Choosing the right marketing channels is mission-critical for any business. It’s not just about getting your name out there or broadcasting your message to everyone who will listen–it’s also about identifying who you want to reach with your message and then finding a way to get them.
The best way of doing this is by setting goals from the start, testing out different channels at a time, and learning from mistakes along the way.
1) Know your ideal target audience.
First, you should know your ideal target audience. What are their problems? What are their interests? Who are their influencers and competitors? What are their demographics and where do they hang out online?
Once you have a good idea of who works in marketing at your company, you should ask them how they plan to market the product.
They may suggest that you use some channels that haven’t been mentioned in this post yet because they’re more cost-effective than other options (e.g., email newsletter blasts).
2) Decide what you want to achieve from your campaign.
Before you start a campaign, it’s important that you know what you want to achieve from it.
With this in mind, the first thing to do is define your objectives. Ask yourself:
- What do I want my audience to do?
- Who is my target audience?
- How much does each channel cost me (or will cost me in the future)?
- What resources am I capable of putting into this campaign and which ones do I not have access to? In other words, what can I accomplish on my own and what will require help from others? If there are certain areas where you feel like you won’t be able to succeed on your own, then consider collaborating with another digital marketer or hiring someone who has experience with these channels. It could be worth paying someone else if they can help make up for any shortcomings that might exist in your knowledge or capabilities.
3) Choose a marketing channel that fits your goals.
Now that you’ve considered the questions above, it’s time to choose a marketing channel that fits your goals.
If those goals are more focused on lead generation, then search and display remarketing ads could be an effective tool. If you want to increase brand awareness or build relationships with customers who have already purchased from your company, then social media would be better suited than display ads.
And if you want all of these things (and more), then email marketing can help provide all of those benefits and more!
In addition to matching your overall business objective with the right marketing channels, there are other ways in which to make sure that each one is serving its purpose:
- Is this channel working? It might seem obvious—but when it comes down to measuring success across multiple channels at once, it can be tricky knowing what metrics actually matter for any given campaign or campaign type (such as email vs. digital ads vs paid search).
- Make sure whatever numbers are important for what stage of growth stage/stage of product development) so we’re able-bodied adults understand how well different aspects of our strategy stack up against one another.”
4) Always test one channel at a time before moving on to the next one.
- Always test one channel at a time before moving on to the next.
- Don’t test multiple channels at once, as it can be difficult to determine which one is driving the most traffic and leads.
Instead, choose one channel and stick with it for a period of time—usually two weeks or more—and then reassess your efforts. During this window, you should have enough data to determine if your chosen marketing channel is producing results that warrant further investment.
5) Consider all channels you might use.
When you are deciding on your marketing channels, it is important that you consider all the options. Your choice should be based on a number of factors including:
- Your competitors and how they are using social media and other channels.
- How do your customers prefer to interact with businesses?
- The budget available for marketing activities, as well as time constraints if any.
- Any resources that can be made available for these purposes such as digital assets and staff time (including yours).
It’s also worth considering how much experience you have in each area so that any choices made will enable the best outcome possible within the parameters already set out by those considerations above.”
6) You’ve got to know when to fold ’em (drop a channel).
There are some situations where it’s time to call it quits.
- When you’re not getting the results you need. If your channel is not bringing in a certain amount of revenue, then it should be eliminated from your marketing mix.
- When you’re not getting the results you want. If your channel isn’t driving customers to your business or helping generate leads, then drop it from your marketing mix.
- When you get the results that are needed and wanted by optimizing this channel accordingly.
- With all channels having different metrics and goals in place, tracking success metrics can help determine when to keep or drop a particular channel based on its performance metrics (or lack thereof).
The key is knowing which ones are going to give you the best return on investment and how to turn them into leads and sales for your business.
The key is knowing which ones are going to give you the best return on investment and how to turn them into leads and sales for your business.
For example, if you’re a startup that’s just getting off the ground and needs more web traffic to generate sales, then advertising on Google Ads might be a good fit. But if you’re an established company with a large customer base, then email marketing may be a better option because it lets customers know about special offers without having them leave their inboxes.
The key is knowing which channels are going to give you the best return on investment based on your goals as well as what stage of business growth (or decline) you happen to be in at any given time. As we mentioned above, this should be part of an overall strategy that includes other types of marketing channels such as social media ads or organic content marketing like blogging.
ConclusionOnce you’ve chosen your channels, it’s time to set up the campaign and get started. But before you do… make sure that all of your work is saved! You don’t want to lose hard-earned content or spend hours creating new pieces only for them never see the light of day again (unless you plan on using this as an excuse for why your marketing didn’t work). It’s also important not just to write about what works well but also when something doesn’t work at all so that other marketers can learn from their mistakes.
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