Channel Surfing: Understand and Maximize Your Marketing Channels

Marketing, the sheer mention of the word has the potential to strike fear in the minds of business owners, both young and experienced alike. The difficulty with marketing is that it is constantly evolving and what may work for one brand may result in a complete catastrophe for another. Furthermore, with so many marketing channels out there today, it can be quite a tricky landscape to maneuver.

Couple this with all the tips, tricks and proposed aids available and it can add another level of complexity. Which is why I’m going to focus on helping you through the big three: picking the right channels, picking the right content for those channels and how to convert leads from those channels. Answering these 3 simple questions will get you started on the pathway to marketing success. So without further adieu...

Pick the Right Channels

The first step is to layout all the marketing channels that you currently use. You can find a breakdown of the most commonly used channel types below:

1. Online - Website, social media, SEO, email marketing, etc.
2. Traditional - TV, radio, print, direct sales, etc.
3. PR - Events, sponsorship, community involvement, donations, etc.

Once you have identified all the marketing channels that you use, the next step is to evaluate your ROI (return on investment) on each of them. How much of your resources, both financial and time wise, do you allocate for a particular channel and how does your return compare? If you find that a channel is not meeting your projected ROI and you don’t foresee it doing so in the future then it would be wise to discontinue investing into that channel and instead invest into another that is more in line with your target market.

It’s important to keep in mind that just because you are not receiving a lucrative ROI doesn’t mean that you are in the wrong channel. You may just have to reassess your strategy within said channel. For example, a clothing store has invested into social media and use Facebook and Twitter as their outlets. However, they are frustrated with the lack of results from their Twitter contests because what they don’t realize is that the majority of their target market prefers to use Facebook when it comes to contests. By simply reassessing their strategy within a channel they can then increase their ROI.

Pick the Right Content

Now that you have selected the right channels, the focus now switches to developing great content. Consistently creating and delivering quality content over the right marketing channels makes the world of a difference when it comes to maximizing your marketing efforts.

So how do you develop incredible content that will have your target audience not only engaging with your message, but also sending your content to their contacts? The answer is easier than you think…you simply have to put yourself in their shoes. How do they think? What are they passionate about? What type of information are they more likely to engage with or send to others?

Once you answer these straightforward questions you’ll have a better idea of what kind of content to generate. This could range from information-based content that aims to educate consumers to viral content that uses attention-grabbing headlines to high quality imagery that naturally attracts the eyes of users.

Convert Leads from Channels

You’re now on the right channels and you’re sending out the right content, which is what brings us to our last and most crucial step: converting leads into sales across your marketing channels. Of course, this is the most important step as this is where all the finances and time invested into your marketing channels pays off. How do you convert consumers who have been exposed to your brand into clients? The answer is simple; connect with them. Reaching out and connecting with a user is a bold move, but chances are that if you’ve followed the previous two steps then the consumer should be willing to at least listen to what you have to say. This gives you a much better chance at converting them into a client.

For example, you’ve chosen to send informative case studies in a monthly newsletter to your email subscribers. After a few months, you notice that some individuals keep clicking on the link to your blog and have also been sending it to their friends. The best tactic to use here would be to follow up with these individuals in the form of an email and, depending on your target audience, offer them some sort of incentive that may entice them into purchasing something.

The world of marketing is an ever-evolving landscape filled with a plethora of ways to reach your target market. If you follow these 3 simple steps you’ll be on the fast track to maximizing your effectiveness, improving your content and increasing your ROI.