Very recently someone said to a client of ours that White Knight only do ‘traditional marketing & PR’ and that we probably couldn’t deliver on digital because of this, so maybe they shouldn’t use us.
I laughed…I laughed because of their clear misunderstanding about what ‘marketing’ is. At it’s most basic now, there is NO difference between ‘traditional marketing’ and ‘digital marketing’. Marketing has always encompassed all the various channels you need to engage to achieve an outcome for your business, or in our case, our clients’ businesses.
There is no longer such a thing as ‘traditional’ unless you add that traditionally marketing is all encompassing. There are a few exceptions to this rule but that is because of the resources required. The two that jump out are advertising and public relations, both of which now have a stronger crossover than ever with other marketing agencies, but who also have their own governing bodies.
Modern marketing agencies must have a fundamental, if not ‘in-depth’ knowledge of all things digital, because, frankly, what isn’t digital these days?
As a marketing director of 24 years and a marketing manager before that, I can boldly claim that I designed and coded my first website 30 years ago (and yes, it really WAS that long ago), when it first became possible. The companies I have worked for, and with, since then have all had cutting edge websites because we understood how websites have evolved in that time, and the requirements needed to make them visible.
Having spent all that time growing with the technology, our learning curve has not had to be so steep as many learning this skill from new or who are new to the profession. This means we have been able to finesse these skills over the years and developed a greater understanding. This has given us a much more holistic view of how to get the results needed. That is one of the reasons we have no need to outsource our SEO work. That said, we usually work happily hand in hand with website developers to address technical SEO issues when the site is hosted and maintained elsewhere.
At White Knight we do believe a joined-up approach is the best way, no marketing channel is strong enough to stand alone, there really is strength in a cohesive approach.
So…to that company who said ‘Traditional’ marketing doesn’t include SEO knowledge, think again. Look at how much more a whole market channel service can support a company and how experience makes that approach possible.
