Lots of new businesses struggle to market effectively, especially when operating on a shoestring budget while their competitors spend thousands of pounds on individual channels.
That’s why understanding which marketing channels your customers use, and how to get the most value out of them, is vital for your business and crucial to getting a return on the investment you make in your marketing efforts.
When choosing a marketing channel, think about:
What channels do your target customers use?
Clues such as age, gender, location, and economic status can help you identify the relevant channel.
Look at where your competitors advertise.
Using your market research as a starting point, research different marketing channels to see if they suit your audience.
Whether to use predominantly free or paid for channels?
Some marketing channels can create customer leads for free but require lots of time and effort.
Paid-for advertising can generate more sales leads but at a cost.
What your marketing objective is
Your chosen channel should match your marketing objective.
For example, if you’re advertising a 24-hour flash sale, social media is more suitable than a monthly magazine.
Social media
Free or paid
- YouTube
- X (formerly Twitter)
- Tiktok
Social media is an invaluable way to market your products and services to your target audience, increase brand loyalty, and develop customer relationships.
But it takes time to build a successful presence and you’ll need to post frequently and interact with customers often to maintain interest and keep conversations going.
You can also use social media for paid advertisements.
Each platform has its own methods, advantages and disadvantages, and targeting criteria.
It’s worth testing paid social media with a limited budget before committing to spending big.
Advantages of social media
- Value for money
- Easy to set-up
Disadvantages of social media
- Takes time to grow
- Lots of competition
- Difficult to stand out
Email marketing
Free or paid email marketing
- Dotdigital
- Salesforce Pardot
- Hubspot
- Campaign Monitor
- Mailchimp
- Campaigner
Email’s strength lies in its ability to deliver targeted messages straight to customers.
To get started, you’ll need a list of email recipients who have given you permission to send them messages, which can take time to build up.
Once you have a list of emails and customers to contact, you can use email marketing platforms.
They can allow you to send an email to everyone in your mailing list or triggered emails which are sent automatically when a user performs a particular action, such as signing up to receive email updates from you.
You may also be able to segment your mailing lists based on different characteristics to allow for more targeted sending.
Advantages of email marketing
- Value for money
- Highly targeted
Disadvantages of email marketing
- Takes time to build a mailing list
Digital advertising
Paid digital advertising
- Google Ads
- Bing
- Yahoo
There are different types of online advertising and different ways to pay for it.
Display advertising involves designing image-based adverts and placing them next to relevant content on websites.
Pay per click (PPC) means you only pay when a potential customer clicks on a link in your ad and visits your website.
The most common types of PPC advertising are through search engines, such as Google Ads.
You can target relevant customers with online advertising and easily monitor how successful your ad has been.
Advantages of digital advertising
- High exposure
- Very targeted
- Pay on performance
Disadvantages of digital advertising
- Time
- Highly competitive
- Can be expensive
Affiliate marketing
Paid affiliate marketing
- Awin
- Amazon Associates
- Tradedoubler
- Shopify Affiliate Programme
- Partnerstack
Affiliate marketing works on a cost per acquisition (CPA) basis – you pay a commission on any sales that are referred to you by a third party, typically around 30% of the sale price.
You can create your own network of third-party affiliates or use an established network which looks after payments.
Advantages of affiliate marketing
- High exposure
- Very targeted
- Pay on performance
Disadvantages of affiliate marketing
- Can be time consuming
- Cuts into profits
Offline advertising
Paid offline advertising
- Newspapers
- Radio
- TV
- Trade shows
- Partnerstack
Offline advertising covers print media, TV, radio, and exhibitions.
From ads in local newspapers and trade magazines, to business directories and local radio ads, offline advertising can reach lots of potential customers but it can be difficult to track and measure effectiveness.
Advantages of offline advertising
- Mass reach
- Trusted channels
Disadvantages of offline advertising
- Time
- Expensive
- Hard to measure results
Your previously read articles
Chapter five: Create a marketing plan
learn how to plan your marketing efforts to maximise your budget.
Next chapterDisclaimer: The Start -Up Loans Company makes reasonable efforts to keep the content of this article up to date, but we do not guarantee or warrant (implied or otherwise) that it is current, accurate or complete. This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind, including legal, financial, tax or other professional advice. You should always seek professional or specialist advice or support before doing anything on the basis of the content of this article.
The Start-Up Loans Company is not liable for any loss or damage (foreseeable or not) that may come from relying on this article, whether as result of our negligence, breach of contract or otherwise. “Loss” includes (but is not limited to) any direct, indirect or consequential loss, loss of income, revenue, benefits, profits, opportunity, anticipated savings, data. We do not exclude liability for any liability which cannot be excluded or limited under English law. Reference to any person, organisation, business or event does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation from The Start-Up Loans Company, its parent company British Business Bank plc, or the UK Government.
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