Why Using Multiple Marketing Channels Is Essential for Growing Your Business
Back in the day, people would simply visit brick-and-mortar stores to buy something, and the purchase would always be completed in person.
There were almost no other ways to buy clothes, food, and everything a person could desire.
Seeing that people change over time, trends across various industries change, too.
Nowadays, people regularly use more than one channel to make purchases.
You’ve probably done it too without realising.
You see a cool t-shirt on your way to work but decide to hold off on purchasing.
Later that day, you remember to look for it online.
And there you go, you have used two channels before actually making a purchasing decision.
This example tells us that all businesses aiming at better conversion rates and higher revenue need to shoot from multiple marketing channels.
That is why it will come in handy to take a thorough look at the following marketing channels:
- email marketing
- content marketing
- SMS marketing
- website marketing
- social media marketing
- paid ads
Email marketing
Email marketing has been around for many years.
And even though many people claim that it’s no longer as efficient as it used to be, its power shouldn’t be underestimated.
The vast majority of people possess at least one email account, and you don’t need to put in much effort to find proof for this.
Just think of your friends and colleagues; they all most likely have email accounts.
This is where the power of email marketing channels lie; it is a consistently great way of reaching potential customers and retaining faithful repeat clients.
You just need to make sure that you’re regularly and effectively communicating with them via email.
Know that every company out there has their own mailing list of subscribers, and there is a very good reason for that.
Emails allow you to get more personal and thus better engage your subscribers.
On top of that, it’s one of the easiest online marketing channels to measure in terms of performance and results.
Finally, an email marketing campaign usually doesn’t come at a high price.
In order to run an email campaign more smoothly, it is best to utilise email marketing services and luckily, there are many available products to choose from.
You can check out this list of top email marketing services ranked in 2021 to help you decide which one perfectly fits your business.
Know that, for example, Facebook marketing, even though it’s great, usually costs more money compared to email marketing campaigns.
Content marketing
At its core, content marketing is the process of creating and publishing valuable content that is relevant both to your business and to your audience.
The goal of a content marketing strategy is to indirectly stimulate interest in your company, brand, or products, as opposed to blatant promotions of a product or service.
Of course, before you promote your content, you need to create it.
This part is quite important since you have to come up with a solid idea and then make something valuable out of it.
The target audience wants content that is useful and interesting.
So, make it your goal to provide them with that kind of content.
Oh, and, make sure that you get some love from Google, that is important too!
This content can be pushed through a few marketing channels, which include:
- blog posts
- social media posts
- e-books
- video content
These were just some of the ways that you may want to look into before you start creating your content.
Remember, some industries heavily rely on content marketing because it’s very efficient.
So, if you are, for instance, in the SaaS industry, you most certainly should develop your SaaS content marketing strategy.
SMS marketing
You probably haven’t heard much about SMS marketing, right?
In fact, many people fail to recognise the power of this marketing channel.
However, think about this: how many people around you have a smartphone?
The chances are that all of them possess a smartphone, and this is something that we can agree on.
So, when you send a text message, the person on the other side is going to receive it.
On the other hand, email messages can end up right in the spam folder.
All of this points to the fact that SMS marketing has a solid open rate.
On top of that, if you decide to use an SMS API service, you can get more personal with your prospects, and that is extremely important in terms of customer engagement.
Last but not least, it’s also good to know that SMS marketing has little competition.
SMS is still an underutilised channel, according to various sources.
As a matter of fact, only 21% of brands leverage SMS to communicate with customers.
It is clear that this platform is not saturated yet, and you need to see that as a clear opportunity to make your business grow.
Invest in a tool like ClickSend in order to make the most of your marketing.
Website marketing
Many businesses still don’t realise that their websites can be used as the ultimate marketing weapon.
In reality, your website’s looks are quite important.
To be precise, it’s not just about the design; you should pay attention to every single detail.
Get the logo design right, get the layout right, do your best to get everything right on your website, because each detail matters.
Once your potential prospects get interested in what you’re doing, your website is the first place they will visit.
Every single person who wants to learn more about your business will visit your website, and that’s where the first impressions are formed.
Of course, your website needs to answer all of their questions (these mainly deal with details about what you do and how you can help them).
On top of that, it needs to represent your brand, products, and services clearly.
If you are interested in increasing the effectiveness of your website, you can:
- Do a website audit that will let you know what errors can be fixed so that you get more traffic.
- Test your interface manually because you don’t want potential customers to encounter bugs on your site.
- Pay attention to analytics because you’ll want to reassess everything when you notice the figures dropping.
Social media marketing channels
Social media platforms have never been more popular, and you must have stumbled upon this claim at least a dozen times before.
According to various stats, the number of users on social media will hit a whopping 3.02 billion by 2021.
What does that mean for your business?
It means that you should be present on these platforms because you can reach thousands and thousands of potential customers there.
In other words, it would be good to utilise social media to drive traffic to your business website or online store (if you have one).
The content you post on social media platforms needs to be interesting and useful.
Your target audience should find solutions to their problems in your products, but they also want more value from your social media posts.
Finally, you can also use social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Xing, or even Facebook to look for valuable assets and potential employees.
You can never know when you will need reinforcements, especially if you start growing fast.
Scouting and adding people on these networks can be a burdensome and lengthy task, so don’t be afraid of using tools that will automate dull processes for you.
For example, when you start learning more about LinkedIn and taking advantage of its many great features, it might be good to use a LinkedIn automation tool to save time and be efficient.
To be honest, it’s a bit boring to search manually and write custom messages to each of your new connections.
So, make sure to use a tool instead and make your life easier.
Paid ads
Another great way to promote your business and thus guide more traffic to your website is through paid ads.
This is a sure way to be visible, and it will help you grow.
However, you should know that ads cost money, and if you don’t know what you are doing, they can be an expensive but ineffective endeavour.
The vast majority of people use these three most popular platforms for online advertising:
- Google paid ads
- Instagram paid ads
- Facebook paid ads
Google ads
You can choose from two types of paid ads through Google AdWords, namely, display ads and text ads.
Display ads show up when you are browsing on various websites, and they rely on past searches.
On the other hand, the text ads appear at the top or the side of every Google search page.
When you go for this type of ads, you pay whenever someone clicks on the advertisement.
This method is also known as pay-per-click advertising (PPC).
Facebook ads
Ads on Facebook utilise the pay-per-click method, as the text adds mentioned above.
This online giant gathers personal information, and that allows companies to get ridiculously detailed with their targeting.
That’s why you can use age, gender, location, or education as a filter for your ad campaign.
On top of that, Facebook ads are affordable, so a tight budget will never be a problem again.
All in all, Facebook advertising is one of the most affordable and effective ways to attract new customers and grow, and it is worth considering.
Instagram ads
It is well-known that Instagram is a true social media giant with millions of active users all around the world.
Instagram is particularly significant because of its free business tools.
It will provide you with all the important analytics, but it also allows you to observe how your unpaid posts perform organically before deciding which one is best to use for an ad campaign.
If you are a small business, Instagram is most certainly one of the best marketing channels worth investing in.
If you are not familiar enough with this platform, do not rush into starting your campaign, but first pinpoint the most defining traits of your target audience, that will help you find out who the ideal customers are.
Once that’s out of the way, you can slowly start investing.
When you combine all the marketing channels mentioned here, you will see what works best and what you should change.
Whatever you do, always test and experiment, and make sure to be patient.
