As the name suggests, multichannel marketing means using multiple channels like email, social media, and content to reach your customers. Multichannel marketing may sound complex, but with proper strategy and tools, you can launch an effective multichannel campaign even on a limited team and budget.
We will walk through essential channels you should focus on for maximum impact. By the time it’s all over, you will possess all of the knowledge and confidence to start engaging customers across channels for the best results.
What is multichannel marketing?
Multichannel marketing refers to multiple marketing channels strategically. For example: send out an email newsletter, promote it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts, and feature it on your website. This approach increases your chances to reach more customers, improve brand visibility and better customer engagement.
Your choice of channels depends entirely on your audience and business goals. Some popular options are emails, social media, website, paid ads, WhatsApp/SMS, Live events, and webinars.
Email marketing: Crafting effective email campaigns
Email marketing is the oldest, most effective and economical approach to marketing. But before starting you need to build your email list.
Build your list
Email marketing begins by building a list of contacts. There are various methods to build your email list.
- Offer a lead magnet like a free guide, checklist, or webinar as an incentive for email sign-up on your website.
- Run a contest or giveaway where people enter by providing their email addresses as entry requirements.
- Add a newsletter signup option to your blog, social media profiles, and any other pages where visitors are likely to come.
Make it simple for people to register by keeping fields as brief as possible, only requiring first name and email at first. Once people are subscribed you can add more details later.
Create awesome emails
With your contact list built, it’s time to create emails that people will want to open and read. Focus on one message or call to action per email. Some tips for crafting effective emails:
- Have an attention-grabbing subject line. Mentioning your reader by name or using numbers or questions works well.
- Start with an engaging headline. Draw readers in with a benefit-focused headline.
- Keep paragraphs and sentences short, around 2 to 3 sentences. This makes your email easy to scan.
- Use visuals like images, graphics, social proof, or testimonials. They break up text and make the content more interesting.
- Include a clear call to action. Tell your readers exactly what you want them to do, like shop for a sale, download a resource, or share your message.
- Close by restating your message and CTA. End by reminding readers of the key benefit or offer in your email.
Now finally use Icegram express to send all the emails at pre-defined time automatically.
Social media marketing: Leveraging platforms like Facebook and Instagram
Facebook gives businesses the power to build business pages to interact with customers directly. Use posts, photos, and contests as channels for communication. Engage fans by liking and commenting on their posts. Use Facebook ads to boost important posts or expand your product and service.
- Create engaging posts using eye-catching photos, short videos, or shareable quotes to stay active in the news feed without annoying your fans.
- Make posts 2-3 times each week without oversaturating it with content that could potentially overwhelm fans’ feeds.
- Launch social media contests and giveaways to increase likes and followers, offering exclusive discounts or free products as prizes.
- Employ Facebook targeting options to reach your ideal customers.
- Promote content, products, and events to people within your target location.
- Post photos that provide your fans with a glimpse into your company culture, your team, or office space. People prefer supporting brands that appear open and friendly.
Instagram is an invaluable platform for visual brands and businesses. By sharing photos and short videos to showcase products, highlight customer stories, or express brand personality. Instagram allows businesses to quickly build an identity online.
- Post images that align with your brand aesthetic. For optimal results, use filters and editing tools to bring out the best in your content.
- Use popular Instagram hashtags to make your posts more discoverable and take inspiration from what hashtags industry leaders or competitors are using.
- Create Instagram contests and giveaways to drive growth among your audience and increase follower count and engagement. Provide exclusive discounts or free products as prizes.
- Post an array of content such as product photos, lifestyle images, behind-the-scenes footage, or user-generated media to keep your followers engaged with a diverse selection.
- Consider Instagram Stories and IGTV as tools to share video content, engage your followers in Q&A sessions, or give product demonstrations. Both offer casual yet enjoyable user experiences for businesses looking to stay ahead of their competitors.
With an active social media presence and well-targeted ads, it will soon be easy for customers to connect with you across channels. Experiment to see which content and strategies work best for your specific brand and audience.
Content marketing: Blogging, videos, and more
Content marketing is all about creating and sharing valuable content to attract and engage your target audience. Content marketing includes the following channels.
Blogs
Blogs are one of the best ways to share useful content with your target customers. Post new blog articles regularly – say once or twice each month. Write blogs on topics that would interest them using relevant keywords. For instance, if you sell pet supplies, consider writing blog articles such as “The Best Dog Food for Large Breeds” and “5 Tips for Training a Puppy.” Include images to make your posts even more engaging and scannable.
Vlogs
Vlogs are getting increasingly popular on YouTube, so be sure to create one for your business. Post tutorials, product reviews/overviews/company updates/behind-the-scenes footage (two to three-minute videos are best). Be authentic by showing viewers why you care so deeply about what you offer them. Viewers will appreciate your genuine enthusiasm.
Podcast
Podcasting is another effective means of providing audio-only content. Create and promote a podcast featuring industry news, advice from target customers, or interviews with industry influencers. Then promote it across other social channels to build an audience.
Driving traffic with PPC ads
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are an excellent choice to draw more visitors to your website. Because your Ad will show on top of the search result for a particular keyword. There are many popular PPC platforms but the most used are Google and Bing ads. Both of these platforms are more or less the same so we will talk about Google ads only.
Suppose you sell handmade jewelry. So you will find a keyword with the highest search volume in your industry. For example, bidding on keywords such as “handmade necklaces” and “unique bracelets” can help ensure that your ad shows up whenever someone searches these terms on a browser.
Start by opening a Google ads account and creating your first campaign. Choose keywords you wish to bid on, set a maximum cost-per-click (CPC), design an ad text and landing page, as well as set your budget. Google will show your ad when someone searches for those keywords, paying only when someone clicks it.
Tip: Begin small by allocating only a limited budget and keywords, monitoring which ads and phrases perform well to optimize and expand over time.
Affiliate marketing: Partnering with influencers and bloggers
Offer generous commissions
Most influencers won’t promote your product unless generous commission. Ideally between 10-30% per sale. Offering more will increase the likelihood that top influencers want to work with you. Make sure their unique referral links or promo codes are tracked properly so sales credit goes directly back to them and then pay commissions monthly or quarterly.
Create an easy promotion process
Arm your affiliates with all they need to spread awareness of your product or service. Supply high-resolution images, logos, email swipes, social media posts and any other resources they’ll need to promote you effectively. The simpler promotion becomes for them, the more likely they’ll talk about you to their audiences!
WhatsApp and text message marketing
Messaging people directly is an effective way to grab their attention, and WhatsApp makes this easier than ever. Use images, video and text messages to groups or individuals, creating engaging content such as behind-the-scenes photos, quick tips, or links to your latest blog post or video. As this messaging service requires opt-in from subscribers before messaging them – keep messages light-hearted rather than simply sales-driven.
SMS text messaging enables you to directly reach people on their mobile phones. SMS can be used for appointment reminders, event notifications, sales alerts as well as exclusive deals or coupons. Be mindful of any spam regulations in your country regarding SMS marketing. Always gain double opt-in consent before adding subscribers to your list.
Live events and webinars: Getting face time with customers
Live events like webinars are a great way to connect with your audience. The main benefit of hosting a webinar is it makes your image like a subject expert. Here are a few tips for a successful webinar.
Build hype: Send reminder emails the week of the event. Offer incentives like discounts, downloadable resources, or product trials to boost registration.
Practice and prepare: Do a dry run of your webinar with colleagues to work out any kinks. Prepare thoroughly by developing an outline and script. Have extra material ready in case you finish early.
Keep it interactive: Don’t just lecture your attendees. Share your screen to demonstrate tools or concepts. Pause frequently for questions and comments. Consider including interactive polls, Q&A sessions, and chat discussions.
Follow up and follow through: Email attendees after the webinar to share a recording of the event, any resources or giveaways promised, and a call to action like a product trial. Track how many people take you up on your offers to measure the success of your webinar. Ask for feedback on how you can improve for next time.
Creating cohesive messaging across channels
Consistent messaging across your marketing channels is crucial to creating an effective multichannel campaign. Your followers should feel like they’re hearing from one brand no matter where they come into contact with you. Here are some strategies to help align your messaging:
Focus on your key themes
Determine 2-3 main ideas or calls to action that you wish to convey across channels. For example, promoting a new product may involve three themes such as quality, innovation and being environmentally friendly – mention these themes when sending emails, social posts, or advertisements.
Cross-promote your channels.
Link to your other channels in each message. For example, include links to your latest social posts in your email newsletter. Mention your email list in your podcast episode. Retweet content from one channel on other channels. This cross-promotion helps followers discover all the ways they can engage with your brand.
Do not reinvent the wheel
Reuse and repurpose content across channels. For instance, turn your latest blog post into a video or podcast; promote that post on social media; and email your list about the post with its link included. Doing this helps reinforce key messages while giving people multiple ways to access this material.
Conclusion
And there you have it. You now have the basics of multichannel marketing down and are ready to start engaging your customers across platforms. Remember, start with the low-hanging fruit like email marketing and social media. Build up your expertise and comfort over time. Don’t feel overwhelmed by all the options – you don’t have to do it all at once. Pick a few channels that you enjoy and your customers use, develop a simple plan, and get going. Multichannel marketing does take work, but it can have a huge payoff for your business. Stay up to date with trends, keep optimizing and improving, and your multichannel marketing efforts will be off the charts in no time. You’ve got this! Now go spread your message far and wide.