A marketing channel helps you promote your business to potential customers. Various digital marketing channels have emerged since the advent of the Internet. However, it has become difficult to choose the right marketing channel for a business. Here, in this blog, we will give you information about channel marketing definition, types of marketing channels, and marketing channel examples. 

What is a marketing channel? 

Marketing Channel Definition: A marketing channel refers to the platform that businesses use to communicate with their target customers and to guide them through the customer journey. Marketing channels can be digital and offline as well. 

What are marketing channels? 

Marketing channels are the platforms that can help you promote your business. To get the best out of marketing, you must utilize different marketing channels. There are various ways a business can benefit from using distinct marketing channels such as:

For example, if you are using Facebook ads, your potential customers can subscribe to your business from Facebook itself. They don’t need to click and go to another page to enter their information. 

Types of marketing channels 

Nowadays, there are various types of channels in marketing available that you can use to reach your customers. In this section, we will tell you about the different types of marketing channels that you can utilize in your marketing plan. 

1. Social media

Nowadays, everyone is active on social media platforms. Social media is one of the best marketing channels examples to reach out to a large audience and build customer relationships. You can post interesting and high-value content to get the attention of your prospective customers. Post engaging social media activities like polls and quizzes. This way you can engage with your target audience. 

By creating good content on social media, you can create awareness about your brand. You can attract new customers and boost your revenue. There are different social media platforms where you can market your brand like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

2. Emails

Emails are among the best examples of marketing channels to deliver personalized messages to your prospective customers. You can provide information & offer coupons to your leads and convert them to customers. As per the statistics, 63% of marketers consider email as their top tool for generating leads. In emails, you can send a variety of content like educational content, the latest updates, surveys & polls, and coupons. 

You can also measure the effectiveness of your email campaigns. You can analyze the various metrics like click-through rate, open rate, and conversions. Email marketing tools like Webmaxy eGrowth can help you schedule and deliver bulk emails to different segments of your customers. 

3. Digital ads

Digital advertising is counted in the list of marketing channels. You can use digital ads to make people aware and market your brand. In digital ads, you can use images, videos, and audio to convey information about your brand. The display ads, appear on websites, social media posts, and email platforms like a banner. 

The digital display ads don’t target keywords and aren’t limited to search engine results. There are more places for digital ads than there are for search ads on search engine results. This is the reason why the cost per click for digital advertising is lower than the cost per click for search engine ads. 

The best advantage of digital ads is their tracking capability. For example, if someone clicks on your digital ad but doesn’t convert, then you can easily track them with a cookie. This information can help you to target your customers effectively. 

4. Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO is an effective marketing channel that can help you ensure that your website appears at the top of search engine results. You can add keywords and do backlinking to make your website appear at the top of search engine results. 

Try to add content that users are searching for on your website to get ranked by search engines like Google. As per statistics, there are over 3.5 billion searches per day on Google.  

This way you can understand SEO can help you capture leads and bring more customers to your business. 

5. Content marketing

Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing content on different marketing channels where your target audience is present. As per a survey by SemRush, 97% of marketers use content marketing in their marketing plan. 

By doing content marketing you can remind customers of your brand. When people see your brand at different places on distinct sites. This helps to build brand recognition and drive them back to your site. 

6. Event marketing

Event marketing is one of the most popular in the marketing channels list. To build your brand awareness, you can’t rely just on digital platforms. Sometimes, you need to go meet your target audience in real life. There are various business events, trade shows, and expos where you can go and showcase your brand. These are the best opportunities for the sales team to boost sales. 

Event marketing is the best strategy for promoting your brand in person to people. But remember that each event is different and has distinct audiences. Thus, you need to prepare different content accordingly. For example, when the event is in a different region then you must take the local culture into consideration. 

7. Influencer marketing 

Influencer marketing is among the marketing channels that have gained popularity over the last few years. Nowadays, people are tired of seeing advertisements everywhere. As per a report,  45% of customers have ad blockers on their PC and 24% have ad blockers on their phones.

Influencer marketing can help put your brand in front of your target audience. Social influencers usually talk about their life and their experiences with a brand. This way they are able to make better connections with audiences and people tend to listen them. 

However, remember that you should choose the influencers who have your target customers as their audience. For example, if you want to promote your app then you should choose the influencers that talk about technology and the latest applications. 

8. Word-of-mouth marketing 

Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most influential marketing channels. It refers to when a customer talks about your brand with another customer. It can be through testimonials, recommendations, and referrals. You can use testimonials as social proof to boost sales. Customers tend to believe other customers more than brands. 

If you provide good products and services, then customers tend to tell their peers and family about it. Or you can also ask your customers to provide testimonials and referrals. You can offer people extra points for posting reviews on your products online. 

9. Video marketing 

Video marketing is one of the most popular marketing channels. It refers to the process of adding videos to engage with your audience effectively. According to a report, 94% of marketers say that video has helped them to improve their audience’s understanding of their product or service. You can add different types of videos such as demo videos, educational videos, and review videos. 

Most people prefer watching videos over reading content. By posting videos you can increase your audience engagement. Additionally, you can provide people with information related to your products and services. It is one of the best ways to increase your customers’ understanding of your products and service. 

10. Traditional media 

Traditional media refers to age-old marketing channels. It refers to radio, television, billboards, newspaper, pamphlets, print ads, etc. These are the best ways to reach your audiences offline. Traditional media can still help you to reach a large number of people. However, you must consider the benefits and the cost of traditional marketing to avoid spending unnecessarily. 

How to choose the right marketing channel for your business?

Now, you know about the different marketing channels that you can use for your business. But how to select the right marketing channels that can help you achieve your business goals? Below we have given the steps to help you select the right marketing channels for your marketing strategy. 

1. Define your goals 

Before choosing the marketing channels for your business, you should define your marketing goals. Decide on what you aim to achieve in the next three months, six months, and year. Set specific and measurable goals. 

For example, you can decide on the traffic you wish to bring to your website, the leads, and the customers you aim to gain in a few months. The number of people that you want to subscribe to your newsletter. 

2. Conduct market research 

By conducting comprehensive market research, you can identify the marketing channels where most of your target audience is available. There are various components of market research and analysis such as:

From the market research, you can get an understanding of your target market. You can find out about their needs, wants, and expectations. 

3. Analyze your competitors 

Prior to deciding on marketing channels, analyze your competitors’ marketing strategies. Find answers to questions like:

By analyzing your competition, you can know the gaps between those brands and customers. This can determine where your brand can fit in the market. 

4. Ask questions to your existing customers 

If you already have customers, you can take direct feedback from them. The customers’ feedback will help you know the scope of improvement. You can ask your customers questions as we have given below:

If it’s not possible to take interviews with customers, then you can create surveys on your website. WebMaxy Analyzer can help you conduct different types of surveys on your website. It comes with a wide range of customizable surveys that you can launch easily and quickly. 

5. Determine your marketing budget 

You can do both organic and paid marketing for your business. Organic marketing includes posting content on social media, search engine optimization, posting blogs & videos, networking, etc. It might require time to get results from organic marketing. But from paid advertising, you can get results faster. 

To determine your marketing budget, find answers to the following questions:

You can scale your marketing budget once you start getting conversions from your marketing efforts. 

6. Use a multichannel marketing strategy 

You can’t rely on just one marketing channel for bringing new customers and driving revenue. Use the marketing channels that you have discovered in the above steps. By putting together different marketing channels, you can create your marketing strategy.

Implementing a multichannel marketing approach can help you reach a vast audience and get more paying customers. It also helps you increase your brand visibility and customer engagement. 

Advantages of using marketing channels  

There are many advantages to using different marketing channels. Now, we will tell you the advantages of using distinct marketing channels for your business.  

1. Expanded reach 

Using different marketing channels can ensure that you reach the maximum of your target audiences. There are some customers who are available on just one channel whereas some customers are available on different channels. With a multi-channel approach, you can expand your reach and leave no room to miss out on potential customers. 

2. Higher ROI 

Each marketing channel can help you get new customers and drive ROI. The more you utilize the different marketing channels, the higher will be your ROI. You can invest in various marketing channels based on the revenue you generate from them. 

3. Saves time 

The marketing channels help you increase your brand awareness and attract customers. This saves time as you don’t need to practically go to customers and tell them about your products or services. 

4. A/B testing 

The marketing channels can help you conduct A/B tests and find out what’s working and what’s not working. You can know what your customers like, want, and prefer. This way you can improve your marketing and drive more customers to your business. 

Marketing channels: The Bottom Line 

Marketing is important for every business to reach its target market. By using different marketing channels you can increase brand awareness and boost your revenue. Webmaxy eGrowth can help you to manage your marketing channels effectively. It has a conversion dashboard that can show you how much revenue each marketing channel is generating. You can see all your active marketing campaigns and their performance in one place. 

Webmaxy eGrowth is an all-in-one eCommerce customer management platform. It comes with a wide range of features like a KPI dashboard, conversion dashboard, marketing insights, marketing automation, email marketing, social campaigns, audience segmentation, Whatsapp marketing, customer loyalty, help desk, and retargeting. Schedule a demo with our experts on call to learn more about Webmaxy eGrowth or email us at info@webmaxy.co. 

Marketing channels: FAQs

What are marketing channels?

Marketing channels are the platforms that can help you increase brand awareness and bring new customers to your business. There are different types of marketing channels such as websites, emails, digital ads, search engine optimization, influencer marketing, etc.

What is channel marketing?

Channel marketing is the process of working with a third party to market, distribute and sell your products. Channel marketing is cost-effective and helps in increasing brand recognition. For example, companies also rely on privately owned dealerships and resellers to market and sell their products.

What are the two types of marketing channels?

The two main types of marketing channels are traditional and digital channels. The traditional marketing channels include radio, television, print ads, pamphlets, brochures, etc. The digital marketing channels include social media marketing, content marketing, advertising, search engine optimization, emails, etc.

What is a channel in marketing? 

A channel in marketing is a medium that is used to promote or advertise your business to the target audience. There are various marketing channels that are used for this purpose such as social media platforms, emails, digital ads, content marketing, event marketing, influencer marketing, etc.

What are the four steps to designing marketing channels in their correct order?

The four steps to designing marketing channels in their correct order are as follows:

1. Analyzing customer needs

2. Setting channel objectives 

3. Identifying the marketing channel alternatives 

4. Evaluating the marketing channel alternatives