There are many channels that B2B businesses can use to connect with their target audiences. However, being on the right ones are key. Utilising the right channels will help you promote your services, products and build up your brand identity to an audience that matters.
The aim is to produce original content and use multiple channels to promote it instead of booking traditional advertising, such as a banner on a website. Using original content saves time, and in addition to paid media and inbound marketing, can drive more inbound leads.
We’ve put together our three recommendations to getting started with channel advertising.
Choosing The Right Channel
There are multiple types of channels to consider depending on your business and the customers you need to serve. Not every channel will be relevant, so you need to find the channels that drive the right results for your business. Overall, when you understand the specific channels you need to be on in terms of your customers preferences, you’ll increase your return-on-investment (ROI).
The channels you choose to advertise through can be both your own business’s channels and a third-party channel, and it’s good to use a balance of both to land new leads whilst also nurturing existing ones. Advertising on a reputable publication's website or weekly eNewsletter can help your content reach a large number of contacts. It may also be promoted on the publication's own social media channels, reaching new prospects.
Alongside distribution on these channels, using your own channels to promote content has many benefits. The content you advertise on your LinkedIn, website, or newsletters will remain on your channel and leave a lasting footprint of useful content to attract potential customers. This can have a much greater impact compared to traditional advertising where you pay for a period of time, and then it no longer contributes to lead generation.
Monitoring Your Current Strategy
Audience behaviours change rapidly, and it’s crucial to stay aware of what’s causing engagement and what you need to tweak. Monitoring your strategy is a great way to see where your leads are coming from and what platform you are connecting with your audience the most. It can also help show what content is performing the best on what channels in terms of what your audience are seeking. For example, an eGuide may be best displayed in an emailer, whereas a video may be best shown on your social media. Mastering your channel strategy is all about understanding your customers and what they want to see on multiple channels.
Creating Relevant Content
Success with channel advertising doesn’t end in choosing the right channels. You must put in time and effort to create relevant content that engages your audience to learn what drives people to becoming a customer. You also need to consider that whilst your brand needs to be consistent across your channels, each channel is unique and appeals to audiences differently. For example, a tweet is short and straight to the point, whilst a LinkedIn post is longer and more informative.
By going beyond the traditional approach to advertising, businesses can create and promote helpful inbound content across different channels to distribute material people will find both helpful and engaging. This helps drive leads and boosts your business’ sales success.
If you need support in creating original content such as eGuides and social media to distribute across multiple channels, book a meeting with our team today.