RPB Marketing | Content Marketing & Growth Marketing

In ancient times, even before the first written documents that we now call literature, people communicated exclusively orally. Oral communication was the main way to tell things. For many centuries written texts have been the way we transmit messages. But with digital media, this changed.
There is, again, a predominance of oral means of communication. This is what we will talk about in this article. We will mention why there is a special interest in oral communications in digital marketing.
What would oral communication be in digital marketing?
Oral communication in digital marketing is the possibility of conveying a message in digital media using essentially oral channels. In other words, we do not only communicate with a text message, a tweet, or an email advertisement. We use oral media to reach certain audiences.
Because people today pay more attention to a spoken message (usually through a video), this strategy is used to make a marketing campaign work. Thanks to the high level of interactivity that oral messages generate in marketing, this type of campaign has been given a certain predominance. Today, we are more likely to pay more attention to a message via message or a video. Reading, on the other hand, has only become a subsidiary tool for digital marketing.
Visual communications include everything related to images or text. Although they still play a key role in transmitting a message, especially in the world of digital marketing, the truth is that they are no longer the main channel for receiving information. Let’s not forget that digital marketing relies heavily on communication. Messages are important to create an advertising campaign. Therefore, a suitable piece of media must be created for this purpose. In this case, spoken messages, people saying things, have proven to be the mandatory tool to achieve this.
Social media algorithms prioritize reels and videos for communicating a message. Even in messaging channels, voice messages have also been imposed as a priority means of transmitting a message. It might seem ironic to say that the oral takes precedence over the visual in our times. With this statement, we are not saying that the visual is not a priority in the way we consume (because it is). Instead, we want to reaffirm that oral communication, saying things by speaking, has a greater impact on the things we see in these times of high digital connectivity.
Impact of oral communication on digital media
Social networks bear a lot of responsibility for this. When the first version of the internet emerged in Web 1.0, the hegemonic medium for communication was text. There were chats, forums, documents, and blogs, where we shared our messages. But, this has changed.
Today, social media have helped a lot in converting our perceptions. Now we are more susceptible to being informed through media like Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. All of them are strongly influenced by a kind of orality.
But orality and its primacy are not new. It has been brewing for some years now. Television and radio have been priority media for obtaining information. While newspapers or magazines have also had some popularity, but have been somewhat more sectorized. This is still partly the case. However, those who pay attention to TV or radio are now new, more limited audiences.
And this problem escalates. Walter Ong in Profession 2006 comments that orality in our times comes from an ancient tradition. Our verbal capacities are essentially linked to an oral character. We like to speak, to say, to comment, and the media in which we transmit information only influence the way we transmit information. But speaking, saying things orally, is intrinsic both to us as individuals and to our culture.
Do we use it in every digital marketing campaign?
Not necessarily. There is indeed an empire of orality in digital media. However, not all media allow for this type of messaging. For example, when we communicate via email marketing on LinkedIn’s InMail, it is not the primary method.
We, at RPB Marketing, do pay a lot of attention to this means of communication. However, our strategies do not necessarily seek to adapt to market trends. Instead, we care about the message, whether written, visual, or oral.