My advertising career started in 2002 as a Proofreader at my father’s Printing Press. In my spare time, I used to shadow the graphic designer and sometimes helped him with the copy. That was my first interaction with Branding as I was directly involved in the process of business naming, taglines & logo development, billboard designs, copywriting and corporate identity development for shops, educational institutions, and local government offices.
By witnessing it work since the inception of my career, I became a true believer in the supremacy of Orthodox Marketing practices for a long time. In the year 2010, I was introduced to Digital Marketing by Dr. Usama Khalid Bukhari. He shared with me a few video lectures on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to study and mentioned that it is going to be the ‘next big thing’. But I left the course half-way considering that this isn’t going to last long, and Orthodox Marketing is here to stay. One of the major reason behind my thinking back then was the miscarriage of my start-up with Dr. Shahid Bashir named as AimanNama.com (launched in 2008 and based on concepts similar to gumtree.com/olx.com, it was an idea far ahead of its time).
It wasn’t just me. Blockbuster thought so (and lost their market share to Netflix), and so did ToysRUs (outsourced online sales to Amazon). However, I wasn’t so late in responding to the call for embracing the change. After all, I was a Millennial (so what if I had an Orthodox Marketing mindset?). In 2011, I commenced my Digital Marketing voyage and kept moving forward.
Over time, a clear line started to appear between the two schools of marketing thought (Orthodox & Digital), and it seemed like Digitial Marketing is going to take over. However, it has now become clear that the magnitude of Orthodox Marketing might reduce but it will not become obsolete. This gave birth to the need for a hybrid marketing system since both types of marketing are equally important and impact the brands in their unique ways. They complement each other and are often interrelated.
Therefore, Hybrid Marketing is defined as:
A combination of Orthodox and Digital Marketing practices by using in-person touchpoints and digital channels to develop and execute an efficient and effective communication strategy.Hybrid Marketing is the need of the hour. It ensures that all communication objectives are met within the given time and resources. It contains media vehicles from well-established billboards and newspapers to blistering social media push ads and influencer endorsements. It is comprehensive and unabridged. And, its impact is stronger than the individual impacts of both Orthodox or Digital Marketing Marketing Heads/Directors/Chiefs:
- Dissect and thoroughly study your product(s).
- Research and explore your target market and target audience.
- The right strategy is key! Invest some time and resources in formulating a winning strategy.
- Hire the right team and build the team’s capacity. Unless you hire a Hybrid Marketer, don’t expect a Brand Manager to oversee the Digital Marketing platform as its requirements are different and mostly data-driven. Similarly, don’t assume the Digital Guru to be proficient in Brand Management.
- Invest in your Marketing team to equip them with the latest tools. The landscape is constantly changing!
- Accept that it’s happening.
- Invest some time in understanding Digital Marketing.
- Work closely with Digital Marketers to support/integrate with their efforts.
- Orthodox Marketing practices still serve as NorthStar.
- Since most of the Digital Marketers are Computer Science graduates, with little or no knowledge of Brand Management. Invest some time in understanding how the Mad Men work.
- Work closely with Brand Managers to support/integrate with their efforts.