In part 4 of the Campaign Planning series, you’ll learn to choose the right marketing channels for your campaign, and increase your chances of success.
Now that you’ve got a targeted marketing goal, developed a comprehensive plan, and determined what kinds of campaigns your business should run throughout the buyer’s journey, now it’s time to decide on the best marketing channels to use given your goals and budget.
The best channels to use are those where your prospective buyers are, and to reach them, you’ll need to develop a campaign strategy that gets you where you want to be. In this final article on Campaign Planning, we’re going to discuss:
- Deciding on what marketing channels you want to target
- How to make it all work within your budget
Determining the Marketing Channels That Work for You
How do B2B companies know which marketing channels to choose for their campaigns?
In order to determine which marketing channels will best suit your campaign’s needs, you’ll need to figure out what your strategy is. To do this, it helps to research, ask yourself questions around these three objectives:
- Target audience. You’ve got to go where your potential customers are spending their time–whether that’s on social media platforms, reading industry reports, or engaging with your website and content. After you know where your target audience is spending their time, you’ll want to focus on those channels.
- Competitor benchmarking. Take a step back and see what your competitors are doing and where they are engaging with potential customers. What seems to be working for them? Observe what’s successful and determine how you can do something similar.
- What kind of budget are you working with, and what do you expect to put towards each channel? Remember, it’s helpful to figure out what your expected ROI is for each marketing channel that you engage in.
This process is useful for determining what marketing channels you should consider for your campaign. However, if you already have a channel that successfully brings in leads or generates sales, use these objectives to determine ways to get more out of it.
If it’s already working, tinker with it and see how you can apply cross-channel marketing tactics. For example, if enhancing your brand image is a part of your marketing goals, and you’ve had success doing this on social media, consider incorporating online ads or pay per click (PPC) on those platforms to boost your reach even further.
There are a variety of marketing channels to choose from once you determine where your target audience is and what your budget is, and they broadly fall into three categories: brand awareness, lead generation, and direct sales. Many companies find success by using a variety of different channels and depending on your goals, you’ll want to incorporate channels that are in one, two, or all three of those categories.
Working with Marketing Channels — But Staying Within Your Budget
Choose the channels that work for your company, but remember to stick to your budget
Embarking on a marketing campaign is a fantastic way to reach your goal of growing your business. While we all wish we had unlimited funds to do this, the reality is we do not. This is why it’s crucial that any marketing efforts your company engages in not only rest within your budget, but also provide you with the highest ROI. You don’t want to find yourself engaging in a marketing channel that just isn’t worth the time or the money you’ve budgeted, which is why first determining what will work for your company is so important.
The first step to determining a budget is sitting down and making a list of all possible expenses that will be incurred over the course of the campaign. Then apply that amount to your usual yearly marketing budget and determine if it is feasible. It’s helpful to look at ranges of marketing campaign budgets in your industry to ensure you’re not over/underspending. Once you’ve decided that this will work, consider allocating your budget across months or quarters. Breaking it up into smaller amounts will help you account for your budget and your successes as you move along in the campaign.
Choosing which marketing channel to focus on depends on your target audience and what is feasible within your budget–so meet your audience there! Employing a variety of marketing channels that work with your budget could help you reach your company’s goals, whether that’s brand awareness, increasing leads, or getting direct sales. If this sounds like something your business is interested in contact Company Expert to get started.
