Almost every company or organization is using multi-channel marketing at some level or another, and you experience it daily without even realizing it. Think about your average morning. You grab your smartphone when you wake up, scroll through Facebook, and check your email. Maybe you turn on your radio or podcast, or flip through a newspaper. Through each of these types of media, you are exposed to all kinds of marketing tactics. More marketers today are implementing multi-channel marketing tactics, allowing them to advertise their business across all kinds of communication methods - like the ones you use in your morning routine. This is because it’s no longer enough to just have a website, or just to have print ads. We need to be where our customers are. And in today’s market, that’s everywhere; online and offline.
How can you do this? Here’s a few important tactics to consider:
But it’s also important to make sure that you’re focusing your efforts on channels that your target audience is actually utilizing. Don’t waste time, effort, and money managing campaigns on channels where your customers won’t even see them. Strive to harmonize all the channels that do make sense so that they promote each other. This way your customers will learn about the others when they interact with one. For example, if you’re running an email campaign you could encourage your readers to follow you on social media. This creates unity across your marketing efforts.
Quality is crucial, regardless of the channel. So it’s important to make sure that you put in as much effort to each channel you’re marketing on. If you’re already marketing on social media and PPC, your plate might be full with creating quality content to support these channels, depending on your staff’s bandwidth. So if you decide to start email marketing, it needs to live up to the quality standard that you’ve already built.
Remember, channels work best when they’re in harmony. That means if someone is part of your email marketing, they’re most likely a frequent visitor to your website. They’ll be expecting the same quality content on your website (or even to your website) that’s in your emails.
Once you have a solid content marketing strategy in place, social media can serve as a free way to advertise through your followers.
The benefits of using these channels together can be seen through a study by Nielsen Research, where they discovered that brands that appeared in both organic and paid search results attracted 92% of total clicks. When the brand only showed in organic results, they received only 60% of clicks. More information regarding these benefits can be found here.
Always remember that marketing is more effective when you’re present across multiple and relevant channels. It’s likely your customers are looking for you in other areas outside of your website, so it’s important to be where they are, delivering fresh, quality content.
How can you do this? Here’s a few important tactics to consider:
Harmonize quality channels.
The most effective multi-channel campaigns are those that are aligned with one another. If you’re marketing your business on Facebook but never mention any site content, or display campaigns on your website but not on your Facebook account, those channels are not working together.But it’s also important to make sure that you’re focusing your efforts on channels that your target audience is actually utilizing. Don’t waste time, effort, and money managing campaigns on channels where your customers won’t even see them. Strive to harmonize all the channels that do make sense so that they promote each other. This way your customers will learn about the others when they interact with one. For example, if you’re running an email campaign you could encourage your readers to follow you on social media. This creates unity across your marketing efforts.
Deliver quality, consistently.
Quality is crucial, regardless of the channel. So it’s important to make sure that you put in as much effort to each channel you’re marketing on. If you’re already marketing on social media and PPC, your plate might be full with creating quality content to support these channels, depending on your staff’s bandwidth. So if you decide to start email marketing, it needs to live up to the quality standard that you’ve already built. Remember, channels work best when they’re in harmony. That means if someone is part of your email marketing, they’re most likely a frequent visitor to your website. They’ll be expecting the same quality content on your website (or even to your website) that’s in your emails.
Monitor performance.
You can never “set-it-and-forget-it” when it comes to launching a website or executing marketing campaigns. It is a necessity to monitor the performance of each channel you are marketing on so you can determine what works and what doesn’t. If you skip this part of the strategy, how will you ever know that all the time and effort was worth it?Select channel combos.
The cannels you select to execute your multi-channel marketing efforts are ultimately going to depend on your business and target audience. However, there are actually a few marketing combinations that have been found to work well together. Through extensive research and experience, below are a few to consider:Content marketing and SEO
These two strategies cannot be done without the other. A SEO strategy is a content marketing strategy, and vice versa. You cannot create web content without SEO in mind because this is what gives quality to your content and makes it marketable through search engine crawlers. It’s important to remember that all content should be unique and beneficial to the end user. That means no key word stuffing.Content marketing and social media
Content marketing and social media also go hand in hand. Social media has always been a great method to share website content, especially blog posts. Links to content are shareable on social, so followers can share anything they like with their friends. It’s a great way to spread the word.Once you have a solid content marketing strategy in place, social media can serve as a free way to advertise through your followers.
SEO and PPC
Search engine optimization focuses on low-cost, long-term results for high-value keywords, while PPC is about short-term results from spending money to advertise in real-time, according to your specifications. These tactics work well together because they are focusing on keywords (with different methods). SEO is a skyscraper – it takes a long time to build, but it will last! PPC is more like a tent – you can set it up in minutes, and then take it apart whenever you want.The benefits of using these channels together can be seen through a study by Nielsen Research, where they discovered that brands that appeared in both organic and paid search results attracted 92% of total clicks. When the brand only showed in organic results, they received only 60% of clicks. More information regarding these benefits can be found here.
Always remember that marketing is more effective when you’re present across multiple and relevant channels. It’s likely your customers are looking for you in other areas outside of your website, so it’s important to be where they are, delivering fresh, quality content.
