Are you using multi-channel marketing to promote your brand?
When it comes to business success, getting the right message in front of the right people is the name of the game. Multi-channel marketing is an effective tool for doing just that.
So just what is multi-channel marketing and why do you need it in your business?
What Is Multi Channel Marketing?
Multi-channel marketing is, quite simply, a marketing effort that encompasses more than one channel.
These channels might include:
- Your website;
- Social media profiles;
- Email campaigns;
- An SMS marketing list;
- A physical premises;
- Printed materials such as flyers and brochures;
- A TV or radio campaign.
While you won’t necessarily use every channel all the time (and some channels won’t fit your business or specific campaign), incorporating more than one channel into your marketing efforts is a good idea.
Multi-Channel Marketing Creates Choice
At its heart, multi-channel marketing works because it creates choice for your customers.
Each of your customers has a preferred way, or combination of ways, or connecting with your business.
For example, they might prefer to find all the information they need online, but then hop on a call for further info.
Some will be happy to make enquiries by email, but would like to receive a printed brochure, or talk to someone face to face when they’re ready to purchase. Some will almost exclusively use mobile, and so on.
When you use multi-channel marketing, you give your customers the choice to connect with your business in the way that best suits them. That means more customers will reach out to you and ultimately buy from you.
Multi-Channel Marketing Gives You A Broader Reach
Your customers are in different places at different times. Some are browsing the web, some are specifically using social media to find brands, and some are out and about on their mobiles.
As the article “Spread the Word: Best Practices for an Effective Multichannel Marketing Effort” says, one of the best advantages of multi-channel marketing is that it ensures that your business is in a place where your customers are.
Multi-channel marketing means that wherever your customers go looking for businesses like yours, or looking to connect with your business, there you are.
For example, you might have customers on social media who haven’t found your website. Or your brochure might get picked up by someone who hasn’t found you on social media yet.
This broader reach means your brand and message will be seen by more customers.
Using Channels to Strengthen Each Other
When you use multi-channel marketing, you can use each channel to bolster the others.
Say you’re running a special offer for SMS subscribers. With multi-channel marketing, you can reach out to your followers on social media and promote the offer there, too. When they sign up, your SMS subscriber list will get a valuable boost.
Or perhaps you want to get more social media followers.
You can add QR codes to printed materials, links into SMS messages, or special announcements in email blasts, to show your customers what they’ll gain from liking and following you on social media.
If you want to reach as many customers as possible and empower them to connect with your business in the way that best suits them, multi-channel marketing is the way to go.
Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com
About the Author: Tristan Anwyn writes on a variety of topics including social media, how to build customer relationships, content marketing and how to use multi-channel marketing in your business
