the athlete over to the product and brand. This is effective branding, because it inspires loyalty in consumers.
Why is Branding Important?
Effective branding can give brands an edge over their competitors, especially in highly saturated markets. This is because customers connect with companies who have strong branding, because the company seems more real and has more of a personality.
Branding can also allow your company to increase its revenue. Strong, well-planned branding leads to strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company’s products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products do
An example of this is Coca-cola. The way we feel when we hear Coca-Cola is a testament to the powerful brand equity they have built up. This is why they can charge more for its product, and customers will be willing to pay for it over another soda company with weaker or no branding.
Lastly, traditional sales tactics only exist temporarily, and stop reaching consumers when the campaign ends and the brand stops actively pushing it out. Branding however, is the image of the company and underlies every campaign and action the brand executes. Branding is what consumers associate with the company after the traditional sales tactics are over. Branding strengthens and fortifies the identity and image of the brand in consumer’s minds. The elements that identify your brand create an association in people’s minds between their desires and beliefs and your company’s ideals.
Therefore, all companies should look into creating a strong brand for themselves and basing everything they do around it, as it has endless benefits and proves successful time and again.
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Hero image: Revolt, Unsplash