No one can buy a product they don’t know about, even if it’s the “best” product out there.
So, regardless of how cutting-edge your product is, if you don’t market it right (or if you don’t market it at all), you won’t generate leads or end up with your desired sales.
But with so many marketing channels out there, how do you choose the best one for your business?
Where should you spend your marketing budget, so you don’t end up wasting your time (and money)?
This post can guide you in choosing the most effective marketing or advertising channels to focus in 2024.
1. Marketing engages customers.
Don’t push your products onto people. That won’t work for 21st-century customers. Instead, you’ve got to convince customers to buy your products by engaging with them.
Whether it’s going viral on social media or writing a how-to article, there are a ton of things you can do to encourage conversation.
Your goal is to get people talking about your brand and make sure they stay interested.
2. Marketing establishes trust.
Your customers won’t buy from an untrustworthy business. Through marketing, you can connect with your customers better and establish your reputation as a credible business.
You’ll also be able to improve the customer experience (CX) and, in return, build a loyal customer base that will buy from you for years to come.
This is because 74 percent of customers are more likely to buy a product based on customer experience! (Source – https://www.smartkarrot.com/resources/blog/customer-experience-statistics/)
3. Marketing positions your product.
People won’t purchase your products if they haven’t heard about your brand before.
Marketing gets the word out about your business and shows the world who you are, why you’re in the industry, and so on.
In this way, people will be able to see how your products stand out, as well as how they can solve their pain points.
4. Marketing allows you to get to know your customers.
Through segmentation, you can group your audience according to demographics, psychographics, and more. This will enable you to better understand your customers’ needs, desires, and problems.
It also allows you to pinpoint where you can (and should) connect with them primarily. In this way, you can provide a tailor-made CX.
According to Epsilon, 90 percent of consumers are more likely to complete a purchase if the company provides a personalized experience.
(Source – https://us.epsilon.com/pressroom/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-of-consumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalized-experiences)
5. Marketing narrows down strategies that work.
Marketers can connect with customers through the use of the right content.
In addition, through marketing, you can gain a wealth of information on what strategies work or don’t work with your target audience.
Once you obtain this data (aka metrics), you will be able to establish a baseline for your marketing strategies, whether that involves digital marketing, social media marketing, etc.
You won’t have to waste your time on marketing strategies that don’t work.
6. Marketing allows your customers to get to know you.
Seventy-one percent of customers experience frustration when their CX feels impersonal. (Source – https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/02/18/50-stats-showing-the-power-of-personalization/?sh=2cf587c72a94)
When you market your products to potential customers, you give them the chance to connect with your company on a more personal level.
If they’re able to relate to you, you will be able to build a following of loyal evangelists.
For instance, if you can show customers that you’re a sustainable business, they’ll be more likely to do business with you, as 60 percent of consumers consider eco-consciousness to be a purchase criterion.
What are the most effective marketing channels?
According to CBInsights, about 14 percent of small businesses fail because of poor marketing. (Source – https://www.fundera.com/blog/what-percentage-of-small-businesses-fail)
If you don’t want to be part of that number, you need to invest your time and money into the right marketing strategies.
But where should you start when there are so many channels to choose from? To help you narrow it down, we’ve put together a couple of effective advertising channels to take advantage of in 2024.
But first, what are marketing channels?
Marketing channels are mediums you can use to disseminate content related to your brand or business, particularly your products.
It’s what you primarily use to promote your company and interact with your audience, allowing you to capture the attention of your ideal customers from around the world.
Marketing channels are part of a greater multichannel marketing strategy. As a general rule, you should use more than one channel as it increases the chances of reaching a wider range of customers.
For instance, a customer might use Instagram to discover your brand but use search engines such as Google to find more information about it.
Here, you can find the top marketing channels to focus on in 2024:
1. Social Media Marketing
Focus your efforts on social media. After all, about 4.62 billion people use social media. (Source – https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-global-overview-report)
And, spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. (Source – https://review42.com/resources/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-media/)
That’s what makes it a great platform for generating leads, building brand awareness, and more.
The key to social media marketing is knowing where to post it.
For example, if your customers are professionals, they probably prefer Facebook more than any other social media platform.
It is, after all, the most popular social media site for people aged 35 to 44, so it makes the most sense to focus on that site.
2. Video Marketing
People prefer video content, with about 88 percent of people wanting to view more video content from brands.
If you aren’t creating video content, you need to invest your time in that right now, as it’s what your competitors are already doing.
More than 86 percent of marketers say they use video in their marketing strategies.
Video content can boost brand awareness, increase the return on investment (ROI), and improve the overall CX.
It can also increase sales, as 88 percent of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product after viewing a brand’s video.
If you don’t know what content to create in your video marketing campaign, consider the following:
- Explainer videos – As the name suggests, these explain what your product does, how it works, and how it can provide value to its end users.
- Behind-the-scenes videos – These provide customers the opportunity to connect with your company on a more personal level.
- Product videos – These artistically show your products, as well as create a need for your products. In other words, product videos make products seem more envy-worthy.
3. Email Marketing
Another effective advertising channel is email. Small businesses can – and should – continue to use email as a marketing channel.
As the number of email users is bound to grow to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Source – https://www.statista.com/statistics/255080/number-of-e-mail-users-worldwide/)
Plus, about 81 percent of small businesses use email to reach customers, and 80 percent use it to retain customers. (Source – https://www.emarsys.com/app/uploads/2018/01/eTail-Emarsys-WBR-SMB-Report.pdf)
Below are some of the tips to consider when writing your email:
- Write an attention-grabbing subject line. You don’t want your emails to end up in people’s trash bins! So, when writing emails, ensure your subject lines are concise, to the point, and catchy.
- Automate your emails. Crafting emails can be time-consuming, which is why marketers set up automated email campaigns. That way, you can rely on a program to collect email addresses, send emails, and reply to emails while you concentrate on other marketing channels.
- Add a clear call-to-action (CTA). What do you want people to do? Do you want them to visit your website, buy a product, subscribe to a podcast, etc.? Your CTA should be as clear as possible. Otherwise, your email will be useless.
4. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing isn’t going anywhere.
According to the State of Influencer Marketing report, 66 percent of marketers are going to increase their influencer marketing budgets. (Source – https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report-2020/)
This is likely because influencer marketing generates a better ROI compared to other marketing channels.
To top that off, 82 percent of people decide whether or not to buy based on what friends, family, and influencers have to say. (Source – https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you)
If influencer marketing is going to be your go-to strategy for 2024, here are a couple of tips to get you started:
- Partner with the right people. Is the influencer’s image aligned with yours? If you’re in the fitness industry, it won’t make sense to work with an influencer whose content concentrates on food.
- Don’t be laser-focused on the number of followers. Some influencers tend to buy followers. Be careful not to work with these influencers, as they’ll promote your products to no one but bots.
- Give up creative control. Give the influencer the chance to do their thing. They understand what resonates with their audience, so trust them to create content they know will work.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO has always been an essential part of any business, and it will continue to be for the years to come.
It enables your website to be more visible because how else will your customers be able to find information about you if they can’t find you online?
Considering that 81 of customers conduct online research before buying, your website must show up on the internet. (Source – https://saleslion.io/ecommerce-statistics/81-of-shoppers-research-their-product-online-before-purchasing/)
Through SEO, you can guarantee that customers can actually find your company when they search on Google, Bing, and other search engines.
To do that, you’ll need to boost your website’s ranking by:
- Create original content such as articles, how-tos, guides, etc.
- Boost your website’s page loading time.
- Lower your website’s bounce rate (this is when a visitor clicks back to the search results page) by embedding videos.
- Add keywords all over your website.
- Enhance the number of backlinks & referring domain to your website.
6. Pay-per-click Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or paid search is one way to get your webpage to show up on the search engine results page (SERP).
Since 75 of people don’t go past the first page of Google, it’s vital to get your site on the first page. (Source – https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2017/08/30/how-to-optimize-your-seo-results-through-content-creation/)
Through PPC campaigns, you can pay to show up at the top of the page.
Your page will appear as an ad or sponsored listing, and since you’re at the top spot, there’s a greater chance that your customers will click through to your site.
The Takeaway
Marketing channels are a great way to ensure that your products can reach your target customers.
Although there are other effective marketing channels, these six are the top marketing channels to make use of in 2023.
By leveraging these advertising channels, a wider group of people will know about your business, and in turn, this can increase conversions, boost brand awareness, build brand loyalty, and skyrocket your sales.
