marketing channels

Today, every business is marketing and operating in a multichannel environment. It is essential that you maximize your marketing channels to ensure business growth and profitability.

So what is a marketing channel? A marketing channel is any one of the methods your business can use to market, sell and communicate with customers and prospects. The major operating channels include retail, catalog and internet for product-based industries, and print, internet and face-to-face for service-based businesses. These very broad categories are essentially the channel highways. Leading to those highways are additional roads and paths for communication including direct mail, newspaper advertising, trade shows, sales calls, blogs and even mobile messaging.

the channels continue to grow

The channels for communication have grown as technology has expanded. Not that long ago you could successfully operate in one main channel. You could be a retail establishment and use traditional advertising methods to generate traffic to your store. Or, you could be a catalog company and use direct mail along with print advertising to find new customers. If you were a service-based company you may have done some advertising and mailing but your strongest sales opportunities were by telephone and one-on-one meetings with clients and prospects.

That has all changed since the explosion of cable television networks, the arrival of the internet, increased competition both locally and globally, and our ongoing technological advancements. Customers now have more choices, more information and easier methods for researching and purchasing most every type of product and service. Because of this, finding a way to reach large segments of your potential audience may be more difficult.

your customer is in control

The customer is now in full control of the sales process. They shop when and where they choose, looking for the most compelling offers and convenient service. This is true for both consumer goods and business services. With so many methods of communication (channels) to choose from, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to allocate marketing dollars and manage your message. In many industries, the growth of marketing channels has forced companies to spend more on marketing while receiving a diminished return on those investments.

use the channel to your advantage

Once you recognize which channels your customers and prospects are using, and also understand how to use each channel to your advantage, you can pave a road to success. So how do you direct customers through today’s complex marketing highways and have them arrive safely and happily at your business?


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