OK, at Skout PR we’re as ‘guilty’ as anyone of extolling the virtues of digital, online, web marketing – whatever moniker you want to give it. And rightly so because there’s huge value in utilising authentic content to get people engaging with your brand online through owned, earned and paid media. But does this mean non-digital marketing is truly dead? Not in my view.
At Skout we like to mix a bit of the old in with the new. After all, the transition to digital methods is not an overnight switch. The world of marketing may have changed but it’s an evolutionary process. We’ve been mixing digital and non-digital methods within our own marketing – our recent Natural PR campaign a prime example.
Our starting point for the campaign is good data – ensuring we know who we’re targeting. Then we aim to get the people we’re targeting to think; sometimes something physical rather than digital can be more thought provoking and memorable. We choose to send selected people a small gift that says something about our approach but is useful to them too. As you’ll see from the picture above, this non-digital marketing can also trigger digital conversations and engagement! Of course we employ digital and in-bound methods too – but the mix is important.
We think the same applies in our traditional skill set as a B2B PR agency. Increasingly we’re using digital measurements for the coverage we achieve for clients – such as the number of links gained, the quality/domain authority of the online publications featured in and so on. However, there’s still a desire among most clients to be seen and read about in highly regarded paper publications too.
So yes the world is changing, but there’s still a place for non-digital marketing within it. In fact I’d hazard that the mass transition to digital makes clever non-digital PR and marketing techniques now stand out from the crowd.
Rob Skinner is Skout’s MD and has worked in B2B and tech PR agencies for 20 years.
