Has your digital marketing strategy been failing to meet its targets? Maybe it’s time to reconsider which digital marketing channels you’ve been using and why. Regardless of whether you’ve always stuck to just one digital marketing channel or you’ve created a new business and want to discover the best way to reach your customers online, we can help.
However, before we dive straight into how you can choose the best digital marketing channel for your business, we explore some of the basics to support your understanding of how digital marketing works. From examples of digital marketing channels and why they’re important to the five main digital marketing channels most commonly used by businesses, we can help you to reap the rewards of reaching out to your customers digitally.
What are digital marketing channels?
Put simply, a digital marketing channel is any platform that can be utilised by a business to advertise their services/products/brand to an online audience. Digital marketing channels include everything from SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) to the more traditional channels of email marketing and mobile marketing.
Examples of digital channels
As mentioned above, both SEO and email marketing are great examples of digital marketing channels, but they work in very different ways. SEO, for example, is the process of improving the visibility of your website by making technical changes and adding quality content. When executed correctly by SEO specialists, the result is often a significant increase in organic traffic, clicks and even conversions.
Email marketing, on the other hand, while working in a similar way only targets customers who already have a vested interest in your business. This is because customers will provide you with their email address either upon signing up to receive updates or after placing an order. As a result, targeted email marketing campaigns filled with offers, news and latest products can generate a substantial increase in sales.
Why are digital marketing channels important?
Digital marketing channels are one of the most important tools for any business – regardless of whether they only operate online or have brick-and-mortar stores – because they can help businesses in a number of different ways. This includes boosting sales, improving brand awareness and increasing the amount of organic traffic a website receives.
No matter which digital marketing channel(s) your business decides to utilise, there are many advantages to choosing digital methods instead of traditional marketing channels. By way of illustrating, some of these benefits include the global reach, affordable cost and the fact that many of these campaigns can be targeted and automated.
Furthermore, the sheer number of digital marketing channels allows businesses to implement multiple marketing strategies at once, creating a comprehensive omnichannel approach. This can help companies to reach audiences across multiple platforms and through an array of devices, instantly increasing the size of their audience.
Regardless of whether a customer is shopping on their mobile or using their laptop to browse social media, this multichannel approach helps to capture a greater audience. Any data collected regarding the behaviour and demographics of this vast audience can then be used to target specific groups with certain products/services that they show interest in.
What are the five main digital marketing channels?
While there are many different avenues of digital marketing that a business could explore, there are five key channels that are typically utilised by businesses. This includes email marketing, mobile marketing, social media marketing, content marketing and paid search. Below, we explore each one of these five main digital marketing channels in more detail.
Email marketing
Like traditional postal mail, email marketing involves the distribution of promotions, essential information and company news to a business’ audience. However, unlike traditional postal mail, email marketing can be delivered to a substantial global audience for a great price almost instantly (depending on the size of the campaign – some emails can take days to be sent to their entire audience).
This direct form of marketing is dependent upon securing enough email addresses and is therefore often reliant on the number of people that sign-up and complete customer registration forms. Tempting your website’s traffic with fantastic deals and savings is typically the most reliable way to collect email addresses from an audience that already has a vested interest in your products and/or services.
Mobile marketing
Commonly used by mobile phone network providers and an array of service-based businesses, mobile marketing refers to any advertising activity that promotes products/services via a mobile, tablet or related handheld device. This multichannel digital marketing technique includes both SMS (Short Message Service) marketing and mobile applications.
According to Marketing Dive, mobile adverts are 30 times more effective than internet ads. With far more people now using their phone to work, shop and even order their dinner, PC-based internet advertisements are not getting anywhere near the same traffic and engagement.
Content marketing
The content in content marketing can take various forms including blogs, videos and images. This content is then published and strategically shared online to promote the business’ brand, products or services. It can be used to stimulate excitement surrounding a new product or service or simply build brand awareness and showcase the personality of your business.
Data from Statista supports the effectiveness of content marketing as it found 30% of marketers worldwide received their highest ROI (Return on Investment) from content marketing. Content marketing also provides brilliant content for social media, highlights your website to Google (because Google loves unique, high-quality content) and gives your customers a taste of your brand personality.
Social media marketing
With the emergence of social media, businesses have taken advantage of these popular global platforms and used them to connect with their customers on a more personal level. Typically, many businesses use social media not only as another platform to share their content, but as an opportunity to showcase their personality and respond to their customers almost instantly.
As a result, businesses that communicate with their customers via social media can often enjoy greater customer satisfaction, higher engagement and improved brand loyalty and authority. By using social media, customers are also more likely to recognise your brand and therefore trust the quality of your products/services.
Paid search (PPC)
Paid search (also known as PPC) refers to the process of paying for your search position, thereby increasing the likelihood of online shoppers finding and using your website. By using Google Ads search campaign, you’ll be charged a small amount of money every time a potential customer clicks on your advertisement. These listings are highlighted with the word ‘Ad’ and appear at the top of the search results.
Now you know what’s involved in PPC and how it works, exactly how effective is paid search? According to Statista, paid search is a marketer’s dream, with 20% of marketer’s worldwide stating that it generated their highest ROI. Simple yet incredibly effective, PPC is ideal for driving traffic towards your website, promoting your products and increasing your sales.