The rapid evolution and expansion of digital marketing have resulted in a customer (or potential customer) base that is savvy to marketing tactics that used to work well. To reach your target markets and connect with them in a meaningful way, you need to develop and invest in a bespoke marketing channel strategy.
In this marketing strategy guide, we will show you how to recognize, select, and optimize the best marketing channels to grow your brand awareness and ensure your marketing efforts are successful in reaching and captivating your target audience.
What is a Marketing Channel Strategy?
Gone are the days when you could reach your target audience with a well-placed newspaper ad or prominent billboard. Consumers today are bombarded by — and have learned to tune out — marketing noise.
Successful businesses know which channels and which combination of channels will be the most effective to prime potential customers. After all, it takes around seven exposures before consumers are ready to purchase (the “Rule of 7“). At the same time, these exposures must occur in a way that feels organic and unforced. Seeing the same post about a product or service seven times won’t be as effective as seeing the post, seeing a relevant ad pop up while streaming, and coming across blog posts that talk about the product/service.
It is imperative that your marketing channel strategy selects and manages the proper channels to maximize engagement and ROI. A “shotgun” approach that isn’t tailored to your particular brand and your target consumers will be ineffective both in terms of outcome and cost. This is especially the case for small and medium sized businesses with a more modest marketing budget.
Channel Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy
A market channel strategy is an important component of your broader marketing strategy. Your overarching marketing strategy, for instance, will inform whether you choose omni-channel or multi-channel marketing. Omni-channel marketing gets the consumer to engage with different kinds of content through connected channels, whereas multi-channel marketing puts out a common message through individual channels to lead the consumer to a specific goal.
| Omni-Channel | Multi-Channel |
|---|---|
Example: The user gets an email about a new product, sees social media with a promo code, and then comes across an influencer story about the same product. |
Example: Putting out a promo code on social media posts, connecting it to a social handle, and showcasing it on an emailed newsletter. |
Which strategy makes more sense for your business objectives will depend on a number of factors, including your branding, where your business is at in its journey, resources, and buyer personas.
Types of Marketing Channels
There is no shortage of different types of marketing channels from which to choose. Here are a few popular examples.
Paid Channels
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: Examples are Google Ads and similar Bing, Facebook, and Instagram versions. Businesses pay every time consumers click on ads targeting specific audiences based on factors like location and demographics.
- Sponsored Content and Paid Social Media Promotions: Businesses pay for content to appear on target audience social media feeds, but the content contains useful, relevant information to ascribe thought leadership.
Free Channels
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The visibility and ranking of your content with search engines can be improved by strategic content generation so it turns up in consumers’ organic searches.
- Content Marketing: Credible, valuable, seemingly impartial content, such as videos, blog posts, or podcasts, keeps interested customers coming back for more information.
- Email Marketing: Email is still an important communication medium, and well timed reminders about your products/services help to retain current customers and maintain loyalty/engagement.
Brands also can’t ignore the prevalence of influencers, with whom collaboration could be free, paid/sponsored, or a combination.
Partnership Marketing
- Influencer Partnerships: Influencers act as brand ambassadors to promote a brand’s products or services to their audience.
- Affiliate Marketing: Content creators earn a commission for each sale generated through a unique referral link.
- Joint Promotions: Brands/channel partners collaborate on promotional efforts, such as contests, to increase their reach and share marketing costs.
Knowing which channel mix is best for your marketing objectives requires good data, analytics, and insight into your target audience’s preferences and habits.
How to Develop an Effective Channel Strategy
When developing the channel strategy that will grow your business, you need the following:
- Honest analysis of your business goals and your target audience’s needs and preferences including SMART KPIs
- Analysis of target audience (not just needs and preferences but also means of purchase, perceived value, fears, and wants.
- Steps to align marketing channels with these objectives and customer profiles: Ensure your channel selection makes sense, and that potential customers are presented with the right information at the right time to drive them down the acquisition funnel.
- Ability and tools to monitor channel performance and to optimize your channels: Invest in programs and expertise to understand the data, and see where there is room for improvement.
- A dynamic approach to adapt to changing market conditions: Stay flexible so you can pivot and readjust your strategy, and keep up with customer needs and preferences.
- Strategies for combining multiple channels for a cohesive digital marketing approach: Digital marketing professionals can provide excellent insight into the trends and how to leverage them.
- A budget that maximizes your ROI: Be smart about resource allocation.
Budget and Resource Allocation
An effective budget is the product of detailed groundwork and resource management, and it should reflect these principles:
- Know your business goals (short-term and long-term), your targeted buyer personas and their preferences or influences, and your competition (and what is working for them).
- With paid channels, funds should be allocated based on expected returns. Do research to determine the strengths, weaknesses, and statistics of your chosen paid channels, and develop performance methods to track ROI.
- Remember to optimize the management of your channels with a combination of personnel and technology. If you aren’t putting the work in to, say, creating quality content and monitoring the feedback you get from your marketing campaign, unknown efficiencies will affect the success of your channel marketing strategy.
How 1UP Digital Marketing Can Streamline Your Marketing Strategy
At 1UP, we are a proud performance digital marketing agency, but more importantly, we consider ourselves an extension of your business team. Our expertise and holistic outlook result in a sound and creative approach in everything we do, whether it’s search engine optimization, PPC advertising email marketing, conversion rate optimization, or tracking and analytics. We love what we do, and it shows.
We’ve helped tourism organizations, e-commerce businesses, and law firms reach (and exceed!) their objectives by growing sales, awareness, and customer bases. Let’s chat and find out what a sound marketing strategy specifically tailored to your needs can do for your business.
Marketing Channel Strategy FAQs
Can seasonal trends affect the effectiveness of certain marketing channels?
Absolutely. The good news is, that you can capitalize on seasons with the marketing channels you’ve chosen to drive up awareness and sales. Ask us how.
What is the role of customer feedback in optimizing marketing channel strategy?
There’s a reason knowledge is power. The more you know about what your customers like and what makes them tick, the deeper the engagement and loyalty. Feedback allows you to finetune your marketing channel strategy and make it more effective. Let us show you how to gather and use customer feedback.
How does channel strategy differ between B2B and B2C markets?
B2B (business-to-business) marketing focuses on the promotion of brands, products and/or services geared towards organizations. B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing is more geared towards expanding the consumer base. Talk to us about what channels best suit your business needs.
How can businesses measure the indirect impact of marketing channels on brand awareness and loyalty?
There are numerous tools to develop and assess performance and leverage analytics to get a true picture of the effects of your marketing channels. Let’s work together to find out what does and what doesn’t work in your channel marketing strategy.
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