Competing for visibility on the internet today is a game for everyone. With Digital Marketing, even small companies have the tools and the means to reach bigger audiences, generate leads and sell more.
How is this possible? The answer lies on a broader variety of Digital Marketing channels, all of them with different demands and benefits that can fit any budget or strategy.
So how about learning them and choosing the best ones to invest in your business? This guide will go over:
6 Digital Marketing channels to consider for your business
Marketing channels are the ways you can reach and attract an audience, as the tools and platforms that make this connection possible.
Think about traditional marketing: its main channels are TV, radio, and press. These used to be the best medium in which a brand could be promoted.
The Internet has opened up a whole new field of possibilities. Digital Marketing channels are more prolific, decentralized and simple to explore, especially for small businesses with less money and workforce to engage new leads. That is the great thing about them.
Let’s take a look at the main channels and understand how to choose the best ones to use on your marketing strategy.
1. Website
A lot of entrepreneurs tend to ignore the power of their website when talking about marketing. When the website is seen as a closing point (the place where qualified leads go only when they are decided to buy), a company can miss big opportunities for attracting opportunities.
According to research made by Ascend2 with marketing specialists, 63% of them claim that a website is the most effective marketing channel — a piece of information that usually surprises their clients.
First and foremost, a website should be the center of your online presence. It is the destination for traffic coming from other channels and the most tailored brand experience you can offer to your potential client.
It is also the place to host your content (blog posts, news, announcements, etc.) and to guide a customer through an optimal path towards conversion.
This channel can be the single most important online asset for some types of businesses, like e-commerce. However, regardless of the type of business you run, you should have a great website.
2. Organic Search
It became a habit of consumers to check more information online before buying an item.
Google has more than 3.5 billion searches per day, which means that most probably your potential client is looking for answers to his pains in search engines.
This puts Organic Search as one of the most valuable Digital Marketing channels that you can invest in. Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, you can rank your blog higher in those search engines.
This will lead your personas to your website or blog, giving them a chance to get to know your business and finding it as the solution they need.
Finding the right keywords, producing high-quality content, and promoting them in the right way will help you accomplish this.
3. Referral
The referral channel is mostly made by backlinks.
When someone else refers to your domain — and this can happen on other sites, email campaigns or social media — linking to it, and the user clicks on this link, he is being counted as a referral traffic.
This kind of visibility is seen as more authority to your site.
But as we said before, the referral traffic is made mostly by backlinks on other domains, not exclusively by it. A referral also happens when someone types your website address straight on the browser.
The main way to increase referral traffic is by producing quality content that will be linked to other domains because of its relevance.
This way, other readers will get to know your brand and sees it as an authority in your specific niche.
4. Email Marketing
Email is more relevant than ever for Digital Marketing strategies. The main benefit that makes this channel so popular among businesses is the possibility of completely automating it — from creating specific triggers to sending them to monitoring visualization and engagement.
How does it work? The company determines which messages have to be sent to a lead and when. A trigger can be based on time, actions or engagement with previous content.
For example: on e-commerce, cart abandonment is a common problem. Some issues can cause this, but a lot of them have to do with hesitating at the purchasing moment.
What about sending an email a day later reminding the lead about the abandoned product and offering a special discount on it? This extra push can be very effective.
This simple case shows us how email marketing can help improve your overall Digital Marketing strategy. You can inform, talk and advertise at an optimal pace without having to do it manually — bringing down the costs for generating, qualifying and converting leads.
5. Social Media Marketing
Social media is a perfect channel to optimize Digital Marketing.
Why?
Because of the way it was built.
Social networks tend to group people by interests and encourage content and experiences sharing. So it naturally narrows down your scope and focuses your effort.
When you’re active on social media and know how to engage your target audience (with a defined brand persona), you create another opportunity for organic traffic. It’s all about sharing and creating long-term relationships.
6. Paid advertising
Paid advertising shortens the gap between you and your audience, brings more visibility to the brand and generates leads quicker. There are 3 main ways of doing that.
Paid search
SEO can put you organically on top of Google searches, but how about being there even before your strategy pays off?
Sponsored ads show your name when someone types related keywords. It is effective but also really competitive — who bids more, appears more often.
Paid social media ads
Social media is becoming a great channel for paid advertisements because of its shareable nature. These pieces, when well done and well-targeted, can be shared and go viral. Instagram ads are the most prominent right now, especially for their visual appeal.
Display Ads
Display ads are those banners you see on websites, blogs, news portals, and social media. They are not as hot right now as other kinds of ads but still a way of attracting and engaging users.
Why it is so important to choose the right channels
As we mentioned throughout this post, Digital Marketing is a democratic but competitive field. All smart companies are doing it, from the newly founded startup to the centennial consolidated conglomerate.
With so many players, so many channels, so many possibilities, it is impossible to approach all of them at once, giving equal attention to each one and expect it to work.
Focus is the real key. A successful Digital Marketing strategy finds what channels, platforms, and tools give the best return in generating leads and converting. It explores all means but prioritizes those that resonate with the public.
Marketing on the internet is an optimization game. The one who builds the most convincing online presence with the resources at hand will always have the advantage.
What must be considered to pick the channels that best suit your needs
First of all, your company has to have a website and it needs to be great. Period. Apart from that, the channels you will focus on your Digital Marketing strategy depend on some objective points. Here are they and how they need to be analyzed.
Your goals
The first thing to consider is what you expect from the channels you are investing in — what your marketing goals are.
Do you want to raise brand awareness? Lead generation? More sales? Improve customer loyalty? Each one of these demands a specific approach and strategy. It is a vital decision that will lead to all your next actions.
Your budget
Some of the channels we listed here are free to work with, but they shine when combined with investment. For example, you can pay to boost visibility in most social media.
The logic behind paid ads is even simpler: you need to spend money to be seen. How big is your budget will mostly define what you can do and what you cannot, and how to build a strategy around that.
Your available talent
Digital Marketing doesn’t only require money, but time and talent. Do you have professionals who can do the job for you? Are you alone in that pursuit?
Depending on the available talent, you will probably want to focus on automated and paid channels, which are easier to manage and work with.
A great tip here is to use part of your budget to invest in specialized marketing partners. These professionals can help you with all the doubts you have: what are achievable goals, the best channels to reach them and a great plan to execute.
Your buyer persona
Customers are always the center of your decisions. How well do you know them? Do you have a buyer persona defined for your business?
The best channels to invest are the ones your target audience uses to share and consume content. They are your primal focus and the right place to start.
The truth is there are a lot of Digital Marketing channels for a business to explore and be successful. We don’t even know how they will change and evolve in the future.
That’s why business intelligence and specialized partners are so important. The brands that succeed are the ones that know their customers, know their strengths and build a smart and powerful online presence around it.
To increase your strategy results, check out our content explaining what Digital Advertising is and the 4 best examples to try on your business!