The Best Online Marketing Channels to Promote Your Brand in 2021

What Makes Up Your Marketing Strategy?

SEO & Content Marketing

Despite what you may have read or heard, SEO isn’t dead and it certainly isn’t going anywhere either. It’s still one of the best ways to get organic traffic to your site and should still make up a part of your overall marketing strategy.

Even with a tight budget, you need to invest in Search Engine Optimisation. It’s a low-cost strategy that has the potential for high returns. With people searching online everyday, this is an opportunity you shouldn’t be letting pass you by. Organic traffic generated by SEO is leads you can capture and convert with the right content marketing. 

Once your website starts to gain traction, you can then start to refine your SEO and content marketing approach by analysing metrics and data. This is key to getting long-term success and building up your site’s authority. In turn, this will build trust and loyalty with customers, allowing your business to grow further.

But it’s not as simple as slotting in a few keywords to your homepage and posting the odd blog. If you want to see what SEO can really do for you, you need to invest the time and effort. Your site needs customer-focused UX and to be filled with high-quality content incorporating well-researched keywords. This is what Google wants to show its users.

Google Ads

Did you know you can buy online visibility? While it’s not really quite as simple as that, Google Ads and other PPC marketing channels can give you a boost in a competitive marketplace. You can get your brand in front of customers, even if you have low domain authority.

To get the most out of your Google Ads you need to understand the customers you want to target as well as strategically bid for your position in front of them. In-depth keyword research is required to ensure you reach your ideal customers. This is critical to compete in packed industries.

As you’re paying for these ads, you need to be sure that they’re profitable. Thankfully, you can measure the performance of these campaigns precisely to determine if you’re getting value for money. This can allow you to target and test incredibly specific markets with niche campaigns to improve conversions for a relatively small cost.

If you find the right formula, these campaigns can be a key marketing channel for you. They typically have a high conversion rate as you’re promoting your product or service directly to customers who are looking to make a purchase decision. As a result, many businesses find they make $2 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads

Social Media Marketing

More than half of the world’s population is on social media. Can your business afford to miss out on being seen by more than 4 billion people? Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok or any other social media platform, social media advertising is a growing online marketing channel.

Social media advertising can be an avenue for your brand to increase awareness and convert customers. Unlike SEO, where you’re asking customers to visit your website, with social media ads you’re engaging customers in a space that they are comfortable with. This can make them feel more confident interacting with your brand.

An outstanding social ad will get a user to stop scrolling their feed and direct them along your desired customer journey. But even an ad that’s scrolled past can have an impact in the long term. It can lead to increased brand awareness and familiarity which can be capitalised on with a future campaign. You can construct this campaign or optimise an existing one by taking advantage of the data you can gather on your customers via social media. 

If you’re wanting to get people to stop scrolling, it’s not just about data though. You need to be using multimedia advertisements to get more attention and engagement from your target audience.

Video

While video marketing is often a part of social media marketing, it is an important enough channel that it deserves its own focus. Video marketing should account for part of your overall marketing strategy as it is one of the more engaging marketing methods and can therefore boost conversions and more. 

Videos drive value, whether your customers watch the whole thing or only see a split-second as they scroll past. As a result, you can increase brand awareness, build trust with customers and improve conversions on both desktop and mobile platforms. Customers are also more likely to share video than other advertising forms, creating a mini referral marketing channel to further grow your brand. 

If you’re wanting to get the most out of video marketing, you need to put in the time and investment. However, it’s next to guaranteed to pay off. Snackable short content — as short as 15 seconds — can be enough to drive traffic and conversions. Even better, having video content on your website can help improve organic search results as Google knows people find video more compelling than text and images.

No matter your business, there are plenty of options for video marketing content. Use video to promote and demo products. Create how-to guides to educate your audience. Answer common questions and provide additional information while showcasing your brand’s unique personality. Providing your customers with this level of detail and connection can give them the confidence to make online purchases. Additionally, any video content you create can be used across a range of platforms, making it a great investment.

EDM

While the Internet may have changed a lot since the first EDMs winged their way into inboxes across the globe, email marketing still has plenty of life in it. 

In the B2B world, emails are often the preferred method of communication to learn about new products and services. However, don’t discount EDMs entirely for B2C businesses just yet. They are an effective way to send personalised messages to leads and customers, from abandoned cart emails to promotions for your next sale.

While there has been a downward trend when it comes to opening and clicking through EDMs, they are far from done. Email marketing is a low-cost, cost-effective way to reach scores of customers, whether you want to promote time-relevant content or nurture leads. It is also a simple yet effective way to keep your products or services at the forefront of customers’ minds, even if they never open the email!

If you want to get the most out of your EDMs though, you need to be tracking your successes and learning from each campaign. Additionally, you should be curating your email list to ensure a healthy conversion rate. 

Omnichannels Are Better Than One

The internet is like the universe — it’s constantly expanding. Therefore, one digital channel isn’t going to cut it. But neither is a mess of channels. You need an integrated omnichannel approach.

Connect Across Channels

To get the most out of your digital marketing, you need at least three channels. Three or more integrated digital channels will increase your engagement rates, purchase frequency, average order value and customer retention rate.

Having more and varied channels increases your brand’s reach while acknowledging that customers use multiple channels to access products and services. Your customers will see you across multiple channels, rather than just one, increasing brand awareness and providing them with more opportunities to interact and engage with your brand. Sticking to just one channel is setting your brand up for failure — you’ll only be reaching a sliver of your brand’s potential audience.

An Integrated & Cohesive Customer Experience

A true omnichannel approach is based on integration and cohesion. No matter the channels your customers use, they should always get the same experience. In this instance, variety isn’t the spice of life. Instead, your customers want to know what to expect and if you provide them with a coherent and consistent message, it will increase their trust in your brand. 

As part of this cohesive omnichannel approach, your customers can engage with your brand on the platform that suits them best. This can help customers feel more confident making purchases, as well as streamline the customer journey.

If you’re going to try an omnichannel approach, you need to create a consistent and seamless voice across all channels. Therefore, your brand identity needs to be sufficiently developed, along with any marketing assets. 

You then need to link all your channels to create a smooth customer journey. Customers should move easily from one channel to the next while progressing from lead to conversion. For instance, it should only be a matter of clicks to take a customer from your social media ads to buying a product on your website, taking them through the stages of interest and consideration right to purchase. 

Improved Understanding of Your Customers

Having multiple marketing channels gives you access to a wealth of data, which you can compare and contrast to provide deeper, more meaningful insights. With any online marketing channel you can gather real-time data and analytics. 

You can then use this information to see and understand customer behaviour across multiple channels. This can be invaluable for creating a clearer picture of your ideal customer person. You can also use this information to tailor any future campaigns to better suit your audience.

Finding Your Channels

Keen to try an omnichannel strategy with your brand but not sure where to start or what channels to use? 

Know Your Goals

Whatever channels you choose, you need to know what you want from them to achieve success. Ask yourself what direction you are wanting to take your business. Where are you looking to improve? For instance, are you trying to raise brand awareness or are you more concerned about nurturing leads? Your answer should guide you when deciding which channels to incorporate in your overall strategy.

Know Your Restrictions

With digital marketing, the sky’s the limit, but it might take a while to get there. Your choice of channels should always fit with your available resources. Some channels require a larger initial outlay, while others are low cost but require significant amounts of work and may even need multiple people to run them. Be clear about what your limits are when choosing channels to pursue.

Know Your Audience

Your success is directly linked to your understanding of your audience. You can have the best digital marketing content in your industry, but if you aren’t reaching your customers, you won’t get the results you want. 

Do your research to find the best channels for your audience to engage and interact with them. Additionally, find out what information they want and what they want to see from a brand. This can help you tailor your content and approach from the outset to get more out of any campaigns you run.

Know Your Competitors

While you’re researching what your audience wants, don’t forget to see how your competition approaches this task. What platforms are they using and how do they engage with their customers? 

As you investigate, ask yourself two questions: how you can do it differently and whether any platforms are oversaturated in your industry. You may be able to get better results from a platform with fewer of your target customers than one where all your competitors are vying for attention. Whatever your decision, you need to be sure you stand out from the crowd.

Get More From Your Marketing With a Digital Agency

Managing multiple online marketing channels is a full-time job and more. For many businesses, it requires a new set of skills and time that they don’t have. That’s why digital marketing agencies exist. It’s why you need Blank Theory. 

Remove Restrictions

If you’re eager to get started on an omnichannel strategy, but are struggling to find the time or resources, a digital marketing agency can be the solution. We can create, manage and optimise your marketing strategies, channel to channel. You don’t need to work late nights or hire more staff for an omnichannel strategy — you just need us.

Trust the Experts

Many businesses put their marketing channels in the hands of a marketing agency for a simple reason: they know who the experts are. You’re the expert on your brand, products and services — we’re the experts on digital marketing channels.

As experts, we already know the ins-and-outs of the techniques and technology required for each channel. We also stay up to date with the latest trends and changes across all platforms. 

Therefore, we can pick the best channels to start your omnichannel empire and set you up with a strong digital presence. We can get you better results while building adaptability into your channel strategies. Even better, we’re there to provide continued optimisation so you can stay ahead of the pack.

Overhaul Your Online Marketing Now

Make Q4 your best quarter yet with improved and integrated online marketing channels. Find your customer base wherever they are with campaigns created by the Blank Theory team and kick big goals, time after time. Get in touch with us today.