The modern marketer had a host of tools in their arsenal, from social media outreach to generating good old fashioned word-of-mouth publicity. While the internet and the advent of social media have propelled the marketing function to the forefront of business success, is there any merit to Mad Men era marketing? Is print and television truly dead? And are social campaigns via social media channels really here to stay, or are they passing fads? Experts argue an all-encompassing approach is the only effective way to market brands in the age of limited attention spans and the irrepressible drive for instant gratification.

A dangerous notion is that digital or online marketing is the only way to advertise, an easy assumption to make as we live in a digital, connected age. But offline advertising or marketing still has a crucial role to play.

Printed ads, mail shots, flyers, TV and radio ads and so on, are all marketing tools on which companies still spend a proportion of their marketing budgets, and are still seen as effective ways to reach a wide demographic. But offline marketing is only effective if executed without an online campaign.

While offline marketing has been around since the first posters inviting the general public to a play by Sophocles in Ancient Greece, online marketing has only been around for two decades, and has rapidly evolved to much more than just banner adverts. From social media campaigns to influencing key people, online marketing is a constantly changing beast, that has helped marketing become more data-led as a measurable and tangible business function, crucial to the success of any enterprise.

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The online or offline marketing debate spills some surprising results. It shows how influential companies are using both, dovetailing their offline presence with their online one. The marketing budget, regardless of how much cash is in the pot, can work incredibly hard, with an ROI that exceeds expectation.

One thing both schools of thought agree on is that without marketing, there is no brand, no awareness, no customers and no business. This infographic from Colour Graphics explains how the two can work together for a collaborative, holistic marketing strategy.

See also: Digital marketing vs traditional methods