According to the Entrepreneur Report, there are countless ways that businesses can market themselves these days, from email marketing and social media to paid advertising and influencer marketing. But it’s hard to know where your money should be allocated when you’re first starting out and looking to grow your audience. To help get you started for 2022, we’ve put together this list of the top 10 marketing channels based on popularity, profitability, and ROI today.
1) Social Media Marketing
As consumers, we spend more time on the internet than ever before. It only makes sense that companies are heading to social media platforms to engage with customers to gain more sales. Social media has quickly become a top-tier marketing channel, with Australian consumers spending an average of 1 hour and 46 minutes per day on social media platforms.
The trick is to figure out which platforms you should be using and how you can best leverage their power to your benefit. For example, younger audiences are more likely to use Snapchat than Facebook or Twitter but older generations are more likely to use email than any other platform.
Despite these differences, one thing remains constant: people enjoy getting information about products or services from their friends. That’s why it’s important for marketers to be active on social channels – so they can reach potential customers directly without having to go through costly advertising channels like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads. But before you jump into these networks blindly, think about what kind of message your business will portray and who you would want to read it.
2) Content Marketing
Content marketing is a critical method for most businesses to grow audience engagement, develop brand presence, and drive sales. Your audiences would expect high-quality content from you which offers them answers. Additionally, consistently building quality content enables your business to build trust and reputation.
No matter how unique or catchy your value proposition may be, it is crucial that your potential clients trust you and are able to relate to your brand. Once they have a better understanding of your product or service and your business, it will eventually lead them to buy what you offer. In addition, by creating compelling content that pertains directly to their needs, consumers are more likely to share it with others via their social networks – in turn reaching even more potential customers.
3) Email Marketing
You might think email has gradually become an outdated way to advertise your business, however, it is still one of the most effective marketing approaches in increasing sales for online shops. Studies have shown that shoppers who receive emails from brands are 60% more likely to purchase than those who don’t. On top of that, 57% of people say they are more likely to purchase an item if it is featured in an email marketing campaign.
To get started, creating an email list is the first step you need to conduct. It takes time to build your email list so don’t get frustrated if you only have a few subscribers at the beginning. Treat every one of them as your VIP and eventually, you will see your list growing.
4) Paid Advertising
There are several types of paid advertising such as search engine marketing, social media advertising, and display advertising. It can be really effective in increasing website traffic as well as driving sales.
Although paid ads are able to deliver your ads to a large amount of audience easily and quickly, it is expensive. Therefore, you need to know what you’re doing to make sure that your investment is well spent.
A great tool for figuring out which type of paid advertising will work best for your product or service is Facebook ads. They have tons of resources available online on how to get started using their platform along with what has worked best for other users just like you. Check them out!
5) Podcast Marketing
Podcasting has grown in popularity in Australia over the last few years with over 9 million listeners annually. Studies show that 88% of the listeners make sure to have no distractions around when they put on their favourite podcasts. This means audiences pay more attention to the content, which indirectly increases the possibilities of conversions.
Podcast hosts are able to establish a relationship between them and their audience by creating conversations that deliver a more human side to your products or services.
6) Affiliate Program
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy. A company pays an affiliate whenever a customer goes through to make a purchase. The goal of affiliate programs is to increase your business’s revenue. You can display your products and services on your partner’s website. In exchange for promoting your products, the affiliate gets a commission for every conversion they generate.
7) Referral Program
Referral marketing refers to any technique that a company uses to encourage someone to recommend your products or services to other people. A referral programme allows happy consumers to spread the word about a business they love to individuals they know who might appreciate or benefit from the brand’s products or services. They achieve this by formalising word-of-mouth marketing and making it simple for customers to inform their family, friends and peers about a business.
Study shows that 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know and referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate. More benefits you obtain from utilising referral marketing strategy are shown below:
There are mainly four types of referral programs, which are direct referrals, implied referrals, tangible referrals and community. To manage your referral programs organically, you could find a referral software that suits your business.
8) Inbound Links / Backlinks
Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are links coming from another website to your own site. The right inbound links can not only drive traffic to your website but also help you rank higher in search engines. Inbound links tell site crawlers that your website is a trustworthy source on a particular subject. Thus, the more inbound links you have from high-quality, high-authority sites, the higher your website will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). To build your inbound links, here are some link building strategies for it.
9) SEO & Keyword Research
Search engines are also considered a critical converting marketing channel. Therefore, it is worth spending time optimising all the current channels you have, which include your website, Google My Business profile, blog, etc. Using search insight reports, optimising images and videos for visual search engines as well as accelerating your website’s load speed are other important SEO tactics you could do.
10) Online Review
Online reviews are king when it comes to generating leads and building your brand. By 2022, nearly two-thirds of consumers will be researching businesses online before visiting a brick-and-mortar location, according to Demand Gen Report. Don’t rely solely on social media—online reviews will continue to affect consumer purchasing decisions in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. Set up an online review request form and make sure customers know you want their feedback.
Now It’s Your Turn!
Different marketing channels benefit in different ways, it is recommended to implement multiple channels in your marketing strategies in order to reach as much of your target audience as possible and nurture leads and conversions.
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