Marketing channels you undoubtedly need for your small business
Investing in marketing is important for any small business because it is the key factor in selling your products and services.
It’s equally important to spend your time and money in the right places, to achieve maximum results for your business.
But how do you know which channels to use?
Let’s name all the channels and then break down a few differences between the two:
Traditional Marketing Channels
Events | Press releases | Editorials | Radio | Advertising | TV | Mail
Pros
Easy to reach a locally targeted audience
High success rate
Hard copy things are easier to process and recall
Control over the campaign
Cons
Expensive
Passive, one-way communication (the customer cannot interact with the brand)
No control over the timing
Limited customization
Digital Marketing Channels
SEO | Website | Social Media | Blog / Vlog | Email | Apps
Pros
Free / Cheaper than traditional methods
Reach a wide audience over large demographic
Two-way communication (the customer can give direct feedback to a brand
Easy to track results
Cons
Time-consuming to plan, execute and evaluate campaigns
Need eyes always online to control if customer feedback is negative.
A saturated market can be difficult to get seen and heard
I believe there are pros and cons of being in both environments depending on where your ideal audience is likely to be spending their time.
It’s important to think about where your ideal client is going to be consuming media and once you know where those people are going to be, you can choose where you need to be paying the most attention in your marketing efforts.
If you are launching a beauty salon in a city, your ideal client may be a 40-year-old working mum living in an urban area.
She may be a commuter listening to rush hour radio in her car on the way to work, so you could invest in a local radio advertisement to target her.
80% of 30-49-year old’s use Facebook, so setting up your company profile on Facebook is a wise move along with a local Facebook ad campaign to tell people about your salon opening.
On the other hand, if you are launching a beauty salon in a city and your ideal client is a 25-year-old university student, it can be assumed that she is more likely to be on a bus, or train, on the way to university.
She will be travelling at off-peak times rather than rush hour and she could be listening to a podcast or Spotify.
So, you advertise on Spotify and request a shout-out on a university podcast.
She will be a heavier social media user than the first example and so having a presence on Instagram and Facebook is a must.
Of course, those are just examples and deeper analysis can be done in order to predict where your ideal clients are going to be.
In saying that, I also believe that any small business that’s not taking advantage of digital marketing are putting themselves in a very vulnerable position against their competitors.
Almost all of the crucial digital channels are free, you just need to learn, or find someone to help you set them up.
I am not suggesting you abandon your traditional methods if they are working for you, I am just suggesting you may find that having a balance between traditional and modern marketing channels is a good investment.
I would encourage you to get yourself a presence online in parallel to traditional methods in order to expand your reach.
I hope that gives you an idea if you are thinking about what channels you should be focusing on in your marketing plans.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!