Top 6 List of Digital Marketing Channels for Businesses

In the year 2020, it’s almost impossible to sustain a business without investing in some sort of digital marketing strategy – and most modern business owners understand that. But where to start? There are so many ways to advertise and market your business on the internet that it can be tough to make sense of the various digital channels and how to make them work for you.

At Paradigm, we get lots of questions from our clients about the types of digital marketing channels available to them, as well as how to choose digital marketing channels to suit their particular needs. We will touch on all of that here, but first, let’s start with a basic digital marketing channels definition.

What are digital channels?

Digital channels, or online marketing channels – however you’d like to refer to them – are the avenues through which you communicate with your target audience on the web. Any means used for getting your product or service in front of your desired audience online can be considered a digital marketing channel.

Pretty broad, right?

We thought so too, so we’ve gone ahead and broken things down a little further. First, we compiled a pretty comprehensive list of digital channels so you know exactly what we’re talking about here. And we’ve also identified the six digital media channels that we’ve found to be most effective for the majority of our clients.

First up, digital marketing channels examples:

•       Video marketing
•       Email marketing
•       Content marketing
•       Social media marketing
•       Search engine optimization
•       Search engine marketing
•       Pay-per-click advertising
•       Display ads
•       Affiliate marketing
•       Instant message marketing
•       Influencer marketing
•       Digital radio advertising
•       Television advertising

There’s certainly no shortage of digital marketing tactics and channels across the web, although not every channel is right for every business. To determine the digital channels that are best suited for your particular business, we encourage you to consider the goals of your digital marketing channel strategy, as well as your audience and budget. If you’ve got a hearty marketing allowance and a young, tech-savvy audience, advertising across several channels is probably a good idea. But if your budget is limited, or your audience doesn’t spend much time online, you’re better off doing a bit of research into where your customers spend the majority of their time when they do go online (email, social media, Google), and focus your funds and your efforts there.

Top 6 List of Digital Marketing Channels

While each of the different digital marketing channels has its own pros and cons, there are six, in particular, that we have found to be the most effective digital marketing channels for most businesses.

1.     Email Marketing

In many cases, email is one of the most personal digital channels for communicating with customers because it allows brands to deliver relevant content in a non-invasive manner. You can use it to send out promotional emails, triggered emails (like a shopping cart abandonment reminder, for example), or even something as straightforward as a newsletter. It also doesn’t have to cost anything at all, which makes it an attractive option for businesses with smaller budgets. But if you do choose to spend a few bucks on email marketing, according to LYFE Marketing, you could expect to see as much as a 3,800% return on your investment!

2.     Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of optimizing your website and its content so that it shows up at or near the top of search engine results for your desired keywords. The idea behind SEO is to increase the amount of organic (or free) traffic to your website – your greatest marketing tool.

3.     Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

Pay-per-click advertising, more commonly referred to as simply PPC, is a type of search engine advertising that lets you position your business near the top of search results, even if that’s not where your website shows up organically. And, as the name suggests, you’re only charged when a user actually clicks on your ad.

4.     Display Ads

Display ads are kind of like the internet’s version of “old school” advertising. Similar to running an ad within the pages of a hard copy newspaper or magazine, choosing display ads as a digital marketing channel allows you to provide information about your products and services on websites other than your own. Display ads come in the form of banner, video, interactive and rich media ads and can be targeted directly to your ideal demographic.

5.     Social Media

Almost everyone – across almost every demographic – has a presence on social media, making it an incredibly attractive digital marketing channel for many businesses. Whoever your ideal customer is, there’s a good chance they spend at least a few minutes a day on one social media platform or another. As a result of this popularity, many social platforms, especially Facebook and Instagram, have become really robust advertising platforms that are simple to use, effective and inexpensive.

6.     Content Marketing

Content marketing refers to the creation of targeted content – like blogs, infographics, news stories, case studies or videos – to drive traffic to your website. To really increase organic traffic, you have to deliver consistent, high-quality content, so it does require a bit of work. But when done right, according to LYFE Marketing, it can generate three times the leads for approximately 62 percent less than traditional marketing.

If you’re interested in learning more about any of the digital channels mentioned in this article, contact Paradigm Marketing & Design today, and one of our digital marketing specialists will be happy to assist you.