It doesn’t matter if you’ve got mega-bucks or a shoestring budget. You need to balance your spend across marketing channels in a clever, informed way – or risk needlessly wasting your hard-earned cash. But how do you isolate the right marketing channels when the possibilities are seemingly endless?
From digital marketing to offline collateral, your spend has the potential to spiral unless you take the right approach. To achieve ROI, you need to pour your efforts into the platforms that work for your business. Here’s how to identify these marketing channels, in 6 smart steps.
1. Get Ruthless with ROI
First off, you’ll need to audit your existing marketing channels for ROI. Rank them from highest performing to lowest, and clear the dead wood. There is no point in pouring your efforts and budget into an activity that does not bring ROI – even if it is the ‘expected’ channel – so defy common conceptions and base your decisions on hard facts.
ROI analysis should never be based on a gut feeling. You need to measure the statistics and understand exactly what they mean. Install Google Analytics onto your website, and set up conversion goals. Familiarise yourself with social media analytics such as Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics. Use promotion codes, unique URLs, or simply ask your customers how they found you.
2. Keep your finger on the pulse
Digital marketing never stands still. From near-field-communication to wearable tech, innovations are coming thick and fast – which means there are plenty of marketing channels to explore. Always keep ahead of the trends, but don’t pour too much effort into platforms before they are proven. If the mighty Google can fail, anyone can. Stay observant, but resist pouring your budget into new channels until you are confident they will provide ROI.
3. Cover all bases, within reason
The potential for business is everywhere. Some of your future clients will be avid users of Twitter. Others will respond to email campaigns. Cover all bases, but don’t dilute your message. Make sure every channel is relevant to your target market.
4. Use organic and paid methods
By using a balance between organic and paid marketing methods, you can maximise your online exposure. Invest in an SEO strategy to boost your organic search s in top search engines, but recognise that this is a long-term approach. In the short-term, advertising such as Pay Per Click, social or third party sites may be more effective in driving traffic to your website.
5. React to consumer behaviour
The behaviour of your customers doesn’t stay still for long – so make sure you are geared up to adapt your strategy in line with their habits. Right now, mobile browsing is growing significantly (in fact it is now more popular than desktop browsing) – so it’s important to have a mobile-ready website with a focus on slick user experience. Over time, this behaviour will continue to evolve – so make sure you are ready.
6. Don’t get stuck in your ways
What works today might not be effective six months down the line. Recognise the fact that regular budget reviews are par for the course – so make the process as stress-free as possible. Implement a means to analyse, review and tweak your budget to ensure it is always on-point. Don’t be afraid to adapt and reallocate budget if needed, because in the world of marketing, change is to be embraced not feared.