A Review of the strengths of the best digital marketing channels.
While the demise of traditional media is greatly over-exaggerated, there’s no denying it’s a digital marketing world for small business. And that’s a good thing because you can be effective with a smaller budget using digital tools. But it’s also a bad thing because there are so many options, and businesses make one of three mistakes.
- They choose the least effective option for their marketing purpose.
- They try to do too many things.
- They can’t decide amongst all the options and choose to do nothing at all.
To be most effective at digital marketing you should first choose one thing, the most effective thing for your business (more on that below), and master that before moving into additional digital marketing channels. To help you decide here is a list of your options and their best use. Pick one and focus on that channel. This strategy will give you more time and money to spend running your business.
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Option 1: Email Marketing
Called marketing’s “king of the hill” by John Wall in my special Marketing Toolbox podcast chapter; email marketing offers a strong return on investment. Its strengths are,
- Aids in customer retention and loyalty
- Drives sales and repeat purchases
- Broad reach, excluding teens and very young adults.
Option 2: Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing
Pay –per-click (PPC) is the channel of choice for instant results. It comes with a caveat, however, in that there is a tough learning curve to use it effectively. Its strengths are,
- Reaches customers with a high intent to buy
- It drives website traffic
- Strong at reaching younger demographics, primarily adults under age 30
Option 3: Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is the Swiss army knife of digital marketing. It can do a little of everything, but it also can be less cost efficient that PPC. Its strengths are,
- Aids in brand awareness
- Can provide the spark for word of mouth
- Can be used to sell products
- Drives website traffic
- Generates leads
- Highly targetable by demographic and lifestyle
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Option 4: Content Marketing
Creating content for blogs, videos, and podcasts is a long-view strategy, and takes a significant long-term commitment. For this reason ignored by many businesses. Its strengths are,
- Builds your credibility and authority
- Increases search engine traffic from organic results
- Shortens the sales cycle for difficult-to-understand products and services.
Based on this list, which channel would you choose to market your business? Is there anything you would add to the list?
Note: This post originally appeared in The Marketing Spot Newsletter
Image Credit: mkhmarketing
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