You spend hours creating and perfecting your content. Making sure every detail is perfect.
You follow all the steps to make it enticing, shareable, and engaging. Then you post it and wait with excitement for everyone to see it, for your website views to go up, and for your sales to soar.
And it never happens.
Perhaps people aren’t interested, maybe the message is off, or the social media gods aren’t in your favour.
Frustrating.
Creating great content isn’t enough anymore. The days when you could post any picture on Facebook and see thousands of views are gone. Now, you have to be smart about it.
Choose your marketing channels right and respect their rules.
We often see people trying to simultaneously use all channels they can think of. Doesn’t work like that.
“Do one thing, do it well, and you will make money.”
Knowing and understanding a channel are different things. To truly understand it, you need time and experience. It takes testing, tweaking, and analytics to master one. Don’t overestimate yourself, and do this for all your channels now.
Instead, shorten your list and focus on channels that bring results. It means testing and analysing, setting up a “marketing machine” constantly bringing results and looking for ways to expand it.
Imagine a situation where you are starting to sell dresses.
You want to create your online presence and set up all your accounts. After a while, you realise you are working like crazy to stay relevant. Having more time to focus on business development and growing your company would be best, but you are working to keep up with your marketing.
You should cut down to 3 main channels with the highest ROI, as we did for Studio Plus in our Black Friday campaign.
Now, you have time to focus on building your company.
The content you are creating is getting better and better results because you genuinely understand your audience. This means more visitors to your website and better revenue. You can reinvest the money you make into hiring someone to build upon this.
In short, that is how the process works.
How do you know if you’re choosing the right channels?
It’s not just about posting content; it’s about understanding the impact of it.
That’s why you need to check metrics and KPIs.
You should check and track engagement, follower growth and interactions for social media channels. For your fashion blog, you should monitor organic search ratings, website traffic source, time on site and bounce rate. If you communicate with your audience through emails – open, click, and unsubscribe rates are the basics.
These basic metrics will guide you in tweaking your strategies and allocating resources efficiently. Remember, the goal is to gather data, derive actionable insights and tackle them.
Staying Ahead – Is TikTok a thing?
Staying relevant is easy for the Rolling Stones, but how many rock bands are relevant in today’s music industry?
If the emerging marketing channels suit your brand, and you have a specific tone of voice for them – go ahead and exploit them early.
Think about TikTok; making funny or how-to videos for younger audiences can raise your brand recognition. It can also bring you a new generation of buyers for your products.
Did anybody know what podcasts were before the pandemic?
Embracing these new channels can be a game-changer.
Refining Your Strategy
So, don’t be afraid to adapt and narrow down to the best channels for your brand.
Based on the data you gathered, you can focus on the ones with the highest ROI, freeing up time to grow your business.
Your content becomes increasingly effective as you understand your audience better.
After mastering your core channels, consider revisiting those you initially set aside.
You now have a solid follower base – leverage it.
Treat your early followers well; they’ll be the foundation for growth in these new arenas.
Remember, choosing your channels is not a one-off task. Keep up with trends, adapt to changes, and always be ready to test new waters.
A Starting Point
Here’s a list of channels to consider for starting.
It’s not a full list, but it’s great to start with.
- PR
- Unconventional PR
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
- Social Media Advertising
- Display and Keyword Advertising
- Offline Advertising
- Content Marketing
- Community Building
- Viral Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Product Marketing
- Referrals
- Affiliate Marketing
- Existing Platforms
- Events Marketing
- Speaking Engagements
Choosing your marketing channels is a dynamic and ongoing process.
It’s about blending traditional strategies with new trends, measuring success through relevant metrics, and adapting to change.
Feel free to reach out if you need help with your marketing strategy and how to choose your channels.
Boris, our Head of Digital, is an expert in that field and is ready to help you tackle the channel challenges.
