How do you cope with even more marketing channels?

15 years ago marketing was more simple, send a few direct mails, make a few telemarking calls and if you’re a big boy make a TV ad. But then it all changed. Now we have websites, social media and mobile phones that run our lives and basically A LOT of choice. So where do you spend your budget? What do you focus on? What channel is going to get you the best ROI?

Sadly there’s no hard and fast rule as to what you should do, with so much choice you need to think carefully about where you want to be seen and which channels integrate with each other best for you. Facebook is great for B2C businesses but LinkedIn may work better for professional services companies. A web designer needs to make sure their website is spot on, but a landscaping business may find direct mail in areas they’ve been working over the past week works better. A web presence is pretty much essential for any business but do you need a brochure website, an e-commerce shop or just a contact us page?

What do multiple channels mean for your business?

It’s very hard, not to mention time consuming, to do everything. You need to know what you’re doing in all the different mediums to make them work for you, you need skills in each area and everything needs monitoring, tweaking and updating to keep up with everyone else.

Marketing in 2012 across a range of channels needs:

• Channels to be chosen carefully
• To be integrated
• More people with more skills to deliver everything
• Your business to be good at the channels you choose
• Constant testing of new channels
• To measure everything

How do you cope with multiple channels?

Firstly you need people who know a little about a lot. This may be a marketing manager or learning about the different mediums yourself. Then you need to find people, freelancers or agencies with specific skills to integrate the different channels with each other keeping everything on brand. Or you could work with a full service agency that has the knowledge and skillset to help you be your best across different channels.

As we said before, there’s no right answer as to what might work best for you but if you would like to talk to someone about all the different options why not get in touch here?