Here’s a fun statistic – 86% of marketers increased brand awareness by using one or more digital marketing channels. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020) Between TikTok, email marketing, and influencers – the options are endless when it comes to marketing your business online.
“But, shouldn’t I be on ALL platforms?”
Not entirely. This is a common misconception that could be costing you a lot of time and money without generating desired results. Your business has unique offerings that serve a specific target market. In order to appeal to your target market, you need to promote your business on channels that your audience will be using.
Step one is identifying effective digital marketing channels for your business that will ultimately give you brand exposure in the best and most efficient way.
What is a digital marketing channel?
In order to choose the right channel, you need to know what a digital marketing channel is. Digital marketing channels are platforms where you can create, communicate and share your brand offerings to provide value for your customers.
These channels facilitate two-way communication with your customers and eventually help generate revenue for your business. Some examples include email marketing, social media, paid advertising, and influencer marketing.
How to choose the right digital marketing channels for your business
Here’s the million-dollar question you’ve been waiting to get answers for: how to identify and choose the right digital marketing channels for your business. Some of the most important factors that go into choosing the right channels include budget, audience, product, and market.
Understanding how each factor affects your marketing strategy is key in figuring out which channel is right for you.
Know the different types of digital marketing channels
It only takes a few minutes to do some research on each of the different marketing channels out there. You might be surprised to come across a few methods and platforms that you might not have on your radar.
Understanding the different types of channels will help you determine not only what’s out there but also how you can best share your story with your audience.
Outline your goals and objectives
Let’s get right into what you truly desire. What is it that you really want to accomplish through your digital marketing efforts?
Outlining your goals will help give you a clear idea of what outcome you are looking for. Once you have your objectives squared away, you’ll be one step further in making the right decision of which channel to pursue.
Set a marketing budget
You must spend money to make money – Plautus knew what he was talking about. You need to be ready to invest in order to get your name out there. But you don’t need to spend ALL your money, that’s why budgets exist. As you work on your strategy, it’s important to create a strategy for investment purposes. Your marketing budget is for you to put into these channels.
Usually, your investment is proportional to the results you generate. If you’re working with a smaller budget, it might take a little time for you to see results, so don’t worry if you’re not seeing what you want right away! The best part is that you can always play around with your investment to see where you get the best results.
Know your target audience
Always keep your audience in mind. You need to understand your audience thoroughly in order to engage and keep them interested in your business.
Do a complete analysis to see where your audience spends time online, what kind of content appeals to them, and what they are truly interested in. This will help determine where to spend your money and how to create content that is desired by your target audience.
Study your competitors
Your competitors can sneak up on you, so make sure you keep an eye out on them. Knowing what your competitors are doing is a great opportunity for you to figure out gaps in the market and provide offerings that can help you proactively fill the gap for your consumers.
Study your competitors to see what they are doing right and what might not be working for them so you can avoid making those mistakes. Remember, not all businesses work the same and what works for one might not be the best for you! However, it’s always a good idea to be in the know of how your competitors are faring and how you can ensure your customers stay loyal to you.
Which types of marketing channels are most effective?
We’re going to help you kickstart your research with some of the most effective types of digital marketing channels. You may have already heard of most of these and have been implementing these channels since you started your business.
Content Marketing
Content marketing generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. Good content will draw anybody in towards your website, emails, and posts. Content marketing is extremely important in your marketing strategy and this is how you can get most of your leads. Some types of content marketing include blog posts, case studies, reviews, client testimonials, and Ebooks.
Website
Your website is the first thing someone will visit to get to know your business. With that in mind, you need to build appeal and design your content around how you provide value to your customers. Make sure your website, especially the home page, is clear, easy to navigate, and mobile-friendly.
Email Marketing
Some people check their emails 20 times a day! With the ability to reach customers on a personal level, email marketing has proven to be extremely successful when it comes to making sales. It is the one aspect of your business that you completely control because you own the email lists and decide how you want to message your audience. Creating and designing engaging newsletters, and marketing emails with promotions and sales are an easy way to keep your business in customers’ minds and keep them interested in your offerings.
Social Media Marketing
Social media has definitely become an extremely popular and effective platform to target your customers. According to CMA Solutions, 70% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family. Platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram give you the power to engage your customers directly. Through social media marketing, you can share photos, make polls, message directly, and share exclusive information to interact with customers on an exclusive level.
Video Marketing
A good video can get anyone hooked. People have shorter attention spans these days and creating engaging videos is a powerful way to capture your audience’s attention to keep them engaged. Embed them in blogs, your website, newsletters, and other video channels to continue creating brand awareness. By leveraging social media for your videos you can reach an even larger audience and direct them to your website to increase traffic and sales.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The goal is to have your website found easily. Focusing on keywords makes your website appear on search results and the higher your website is listed, the more clicks you’ll get. It’s important to optimize all your content so when someone is searching for keywords that pertain to your business you will be the first one to show up.
Paid Search
For a fee, you can run a campaign that will allow your website to show up on the top of a search engine when someone searches for relevant keywords. This is known as paid search or pay-per-click advertising. You can set up your budget for a day, week or month and how much you want to cap it as the clicks come through. This is a great way to generate leads and drive more traffic to your website.
Influencer Marketing
Influencers have become a crucial part of marketing for most brands. Through influencers, you can reach a large number of people who will most likely want to buy from you because they see their favorite celebrity or blogger using your products.
When it comes to influencer marketing, however, it’s important to make sure that your influencer aligns with your business’s values and is someone who would truly be an ambassador of your brand. Some popular influencer marketing tactics include collaborations and giveaways.
If improving your digital marketing efforts is your goal for the new year, you’re already on the right track. Research is key. While having an online presence on all platforms might do you no harm, it’s important to focus on the channels that will provide you the most value and are highly efficient when it comes to your time and money.
