How to put your marketing efforts into the channels that count

Are you wondering if you should boost that post? Will this be your winning ticket to business success? Perhaps that is the wrong question to be asking.

It’s not uncommon for startups and small businesses to set themselves up on social media channels alone, forgoing any investment into channels they could control. When a growing 82.7% of people are active on social media, it can seem like a no-brainer to cut costs and look for that quick fix. But for businesses that are already feeling the pinch to their budget, this is an alarmingly risky approach to marketing.

So how do startups and small businesses ensure their marketing efforts don’t go to waste? By creating a strategy using diverse platforms that are a mix of owned, earned and paid marketing.

What is owned, earned and paid marketing?

Lack of time and money is something most business owners can relate to and investing in the right channels can feel like playing a game of Operation. There may be no winning formula to business success, but putting your eggs in more than one basket can be a major benefit to you when you combine it with the power of consistency.

Channelising owned marketing

You own your website and your email list. These cannot be taken from you.

More than 36% of small businesses don’t have a website yet a high-performing website can be your best sales asset. A website is where leads tend to consider whether your business is the right fit for them and their needs. When utilised correctly, your website can help nurture the lead, create interest, convert a lead into a paying customer, or kick off the process when integrated with your onboarding systems. And if your lead is not ready to go all in, having a form on your website to subscribe to your email list is the next best thing.

What is all the fuss about building your email list? Imagine the magic you can create when you deliver the right message, at the right time to the right people. A segmented email list is a smart way to market your offers, give value and build upon the already existing relationship you have with your community. Go one step further: create a lead magnet (a downloadable asset that is of some value to your ideal clients) and you have just qualified your lead. Combine that with a super-tailored email sequence nurturing that now-subscriber, and you can convert 20-50% of leads without having to do any of the work after the initial setup.

Optimising earned marketing

Earned media is earning a spot on someone else’s platform. This can look like a guest blog, a podcast guest spot, an article in a publication, a guest speaker at an event etc. You are either asked to take a spot, or pitch yourself to the business or outlet to earn your spot.

Earned media is a great way to:

Develop your thought leadership views and get some clout under your belt.
Create an audience that is aligned with what you have to offer.
Skip the brand awareness stage in the buyers’ journey and touch the consideration stage, because with an earned audience you do not need the know, like and trust factor — it is a given as they trust the owner of the platform to have vetted you already.
Build your audience while solidifying your brand and position as an authority in your industry.

Earned media spots can be the hero pieces of your marketing strategy. You can promote the opportunity through your socials and email list, you can add the opportunity to your website to create more clout, you can transform the opportunity into an ad. Repurposing these moments to cover all corners of your holistic marketing strategy is smarter marketing.

Using paid marketing

Put a Meta ad up and you’ll be rolling in cash, right? Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. It is advised that your organic marketing (social media, emails, blogs etc) are pulling in engagement and results before launching into the ad space. It is best to get the other avenues of marketing right before leveraging them for your ads.

However, when the time is right, paid marketing can be great for amplifying your reach. Using your high-converting and tested lead magnets to the offers on your website is the best use of Meta ads.

Marketing 101: Going back to basics

Now that you know the channels and how to utilise them in a multi-channel marketing approach, it is what you put on those channels that make your efforts count.

Consistent messaging starts and ends with purpose

What is your why? Consistently creating a message around this will bring in a community that believes in that message. You will identify who are potential leads as those who are will either unsubscribe or unfollow. Resonating with your community will pull you through the hardest of times, you will create advocates that have your back.

Meet your community half-way

Building a community is key to building a sustainable brand. You want to create a community that loves what you stand for and what you offer so whenever you’re ready to drop a service or product, they are ready to buy. People invest in people, so showing up as yourself and what is important to you will attract like-minded customers.

Focus on building your email list, obtaining earned opportunities, and choosing one or two social media platforms where your ideal client is already consuming their media. There is no point putting your efforts into Tik Tok when your ideal client spends the majority of their screen time on LinkedIn. Have a gander around the platforms, do any of these accounts fit your ideal client’s behaviour and demographics? As you start building your email list, clients and customer base you can always send them a form, or upon submission they can answer the question, “Where did you hear about us?”

Focusing on creating movements not moments

At the end of the day if you want to continue to grow your accounts and customer base, you need to find out what is important to your customers. Usually your products and services are a small portion. Find the larger concern, what impact they want to create, and what movement would they like to be a part of. Jumping on the trend bandwagon means attracting inconsistent leads that may not necessarily stand for what you stand for. Relying on the impact you want to create with your business, consistently sharing those messages, and building a movement amongst your community will ensure that you are here for a long time.

If you avoid chopping and changing your strategy to meet Meta’s new flavour of the month, and put your efforts into creating a holistic marketing strategy using diverse platforms that focus on purpose, community and impact, you can feel confident knowing that your brand is here to stay.

Nataleigh Elzein is the founding director of the marketing agency DFGM (soon to be Pinch Studios).