Today’s marketing strategies, however, differ greatly from the traditional media campaigns of the early 2000s.

“During the recession, many national companies and larger companies had to cut back, and advertising hit a full stop in some cases, but a lot of the smaller businesses we work with did maintain a marketing budget,” said Raymond O’Canto, the president of NTD Media, a Fresno-based marketing and public relations firm. “What the recession did was force people to look outside the box and find ways to gain exposure without spending as much, and I think that gave digital strategies credence.”

JP Marketing President Jane Olvera Quebe said a lot has changed since she started working in the business in the ‘90s.

“We would begin a campaign centered around a print ad concept, then all other forms of media would spin from there. Then in the late 2000s, the centerpiece became television ads where the core concept would come to life, and other mediums for radio, print and outdoor would flow from there,” Quebe said. “Now what we see for forward-thinking clients is a digital first approach to campaigns where the concept is optimized for an online experience, such as digital ads, web landing pages, social pages, and then extended into a multi-media support.”

O’Canto said his 16-year-old firm has been focused on digital strategies for over a decade, but it was the recession that caused reluctant clients to finally take the plunge into creative web advertising and establish a presence on social media.

“There is a lot of energy and movement in terms of budget on the digital side and it has been that way for a couple years now,” O’Canto said.

Not only are digital strategies cost effective, but clients also benefit from instant feedback and statistics. It’s hard to gauge how many people in a target audience see a billboard, print advertisement or television commercial, but that information is easily attainable online, where website traffic and SEO can be monitored and the effectiveness of social media posts can be gleaned from the number of likes, shares and comments.

“If an online campaign doesn’t seem to be working, it can be adjusted like that. You can constantly shift the message and monitor it day by day,” O’Canto said. “That is a big difference with digital and you can’t beat it.”

Mark Astone, CEO of Catalyst Media, said the current push is for creative mobile strategies.

“It’s like the wild west right now, but it’s important we pay attention to mobile strategies because we know 10 times as many clicks to site or on social media come from a mobile device versus a computer,” Astone said. “These people see these messages on their phone.”

With the popularity of YouTube and social media video options like Facebook Live, O’Canto said there is also a strong push for “organic, unsterilized, natural, real video.”

“What we find is that no single digital strategy works for a client, but rather it’s best to spin a web of strategies to snag the attention of the potential customer,” Quebe said. “We call this a ‘digital footprint’ and we work to educate clients about how websites, landing pages, SEO [search engine optimization], SEM [search engine marketing], online directories, digital display, audience buying, content marketing, sponsored posts and all other digital aspects work together for a successful campaign.”

While digital is at the forefront, marketing experts say use of traditional platforms is still important.

“A business needs to blend its digital campaigns tactically with a strong television, print, radio, and or billboard campaign,” O’Canto said.

“In general, the pie is increasing,” Astone said of most Catalyst client marketing budgets. “It’s not so much that digital is taking away from other buckets, with the possible exception of print. Nationally, budgets for television advertising are still increasing and that makes up the largest piece of the pie. For digital, there are incremental increases, but since digital campaigns aren’t as expensive they still take up a smaller chunk of the pie.”

O’Canto said he estimates that 20 to 30 percent of the overall marketing budget for his average client is dedicated to digital campaigns.

It all comes down to understanding your audience, experts say.

“The marketing budgets are not out of control but they are market driven and how the budget is spent depends on how customers respond,” Astone said.

“For us, it doesn’t matter if the medium is traditional or digital, it just matters that the client’s target audience is there,” Quebe said.

Surprisingly, Quebe said several of JP Marketing clients have had success with direct mailing campaigns.

“For many years, direct mail effectiveness decreased while email increased. Now people’s inboxes are so full that they click the trash can after reading two or three words of the subject line, which is no different than emptying your mailbox directly into the recycling bin,” Quebe said. “However, we have recently produced some very smart, very targeted direct mail campaigns for clients that have been extremely effective, especially in the business to business category. While the per piece cost can be a little high, when engagement rates are equally high, the ROI makes sense.”

While digital has introduced a plethora of new platforms, Astone said the biggest change can be seen in how marketers operate.

“There is no more set it and forget it,” Astone said. “Marketing companies are hiring people to do data analysis and marketers are spending 50 percent of their time analyzing data and the looking for the creative resources to match. The idea used to drive the campaign, but now customer information does.”

With so much data to absorb, Astone said clients are also more hands-on.

“Most of our clients are looking to increase their budgets, but how we spend that budget is under more scrutiny,” Astone said. “Everyone is looking to get a better understanding of expected outcomes and return on investment and see the tie between advertising and marketing to actual business outcomes. We don’t just recommend a campaign, now we come back with specifics about what the client will get out of it as far as reaching their target audience.”