Using the right marketing channel is vitally important for fruitful advertising and effectively reaching your target audience.
Successfully marketing your company can be tricky, even knowing where to start is unclear. By understanding and utilising some of the options available you may drastically increase you brand awareness and subsequently increase your conversions.
Here are 8 widely available options:
1. Search engine marketing (SEM)
Process of gaining traffic and visibility through paid search listings to ensure your content appears highly in the search engine results. It is commonly known as one of the most valuable tools for any business.
PRO’S
- Great short-term strategy to bring fast visibility, increasing brand awareness through exposure.
- Gets highly qualified traffic to your page.
- Is quickly created and managed, with full control over budget and performance speed of your campaigns.
CON’S
- A lot of time needs to be spent on researching the correct keywords to ensure that your campaign is successful.
- High levels of competition as many companies compete to position themselves with the same keywords.
- Competitors can click on your payed advertisements which costs you money.
2. Pay per click advertising (PPC)
A type of search engine marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked and the user is taken to their content or website.
PRO’S
- Cost-effective method as you only pay when the user actually reaches your website, with your budget easily controlled by setting a maximum cap.
- You can target your audience according to demographics such as location, language, device etc.
- Fast impact with ability to measure effectiveness and determine return on investment.
CON’S
- Competitors can click on payed advertisements, generating cost without return.
- Need to invest time into optimising and improving campaigns to deliver the best results.
- Large budget is favoured as once the budget cap is reached the ad gets immediately discontinued so the traffic and sales associated will also come to a stop.
3. Social media marketing
The organic use of social media platforms to gain traffic or attention to your business by regularly providing engaging content.
PRO’S
- Free and easy to create regular and relevant content for potential and existing clients.
- There is an extremely large global user base to be tapped into, with direct connection to your target audience creating great opportunities.
- You can uncover valuable insights about your customers that can help to make smarter business decisions.
CON’S
- Can be time consuming to create interesting types of social media content.
- Someone needs to monitor the social media accounts and reply to comments, messages and responses.
- Risk of receiving negative feedback which can be seen by all.
4. Paid social media marketing
The process of paying to display adverts or sponsored messages across social networks to social media users.
PRO’S
- Amplifies your reach giving you instant brand visibility and increased awareness.
- Cost-effective way to promote your business, fitting any budget.
- Easy to track and monitor whether your campaign is successful or not.
CON’S
- Time consuming to create engaging posts that are worth boosting.
- Risk of having negative responses to a post and more people will see this when promoted.
- People can ignore or dismiss the advert by not believing it’s relevant to their needs.
5. Email marketing
The digital strategy of sending permission-based emails to drive conversions and increase brand loyalty.
PRO’S
- Fast, flexible and cost-effective way to reach new customers and retain existing clients.
- Allows you to create targeted and personalised messages to build prosperous relationships.
- Can be used to reach and measure scalable audiences with targeted lists.
CON’S
- Some people perceive email marketing as spam and may delete emails from businesses before even reading.
- Can irritate people if deemed as irrelevant, too frequent or unwanted.
- It’s hard to monitor if you are reaching the right audience.
6. Influencer and affiliation marketing
The process of partnering with influential individuals to promote your brand, a product or service in exchange for commission.
PRO’S
- Great way to attract and cater to the modern consumer so works well if your audience is young.
- Efficient method to effectively reach your target audience and rapidly scale your traffic.
- Helps to boost your reputation as is viewed as coming from a ‘trusted’ source.
CON’S
- Questions can be asked about the authenticity of affiliates/influencers.
- Very expensive for large influencers to endorse your products or services.
- These external individuals may not manage your brand with the respect and care it deserves.
7. Radio marketing
The act of producing an audio commercial for local or national radio to aid promotion.
PRO’S
- Ability to schedule ad spots allows for wide reach and target audience selectivity.
- Allows for timely message delivery.
- Often highly effective, especially as its reaching a captive audience and can be relatively cheap if you decide to have your ad on a local station
CON’S
- Production costs can be high for national radio marketing.
- Poor attentiveness and fragmentation.
- Lack of visual appeal can be an influential factor.
8. Television marketing
Refers to adverts that are displayed in the programme breaks on television, conveying a promotional messaging.
PRO’S
- Despite the internet it is still regarded by many as the most powerful form of advertising.
- Guaranteed a large, captivated audience which tends to attract loyal, attentive viewers.
- With mobile access and on-demand streaming platforms people can watch TV anywhere at any time.
CON’S
- High costs are often associated with this method which can range from £3,000 -£4,000 per advert but generally have production costs of around £25,000.
- Changes are difficult so if any mistakes or errors are made it can be highly problematic.
- Frequency is essential before they are remembered by an audience.