Are you struggling to determine which online marketing channels are best for your business? With so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to focus your efforts.
The right marketing channels allow you to connect with your ideal customers, drive traffic to your site, and boost conversions. The wrong channels result in wasted time and money.
In this article, we’ll explore the most effective online marketing channels for online businesses so you can build a data-driven strategy that works.
Social Media Marketing for Your Business
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your target audience, build relationships, and promote your products or services. It is a cost-effective way to reach a large audience and drive traffic to your website.
Why businesses should consider social media as a marketing channel:
- Social media has a large and active user base. According to DataReportal there are over 4.8 billion social media users worldwide. This means that you have a huge potential audience for your business.
- Social media is relatively inexpensive. It is free to create and maintain social media accounts, and there are many free or low-cost tools available to help you manage your social media presence.
- Social media allows you to target your audience. You can use social media demographics and interests to target your ads and posts to the people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services.
- Social media is interactive. You can use social media to engage with your audience, answer their questions, and build relationships. This can help you to create a loyal customer base.
How social media can help you achieve business success:
- Increase brand awareness. Social media can help you to get your brand in front of a large number of people. By sharing engaging content and interacting with your audience, you can build brand recognition and loyalty.
- Drive traffic to your website. Social media can be a great way to drive traffic to your website. By sharing links to your blog posts, product pages, and other website content, you can encourage your followers to visit your site.
- Generate leads and sales. Social media can be used to generate leads and sales. For example, you can use social media ads to target potential customers and drive them to your landing page. You can also use social media to build relationships with potential customers and nurture them into leads.
- Improve customer service. Social media can be used to provide customer service and support. By responding to customer comments and questions on social media, you can show your customers that you care about them and that you are committed to providing them with a good experience.
It is clear then that social media is a powerful marketing tool that can help businesses of all sizes achieve their goals. By using social media effectively, businesses can increase brand awareness, drive traffic to their website, generate leads and sales, and improve customer service.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer the ability to reach the huge audience mentioned above. Building an engaged social media following provides multiple opportunities to promote your business.
Pros:
- Massive reach
- Allows for community building
- Very visual platforms
Cons:
- Time-intensive
- Organic reach is declining (HootSuite)
If you sell very visual products like clothing or art, visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest tend to perform well. More text-heavy businesses may prefer content-focused platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.
For example, the online clothing boutique Chic Soul has built a following of over 394,000 people on Instagram. They leverage Instagram Stories and posts to preview new arrivals and style their products. This traffic converts visitors into customers.
Optimising Your Website For Search Engines
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s performance and usability, aiming to increase the visibility and ranking of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is a long-term strategy that can help businesses attract organic traffic to their website and generate leads and sales.
Why businesses should consider SEO as a marketing channel:
- SEO is a cost-effective way to reach a large audience. Search engines are the most popular way for people to find information online. By optimizing your website for SEO, you can ensure that your website appears in front of potential customers when they search for terms related to your products or services.
- SEO is a targeted marketing channel. You can use SEO to target your website with specific keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business. This means that you are more likely to attract visitors to your website who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.
- SEO is a long-term marketing channel. Once you have optimised your website for SEO, it will continue to generate traffic for you over time. This means that you can build a sustainable source of traffic for your business without having to constantly invest in advertising.
- SEO can help you improve your website’s user experience. Many of the best practises for SEO also improve the user experience of your website. For example, optimising your title tags and meta descriptions makes it easier for users to find your website in search results. And optimising your website’s loading speed makes it easier for users to access your website and view your content.
How SEO can help you achieve business success:
- Increase brand awareness. When your website appears in the top search results for relevant keywords, it helps to increase brand awareness. This is because people are more likely to trust and remember brands that they see regularly in search results.
- Drive traffic to your website. SEO is one of the most effective ways to drive organic traffic to your website. By optimising your website for SEO, you can attract visitors who are actively searching for the products or services that you offer.
- Generate leads and sales. When you have a website with high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience, you are more likely to generate leads and sales. SEO can help you improve the visibility and ranking of your website, which can lead to more people visiting your site and converting into customers.
- Improve customer service. SEO can help you improve customer service by making it easier for customers to find the information they need on your website. For example, you can use SEO to optimise your website’s FAQ page so that customers can easily find answers to their questions.
No doubt, SEO is a powerful marketing tool that can help businesses of all sizes achieve their goals. By using SEO effectively, businesses can increase brand awareness, drive traffic to their website, generate leads and sales, and improve customer service.
Pros:
- Long-term strategy
- Very targeted visitors
- Free to implement
Cons:
- It takes time to see results
- Google algorithm changes
- It needs constant monitoring
Law firms, consultants, and service-based businesses thrive with SEO since they offer expertise people are actively searching for online.
For example, the well-known Forbes Advisor improved their site visibility ranking with keyword research and on-page SEO. They rank #1 for terms like “small business accountant” almost worldwide, driving thousands of new visitors each month.
Email Marketing
Building an email subscriber list allows you to directly market to prospects and customers. Email still boasts impressive open and conversion rates.
Pros:
- Very personalised
- Opportunity to automate campaigns
- Builds direct relationships
Cons:
- Subscriber acquisition
- Risk of ending up in spam folders
Email marketing works very well for coaches, course creators, and subscription businesses needing to communicate with customers.
For example, the course creator Marie Clark has over 50k email subscribers. She sends a weekly newsletter with blogs, tutorials, and product announcements that convert subscribers into buyers.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
PPC ads like Google Ads help you get your site in front of people searching for your products or services right when they’re looking to buy.
Pros:
- Fast results
- Very targeted
- Only pay per click
Cons:
- Ongoing expense
- Keyword research required
PPC works well if you have an e-commerce site or are launching a new product line. The travel booking site Getaways uses PPC to promote seasonal offers and special discounts targeted at users searching for specific destinations.
Measuring Results
It’s crucial to track key metrics for each marketing channel to determine effectiveness. Here are some key metrics to monitor:
- Traffic – Volume of visitors driven to your site
- Leads/Sales – New prospects or customers acquired
- Engagement – Social shares, clicks, email open rates
- ROI – Revenue driven versus cost of campaigns
Regularly reviewing these metrics allows you to double down on high-performing channels and refine or eliminate those not delivering results.
Tips for Different Business Models
The best marketing channels vary based on your business model and goals:
- Ecommerce – Focus on SEO, email, and PPC to drive online sales
- SaaS – Leverage content marketing, SEO, social media to boost brand awareness
- Service-Based – Build authority with SEO and convert visitors with PPC ads
Integrated Success Story
Hansen’s Outfitters, an outdoor gear ecommerce store, struggled to drive online sales. They hired a marketing consultant who implemented:
- SEO to rank for keywords like “camping gear”
- Email nurturing sequences for browsing visitors
- Facebook ads promoting seasonal products
- Google Shopping ads for easy purchasing
Within 6 months, Hansen’s increased website traffic by 2x and online sales by 50%. The integrated strategy helped them reach, engage, and convert new online customers.
The right marketing mix helps any business maximise its reach. Ready to choose the channels that work for you? Download our free guide using the link below!
