The main goal of every marketing campaign is to reach the right audience with the right message. To achieve the target, we use marketing communication channels; own, paid and earned. In this article, you will learn what each of them is characterized by and what specific tools can be used.
Table of Contents
What is marketing channel
Choosing the right marketing channel or channels depends on many factors. The most important of them is the industry in which we operate and the target market. Simply, we should adapt to our target group and use the communication tools and media most often used by our clients or potential clients.
However, before we proceed to the selection of specific solutions, it is worth determining exactly what our target group is and what the basic channels of marketing communication are characterized by.
Who is your target customer
The target group is people who may be potentially interested in your product or service. Thus, our ideal client or consumer (depending on whether we sell services or goods) is someone who meets certain criteria. How is the “ideal” customer profile created?
Creating a customer profile is about collecting and analyzing data from existing customers. We take into account, inter alia, gender, age, financial status, education, profession, and habits.
Based on this data, a fictional character is created – Persona, representing a larger group of potential recipients. Therefore, to communicate with our target group, we use the media that most often is used by the created persona.
Marketing communication channels – owned media
The concepts presented in this article apply to both traditional and online marketing. Broadly defined owned media includes your own content, packaging, point-of-sale, and the people who come into contact with consumers.
The owned media are designed to promote the brand, show its value and inform what the company does. We can treat the media as a source of developing and presenting “brand personality” outside.
So it’s worth publishing content that is in line with the company’s values and goals. Avoid sharing untrustworthy or simply boring articles or posts. Information disseminated in your own media should inform, teach or entertain the audience. The online ways of owned media include mainly:
- Website or company blog. The information on the website or blog should always be up-to-date. It is worth posting interesting content that will attract the attention of users. The use of appropriate SEO techniques will generate additional organic traffic on the website.
- Social media. Thanks to social media, we will build a community of people interested in the content provided by the brand. Running company profiles in social media gives great opportunities, but it also requires a lot of work and the use of an appropriate strategy.
- E-mail Marketing is still one of the most effective forms of marketing communication. By using e-mail, we can relatively easily reach a large group of potential customers. In addition, by maintaining constant contact with existing customers, we have the opportunity to resell our products or services.
- Mobile applications have become more and more popular recently. Recent statistics show that the majority of users use the Internet using mobile devices. Mobile applications improve the use of services and ensure the maintenance of greater involvement and loyalty of consumers.
Paid media
The second channel of communication in marketing is Paid Media. The name covers all paid forms of promotion of brand or a specific product or service. An example may be TV advertising, press advertising, Google Ads paid search, or advertising on social media.
Paid media helps expand your online marketing campaign and reach more people than free channels. Additionally, by using analytical tools such as Google Analytics, you can track campaigns on an ongoing basis and, if necessary, optimize the performance of paid ads.
The use of paid media allows you to select the appropriate ad formats and display them only to people who are in your target group. The only disadvantage of this communication channel is the relatively high cost incurred by the advertiser.
However, for small business owners, who do not have a separate marketing department or even a content marketing strategy, paid advertising may be the only way to reach customers.
Marketing communication channels – earned media
Earned media are the third channel of marketing communication. Earning as many media as possible is a dream situation for every entrepreneur. Assuming of course that the information flowing through this channel will be beneficial for the company.
The idea of earned media assumes that consumers themselves, more or less consciously, engage in promoting the brand. Satisfied customers share information with family or friends. If this information concerns the product or service they have used, we are dealing with the so-called word of mouth marketing.
Earned media is also about interacting with your content. This situation builds brand trust and credibility and can be much more effective than paid advertising.
Read this article in Polish: Kanały komunikacji marketingowej.
