Old School vs. New School Marketing
by Daria Kelly Uhlig, Demand Media
Marketing is about influencing people who might buy your product or service, using messaging that conveys value. Old school marketing used traditional channels such as broadcast and print to communicate with the target market. New school marketers have kept the traditional methods that still work, and have combined them with digital technology to communicate with consumers on a different and deeper level. New school marketing relies heavily on such Internet channels as Web sites, blogs and social networks.
Shifting Focus
Constant Contact’s Social Media Quickstarter guide describes a marketing funnel that represents how companies prioritize lead generation and conversion. Old school marketing put prospecting at the widest part of the funnel. The first priority was to find as many consumers as possible, convert some of them into customers, and establish a relationship with a few of those customers to earn their loyalty. In his book, “Flip the Funnel,” author Joseph Jaffe acknowledges a basic tenet of new school marketing: there is high value in cultivating a loyal customer base and keeping it engaged with continued communications. Finding customers now occupies the narrowest part of the funnel — not because finding customers is less important than it was, but because the loyal customers now fill part of that role. Old school marketers were off the hook once consumers made the decision to buy. New school marketers devote significant resources to maintaining relationships with those loyal customers.
