How do you decide which Marketing Channels to use in your pursuit of online advertising? That is an important question because nobody wants to waste time with their marketing efforts. As a full service digital agency, we provide more than just award-winning web design; we also understand digital marketing, branding, and so much more related to doing business online.
With marketing the thing that really matters at the end of the day is ROI or return on investment. How much does it cost to get those conversions? Now while each business is unique with different products, services, and customers we have found that certain channels are simply more effective than others.
Best Channels for Digital Marketing
In the case of the best channels for digital marketing these are the top three options:
Website marketing– Websites provide the most effective channel for digital marketing, however it can be hard to execute plans properly for maximum effectiveness. This often occurs as your site and goals change over time which then can lead to a loss of conversions for one reason or another. The way to remedy this is by regularly performing a site audit, reviewing analytics carefully compared to your sales funnel, and then testing possible changes to increase effectiveness with implementation of the best changes being the final step.
Email marketing – Email marketing is a close second in regards to effectiveness. Executing well with email starts with it being an extension of your site and brand. The tone, the style, the images, etc. all need to be an extension of what people have seen. You need to test headlines and calls to action, use personalization and make sure you aren’t spamming people but instead adding value with your emails. You can view more tips on Email marketing here.
Social media marketing – This form of marketing is definitely the middle of the road when it comes to being able to execute it effectively. Newer businesses or those run by people who are more in-touch with social media tend to have much more effective campaigns while companies that have been around longer often treat social media marketing as more of an afterthought. However this is a very good platform to spend time on as you can connect to a very big audience. They keys for social media are to first find the platforms your target customers use, learn the nuances of those platforms, and then craft a marketing plan for that group on that platform. Additionally social media should be used for customer service as well and any marketing plans should coincide with what you are doing from a customer service standpoint.
Other options:
Organic search marketing – Organic search, which primarily focuses around your SEO efforts, is still a viable way to obtain customers. However from an effectiveness standpoint it falls below the three channels we have already outlined. It should of course be utilized as part of a well-rounded program, but you can often generate a better ROI with the other options.
Paid search marketing – This is a solid but unspectacular option. It actually falls slightly below organic search when it comes to effectiveness, but for those without the time to work on more effective campaigns this is an easy way to produce results.
The bottom line is that deciding which marketing channels to use should be based on a combination of the effectiveness of the channel and your ability to execute a successful campaign on that channel. The top three choices are head and shoulders above the other options like paid search, ads and even organic search, so your efforts should be focused on them first and foremost if you want to obtain the best results.
This article was originally published in 1 August 2017. It was most recently updated in January 7, 2019 by Isaiah
