- \n
- Before choosing digital marketing channels for your business, you must understand your primary objectives, audience, competitors, and budget.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Different channels will give you different results. Your goals should guide your choices. <\/em><\/li>\n
- Content marketing and SEO are two channels virtually every marketing team should use to build a strong online presence.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Why You Need to Keep Your Eye on Different Marketing Channels<\/h2>\n
You\u2019ve hopefully identified accurate buyer personas that don\u2019t suck<\/a>. You should also realize that no individual or target audience absorbs content through a single marketing channel.<\/p>\n
Using a mix of channels helps you reach more of your intended audience fanbase effectively. We\u2019ve found that multichannel and omnichannel strategies<\/a> are a requirement, and your choice of channels must be up to date.<\/p>\n
Finding the right mix means researching where your top prospects are and communicating with them in the way they prefer. As buyer tastes evolve, adjust to different marketing channels to keep up with your preferred demographic.<\/p>\n
![\"Most](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/marketing-channels-usage-data-1.png\")
<\/p>\nDifferent channels will give you different results. Understanding your options and how each channel works will enable you to make better business decisions.<\/p>\n
What You Need to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Channels<\/h2>\n
First, consider the essential elements of an overarching marketing plan. Then you can narrow down and select the digital marketing channels that will help your business most.<\/p>\n
Understand Your Objectives<\/h3>\n
A CoSchedule study<\/a> found that goal-setting marketers are 376% more likely to succeed than marketers who don\u2019t set goals. Organized marketers are 397% more likely to report success.<\/p>\n
To be successful, you must know where your business is heading. You can start by setting strong marketing goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (SMART).<\/p>\n
Here are some ideas to get you thinking. Do you want to:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Become a thought leader in your industry?<\/li>\n
- Build authority and trust with consumers online?<\/li>\n
- Build brand recognition?<\/li>\n
- Nurture and generate high-quality leads?<\/li>\n
- Drive traffic to your website?<\/li>\n
- Build a social media following?<\/li>\n
- Make sales?<\/li>\n
- Boost ROI?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/digital-marketing-goals.png\")
<\/p>\nYour goals will lead you to choose the right channels for your business. In Section 2, we\u2019ll dive into some of the best channels for accomplishing common goals for B2B and B2C businesses.<\/p>\n
Study Your Target Audience<\/h3>\n
Another factor to help you decide where to spend your marketing budget and resources is your target audience. If you\u2019re unsure about which channels your target audience prefers, do some market research to learn more.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Where do they spend time online?<\/li>\n
- What types of content and topics are they interested in?<\/li>\n
- How do they consume content?<\/li>\n
- Who are they following closely online?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Look at your direct competitors to learn more about your audience. BuzzSumo, Alexa, SEMrush, and iSpionage are helpful tools<\/a> that dig into competitor data.<\/p>\n
Set Your Marketing Budget<\/h3>\n
Your marketing budget<\/a> will undoubtedly play a role in which digital channels you choose to use. Some options are much more costly than others. For example, posting on social media can be virtually free, but paying for Google Ads or investing in a comprehensive content marketing strategy can be pricey.<\/p>\n
That said, don\u2019t forget to consider the return-on-investment potential. Using standalone platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram for marketing may not pay off as well as a killer content marketing strategy that includes weekly blogging, quarterly ebooks, and SEO.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say you write a blog post and optimize it within the week. You also create a week\u2019s worth of social media posts. It takes you longer to write and publish the blog post, and you don\u2019t get much traffic from it the first week. Your social posts, however, receive some engagement. They receive an average of 20 likes a piece and drive a handful of people straight to your website.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to six months. Those same social posts are nowhere to be found. Your blog post, however, is getting 500 views per month and growing steadily even though you haven\u2019t touched it.<\/p>\n
Generally, the more you spend on marketing, the more success you\u2019ll have. If you invest more up front, you could start seeing results faster<\/a>. If you start slowly and build, substantial results may take longer.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., marketing executives generally devote 7-10%<\/a> of their company\u2019s revenue to marketing. Determine your marketing budget, and then figure out how much each of your marketing activities will cost. That way, you can see which ones you can afford and which ones you\u2019d like to add later.<\/p>\n
Here are a few costs to consider when building your budget and choosing your channels:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Hiring a marketing team in-house vs. outsourcing the work to an agency.<\/li>\n
- Content creation, web design and development, and strategy.<\/li>\n
- Marketing tools and software.<\/li>\n
- Your budget for paid advertising<\/li>\n
- General costs for each digital marketing channel (to compare)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Study Your Competitors<\/h3>\n
Which channels are your top competitors using? If their digital marketing strategies are more successful than yours, go where they are to catch up.<\/p>\n
Another option is finding gaps \u2013 where your competition isn\u2019t spending time and money. If there\u2019s enough opportunity there, take advantage to grow your audience.<\/p>\n
So now you’re ready to research and choose the channels you want to adopt based on the data you’ve collected. You can always adjust your strategies later if you don\u2019t see the results you desire.<\/p>\n
1. Content Marketing<\/h2>\n
Content marketing<\/a> (CM) is a channel every marketing team should use to build a robust online presence and authority. 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing. According to Demand Metric, CM costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates three times as many leads per dollar spent.<\/p>\n
Every successful business needs a website. The way people find your website organically online is through quality content. It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n
By giving consumers exactly what they\u2019re looking for \u2013 addressing their pain points and challenges \u2013 you\u2019ll gain authority, increase traffic to your website, and generate quality leads.<\/p>\n
Here are some types of content you can choose from to fill up your content calendar:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Blog posts<\/li>\n
- Ebooks<\/li>\n
- Case studies<\/li>\n
- Guides<\/li>\n
- PDF downloads<\/li>\n
- Reviews<\/li>\n
- Interviews<\/li>\n
- White papers<\/li>\n
- Research articles<\/li>\n
- Listicles<\/li>\n
- Infographics<\/li>\n
- Press releases<\/li>\n
- Pillar pages<\/li>\n
- Thought leadership<\/li>\n
- Tip sheets<\/li>\n
- Comparisons<\/li>\n
- Datasheets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Content marketing is best for:<\/strong><\/p>\n
- \n
- Lead generation<\/li>\n
- Generating ROI<\/li>\n
- Building authority<\/li>\n
- Brand awareness<\/li>\n
- Education<\/li>\n
- Storytelling<\/li>\n
- Boosting website traffic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
2. Blogging<\/h2>\n
Written content on your website should be the backbone of any marketing. You\u2019ll be hard-pressed to find a less expensive way to build credibility<\/a> and generate leads.<\/p>\n
Informational and educational material nurtures your ideal prospects through the buying cycle. The one caveat to content marketing is it requires playing the long game, so you\u2019re not likely to see immediate ROI at first.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t you need to learn how to execute a plan patiently to succeed in business anyway? Content marketing is perfect for a company that\u2019s in it for the long haul.<\/p>\n
Your success will boil down to quality and consistency. (Hint, hint: That\u2019s key to succeeding with all of your different marketing channels.)<\/p>\n
- Different channels will give you different results. Your goals should guide your choices. <\/em><\/li>\n