The marketing channels you choose have the potential to determine the future of your business. These are the modes through which your business reaches its customers, clients, and stakeholders.
Choosing the right marketing channels, and allocating the proper amount of resources can be a confusing and daunting task. One option, of course, is to consult with an expert. Some teams, like The Agency Guy in Philadelphia, will even offer pro bono consulting if you give them the opportunity to matchmake you with an agency.
But for those of us who want to go it alone, we’ve written a helpful guide to allocating resources and developing a preliminary marketing strategy.
Analyze Your Budget
Know your budget before selecting the marketing channel. It is recommended you ask your finance team to prepare a detailed marketing budget. You do not want to spend all of your budgets on marketing and fall short in other operations.
Specific marketing techniques like flyers and leaflet marketing may be cheaper, while display advertising and other modern techniques can be budget exhaustive. A prominent business has the resources and funds required to opt for multiple marketing channels.
Identify Your Target Audience
Your marketing channel should be able to reach your target audience. For instance, if your target audience is businessmen, a business magazine will be the ideal marketing channel preference. Similarly, if your target audience contains active social media users, social media marketing might be the better choice.
Identifying your target audience and researching them is the initial step to choosing the right marketing channel. Study the age, gender, preferences, and requirements of your audience.
Size of your business
A small-scale business, MSME, or a start-up cannot usually afford high-budget marketing techniques or channels. However, digital marketing channels like social media are highly accessible and could work for all businesses regardless of their size.
Choose a marketing channel that aligns with your business size. If your marketing funds are minimal, it may take longer for your marketing strategies to achieve break-even and yield ROI.
Business Presence
A business that functions within the national boundaries may focus on marketing channels in its country. The demographic variables are limited in such cases.
However, if the business has a global presence, business owners will have to formulate more comprehensive strategies and use varied channels. The demographic variables are more in number and vary drastically.
Product
The marketing channels should work for the product your business sells. Community marketing and other similar marketing techniques work for retail products. Social media marketing works very similarly to community marketing and can boost your revenues immensely.
However, if you sell high-value or niche products with a limited customer base, you will have to adopt a different marketing channel. E-mail marketing and other personalized marketing techniques may work in these cases.
Some products are marketed through a paid partnership or using influencer marketing. Consider the application of the product and the values derived through it.
Business History
Business history can be a key consideration when choosing a marketing channel. Some businesses may stick to using specific marketing channels and fail to adapt to newer techniques.
For example, assume you are running a business that sells pancakes. Word of mouth marketing might have been your marketing strategy for a very long time. Avoiding marketing channels like social media could harm the growth of your business. Innovative businesses try to incorporate the latest marketing channels.
Competitors
Regardless of which industry your business functions in, it is always best to stay ahead of the competition. Study your competitor’s marketing strategies and the marketing channels they use.
Identify potential advantages of particular marketing channels and implement them. Search engine optimization, community building, social media marketing are a few popular channels that work for practically all businesses.
Final Thought
Before selecting the marketing channel, identify the primary and secondary goals of your business. Brand awareness, sales generation, lead generation, and traffic generation are common marketing goals. Your marketing channels should reflect the vision and mission of the company.
