52 marketing channels to promote your business

Facebook ads, Google Adwords – we all know if we want to advertise, we go to those marketing channels.

But what about other methods you can build your brand and sell your product?

Wikipedia says: “Marketing channels are the people, organizations, and activities necessary to transfer the ownership of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. It’s a useful tool for management, and is crucial to creating an effective and well-planned marketing strategy.”

52 marketing channels you can choose from:

Print advertising

Successful entrepreneurs break down their loyal customer base by demographics. You then target these different demographic groups by placing printed ads in publications that your target audience reads.

Publications

Print publications such as magazines and newspapers offer advertising opportunities at all geographic levels.

Web banners

Keep the copy short – no more than five to 10 words
Treat them like a billboard
Make it look like an ad
Keep the branding consistent

marketing channels web banner — Picture credit: https://studio.envato.com

Street banners

Regulations depend on who has authority over the street, typically a city or regional government.

Content marketing

If your content is well-written, and your call to action is on point, it can encourage conversions, resulting in more revenue per visitor.

Case studies

92% of customers prefer that media messages sound like a story. Nobody wants to be sold to, but telling a story helps consumers understand a particular problem and see how other people overcome it, and pushes them closer to buying.

Testimonials

Testimonials work because they aren’t sales pitches. They build trust, and because people see that your product worked for others, they are more likely to make a purchase. You’re using real people to show success with your product or service.

SEO

An important aspect of SEO is making your website easy to understand for both users and search engine robots. It results in increased organic traffic.

Flyers

Think about where your audience is hanging out, and give away your flyers. They are cost-effective, and have a high return-on-investment.

Direct mail

Direct mailing is highly targeted. Each direct mail campaign can be tailored for a specific audience, from new to existing customers.

Pay-per-click-ads

It’s a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time someone clicks on their ad.

Google Adwords

AdWords (Google’s successful pay-per-click [PPC] advertising system) can work for almost any type of business.

Website

The basic of marketing channels.

Your customers expect it
Your competitors all have company websites
You don’t need extensive coding or technical skills
You’ll show up in Google search results
It saves money in the long term
You can keep your customers informed
Target a wider audience

A book

It builds your ego and self-confidence
It helps you be recognized as a trustworthy expert
It gives extra value to your customers
It can even make money

Social media

Social media is one of the most popular of today’s marketing channels. One of the reasons this is important is because social media ads allow targeting and retargeting. You can target users for example by location, education level, industry, and even by purchase history and the pages they’ve visited.

Discussion boards

Many students feel nervous in a real classroom, especially those who are shy or quiet. Online discussion boards are great for these individuals, as they can actively participate in the class without feeling the overwhelming anxiety.

Videos

Videos and live videos could be your best marketing channels. Adding a product video on your landing page can increase conversions by 80%.

Live presentations

They inform, entertain, engage audiences, and create an opportunity to get new visitors.

Blog posts

Blog posts bring a wide range of benefits. If your business is online, they are one of your most important marketing channels. By offering great and interesting content on your site, blog posts:

Drive traffic to your website
Rank you higher in search results
Convert traffic into leads
Help establish you as an authority
Yield long-term results

Newsletters

You can’t completely eliminate fluctuation (lose some and gain some) in customers, but a thoughtful newsletter campaign keeps your customers in the sales funnel. By regularly introducing your latest offers and updates to them, customers will feel like you’re consistently improving your services and stay engaged with your brand.

Referral program

It’s effective. For example, Dropbox went from 100,000 users to 4 million in 15 months with a referral program.

Balloons

An advertising balloon can be seen miles away and even if some people don’t notice the name of the advertiser, some will surely be curious enough to see what is flying in the air.

Window display

As a retail store, your window displays are an effective marketing tool you can use. They will encourage someone who just walks by to enter your store and increase chances that they become a customer.

Webinars

If you set a maximum number of attendees, then people will be more inclined to sign up because they don’t want to miss out on something cool.

Contests

A primary purpose of a contest is to generate new leads, collect email addresses, and create some buzz in your industry or market.

Email signature

This is a great but often overlooked method of promoting your product or lead magnet. If you send significant amount of emails (also in autoresponders), put your signature to use!

Charity

People admire those who help others and participate in charities. Animal shelters can be a good choice as you can sell almost anything by associating it with puppies or kittens.

Cross marketing

Cross-promotion is easy, it’s free, and it often has long-term benefits for your brand.

Free consultations

Offering free consultations help you pull a lead into the sales funnel and sell them more easily.

Free demonstrations

You kill two birds with one stone. You educate your customers on how to use your product and create interest, pushing them closer to the purchasing decision.

Free seminars

It’s not easy to create awareness and fill your seminars with attendees, but they have several benefits like building face-to-face relationships with your customers, and present a great way to sell your product at the end.

TV ads

The average American watches more than five hours of live television every day. It’s a great opportunity to catch their attention and introduce your product.

Magazine ads

Magazine consumers are more likely to read magazine ads that carry compelling images.

Radio spots

More than 243 million American adults listen to the radio each month. It’s a huge audience, and can be segmented by region and audience demographics.

Billboards

Americans spend more time today than ever in their vehicles. Outdoor billboards are in the face of the customer while they drive.

Expositions

Exhibiting at an industrial exposition (expo) can be a great way to advertise to a target market and create brand awareness.

Trade shows

Being involved in a trade show, you can build real relationships with your customers, and generate leads from the visitors to your display booth.

Special event

Events offer a unique opportunity for people to interact with your brand to know more about the company’s personality, ask their questions and engage with your brand.

Yelp

The major benefit of Yelp is the engaged yelpers. The site works like word-of-mouth advertising for the digital world with 148 million reviews.

Articles

Wikipedia says: “It is a type of advertising in which companies write and distribute short articles to a range of outlets such as article banks, forums, and newsletter publishers. Its main purpose is to gain a huge number of online audiences and boost the number of sales opportunities for products or services on websites.”

Brochures

You can share them with potential customers, loyal clients, or mail them as a DM.

brochure marketing channel — Picture credit: https://graphicriver.net

Post cards

Your card can ask the reader to bring the card into your store for a special discount. Or it can tell them to use a special promo code when purchasing from your website. And your competitor won’t know about it.

Coupons

The A.C. Nielson Co, an independent marketing research firm, reveals that 95% of all shoppers like coupons. And 60% actively look for coupons.

Marketing materials

Sometimes your marketing materials will be the first thing a potential customer sees so you need them to be good. You can say anything about your company’s high-quality products and world-famous customer service, but if your marketing materials don’t reflect this professionalism, you are just speaking empty words.

Telephone marketing

Telephone marketing can offer several benefits. Unlike in text or email, you can talk to the customer directly: ask questions, find out what their needs and motivators are, and eliminate their fears.

Yellow Pages

Nearly 60 million consumers search on yellowpages.com per month.

Community bulletin boards

You can find public bulletin boards throughout communities. Look in libraries, grocery stores, schools, post offices, convenience stores, and health clubs.

Word-of-mouth

About 62% of consumers search online for reviews and information before purchasing a product.

Gift certificates/Gift cards

People want the option to shop and buy whenever they want, whether it’s online or in person. Gift cards can allow them to do just that.

marketing channels gift certificate — Picture credit: https://www.redapplelipstick.com

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is when online retailers pay commissions to other sites to promote them, and grow their revenue (actually both of their revenue).

Club and association memberships

People like to belong to a community. Give them one! Closed membership groups are a great way to make your customer feel more valuable.

Directory listing

Because local listings are limited to businesses located within a small geographic area, it is much easier to be included, especially if you have a physical location there.

Conclusion

This is my initial list of marketing channels. Please review the list and let me know if something is missing.