How to Offer Multichannel Marketing by 2016

Technology keeps marching on, whether your small to medium business is able to keep up or no. With greater technology, we can develop more robust marketing techniques that reach buyers where they are. If you’re not prepared, you’ll miss them every time.

What is Multichannel Marketing?

This tactic, marketing in several different places to ensure potential buyers can see and engage with your message, is called multichannel marketing. You may already use more than one channel to reach your customers. If so, that’s a great step forward.

Which Channels Should You Use?

Most small and medium companies already have a website and social media accounts. This would definitely qualify you as a multichannel marketer, even if you’re not terribly savvy on how to use them. If you really want to see results, however, you need to make these channels your focus in the coming year.

The channels you should consider for your marketing efforts include your website, social media accounts, apps, print ads, media placement, phone, and even word of mouth. Some of these probably seem pretty obvious, while others appear hard to control. Before you take up all of them in an effort to blaze a new path in 2016, let’s examine them all.

Website

This is by far your most important marketing tool. In many cases, this is the first image any of your customers will have of your company and your brand. That means an update or an upgrade might be in order if you hope to make the most of this very powerful tool.

What are some of the things you must consider? Well, you want to make sure your website is viewable on mobile devices. With so many people using only tablets and phones anymore, you don’t want to leave out a large chunk of your audience. You also need to focus on your search engine optimization. Just cramming keywords doesn’t cut it anymore. Keep in mind that Google loves a website that’s easy to use, has fresh quality content on a regular basis, and is viewable on mobile devices.

Social Media

Simply opening a Facebook page or starting a Twitter account isn’t enough to consider these channels for marketing. You must choose the platforms where your customers are most likely to reside. For instance, Facebook is a great umbrella platform with almost every demographic covered. Twitter, however, might reach younger crowds. Instagram reaches the youngest demographics of all, with teens calling it the most important social network out there. Now, if you’re trying to reach baby boomers, why would you mess with Twitter or Instagram? Your efforts would be of better use focusing only on Facebook.

The key is to discover where your audience is, and then engage them. Talking at them all the time is no way to build relationships. You also need to post several times per day, or you’ll run the risk of your audience never seeing your posts. Now, are you sure you’re using your social media correctly?

Media Placement and Print

These marketing types get a bad rap anymore, but the truth is that we need them. For a well-rounded marketing plan, you have to interrupt consumers sometimes. Otherwise, they won’t know where you are or what you’re all about. If you haven’t considered print and media placement, choosing instead to rely only on SEO and social media, then you might be losing out big time.

Apps

This is a tricky one, isn’t it? In many cases, a small to medium business has no need for an app. To create one costs a lot of money, and the outcome might be that your buyers decide isn’t not even necessary.

If, however, you believe that an app will boost your business, then be sure you do the research first. If the point of your app is to make life easier and more convenient for the user, then there might just be a market for it.

Phones

Ah, the old-fashioned telephone. Believe it or not, this is an incredibly important marketing channel. Maybe you’re not going to use it for outbound marketing, such as interrupting people’s dinners with your marketing message, but it is still necessary. Every time you answer that phone, you represent your business and brand. Good service leads to word of mouth marketing, which is the most powerful of all.

Now that you’re aware of the most popular and useful channels for marketing, how will you put them to use in 2016? We’re always here if you need some help. You can find us here on the website, on various social media channels, or just give us a call. See how that works?