Welcome to Kiran Gutha‘s blog on how to maximize your marketing channels for business success. Digital marketing gives small business owners access to a variety of marketing channels. Here’s how to make them work for you.
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Marketing Channels For Small Businesses
Small business owners have always needed to be savvy marketers.
Now, with so many new marketing channels available, it can be confusing to know which ones will reach the most customers and prospects, and convert to sales.
Is it best to drive traffic through SEO and display ads, or to build a strong social media presence?
Does email marketing pay off, or would pay-per-click (PPC) be a better way to go?
While choosing the right marketing channels is essential, keeping the marketing message consistent is even more important.
Cross-channel marketing means telling one story in different ways. You might choose the text for one channel and images for another, but the core message must be the same.
Choose the Best Marketing Channels for Your Business
Now that so many more marketing options exist, how do you know what to focus on, and which will bring you closer to meeting your goals?
The short answer is, “it depends.” It depends on your business and the customers you’re targeting.
A brick-and-mortar shoe store might advertise specials on social media to inspire a younger, female demographic to come into the store.
On the other hand, a private equity firm might target a different audience through informative newsletters.
When trying new marketing methods, always test the results so you’ll know which are worth your time and effort.
Most Effective Marketing Channels
Here are some of the most effective marketing channels:
- Email Marketing: Email marketing can be very effective. Build an email list. Send periodic updates and newsletters. Be sure to get your customers’ permission and provide an easy way to unsubscribe.
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: PPC can deliver highly targeted leads but it requires an investment. Set a budget for the number of PPC ads you want to run each month. Be sure to track leads and sales that result from each ad.
- Search engine optimization (SEO): People use online searches to look up information or find a local business to fulfill a need. Learn the keywords your potential customers use and include them to optimize your website copy, articles, blogs, and ads.
- Display advertising: These include banner ads, video ads, overlays, and other ads that appear on a website or blog. Display ads are great for building brand awareness and generating targeted traffic to your site.
- Social media marketing (SMM): SMM allows small businesses to create communities and establish personal relationships with customers. Create a brand persona and publish useful content for your followers. Engage and encourage sharing with your target audience on their preferred platforms.
- Content marketing: Content marketing generates inbound Web traffic. High-quality content that your audience wants will build brand awareness and loyal fans. Stick to a consistent publishing schedule for updates, images, article links, and videos.
- Affiliate marketing: Affiliate marketers sell your products on their sites for an agreed-upon fee.
Establish Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you measure results across all marketing channels. Some examples include:
- Search engine rank: A higher rank typically means increased website traffic. Measure rank before and after marketing campaigns to determine if they’re effective.
- Traffic: This includes overall traffic, new traffic, returning traffic, and mobile traffic. Seeing exactly where website visitors are coming from can inform future actions and campaigns. Monitor which pages are most popular and how long visitors stay on the page to determine their level of engagement.
- Conversion rates: Converting visitors to leads and leads to sales is marketing’s most important job. If conversions are not happening, it’s time to switch up your strategy.
- Return on investment (ROI): If you don’t realize a return on your marketing investment, you’re wasting your time and money.
Factors to Consider When Selecting Marketing Channels
When developing marketing strategies and choosing digital marketing channels, start by establishing your goals so you can ensure that your efforts will be in alignment.
Depending on your business, you may be aiming for any or all of these goals:
- Brand awareness: Improving name recall and consumer familiarity with your company, products, and services; increasing brand awareness through social marketing platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram; or by advertising specials through promotional campaigns and email marketing.
- Sales generation: Generating more sales by establishing an e-commerce platform to allow customers to purchase directly online; or by using other online sales channels such as Amazon Resellers, Facebook Storefront, and affiliate marketers.
- Lead generation: Marketing channels that can deliver more leads include SEO, PPC, display advertising, email marketing, and content marketing, such as blogs, e-books, and white papers.
- Generate traffic: SEO, PPC advertising, and content marketing can increase website traffic.
Bring in the Right Talent
Once you’ve established your goals and KPIs, you might want to analyze your company’s ability to implement effective digital marketing strategies.
Today’s small business owners have many more options to learn and understand.
It’s best to focus on mastering the two or three marketing channels that deliver the highest ROI rather than learning a little about all of them.
If you decide to hire or outsource the talent you need to create and execute your digital marketing plan, be sure your recruits have the right skill sets.
Depending on your needs, look for the following skills:
- Website development
- Writing and visual communications
- Search skills
- Social media skills
- Photography or videography
- Web analytics.
Mix Digital Marketing Channels to Maximize Success
A successful digital marketing strategy begins with the right mix of marketing channels.
Create a strong and consistent brand message along with appealing, valuable content and targeted outreach.
In time, each channel’s performance will build on the others and you’ll consistently move toward realizing your business goals.
If you want me to help with your digital marketing strategy. Consult me now.!
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