Best Multi-Channel Digital Marketing Media Mix
Blogs, YouTube videos, ad copy, promos, and Facebook updates, these are just some of the different types of content marketing utilized to significant effect in the sales funnel.
Some of the favorite content marketing formats that fall under the organic marketing umbrella include blogs, email blasts, Facebook updates, and unpaid tweets. Of course, seeing results from organic marketing can take some time and require thoughtful SEO content.
Having the right blend of content for your digital strategy to distribute through your buyer’s journey is essential to have covered throughout all of your digital marketing channels. There are many potential customers out there who are consuming media in a variety of ways, so having the right content in front of them is a huge part of your digital marketing strategy. Knowing your business goals and buyer personas are a key starting point before you start to develop and distribute your content marketing media mix through all of your marketing channels.
Paid search marketing comprises things such as Pay-Per-Click or Cost-Per-Impression. These formats allow advertisers to show ads on search engines such as Google and Bing. Any time we search for something, we see these paid ads, whether at the top of the SERPs or on the sidebar. The content can include text ads as well as video ads. Paid search offers you the benefits of being able to attract a wider audience quickly so that you can attract new prospects and customers.
Social Media content includes sharing informational photos, videos, tweets, and storytelling – with the goal of creating shareable content that attracts the ideal audience that wants what you are offering. Social Media graphics and videos are a great way to retarget to your audience.
Informational Blog Topics for Organic
The top of the sales funnel is a great place to bring in potential customers and introduce them to your brand. This digital marketing strategy is where you are trying to create brand awareness about your business. This is where the cold traffic resides, the point in the funnel where you want to attract the right attention. At this point in the funnel, the prospective buyer is looking for answers, what they need, and solve a problem. Here is where you need to create information blog topics. Top-level educational content is a great way to direct the buyer. Creating optimized informational blog topics can pique their interest because you are offering them a solution. Educating them with optimized, well-written “How To” blog topics and tip sheets are excellent. While they may not be a sales lead yet, and there is no guarantee that they will be, there is a good chance that someone will find the content helpful and useful as they make their way down to the warmer traffic area of the sales funnel.
Social Media Graphics and Short Videos
It’s getting warmer. No, we’re not talking about the heat index, we’re talking about retargeting for warm traffic. Social media content such as infographics and short videos can also be used as amazing, top of the funnel content to capture their attention. Once you have caught their attention with this amazing educational content, the prospects are starting to feel more comfortable with you; you may have an answer to their problem. It may have been informational “How To” blog topic or some fabulous tips that they can use. Whatever worked, they are now wondering if you are a good fit for them. Yes, people are still on Facebook. Retargeting with a Facebook video is an excellent way for people to know, like, or trust your brand. Facebook live videos create natural engagement, which Facebook loves. You can also show them another relevant piece of video content, such as something that is going to add more value to whatever your brand is offering. Using social media sites such as Facebook allows you to create a custom audience.
There is a difference between the content at the top and the middle of the funnel. At the top we are trying to create awareness, in the middle, we are trying to nurture the lead and get prospects to feel all warm and fuzzy about what you are offering. Consider personalized email blasts that solidify your brand and makes you the expert. Engage the audience, because, at this point in the funnel, they are looking up to you and are hoping that you have an answer to their problem.
Paid Search Display Ads
Paid search display ads and GDN ads are not the same things. And, while they are not the same, both are instrumental parts of a digital marketing mix. People love to utilize paid search ads. It can increase the chances that someone that is looking for a brand, like the one you are offering, will see your ad at the very top of the SERPs. Of course, the downside to this is that they have to be searching for the thing you are offering.
The GDN, short for the Google Display Network, offers plenty of opportunities for you to build brand awareness and drive more conversions. You can use the GDN to turn that cold traffic into hot traffic. GDN ads are displayed in ad slots on a variety of different websites that users are browsing. While they may not be looking for you, they may be willing to see what you have to say. Banner ads are popular display ads. These ads appear in a variety of different sizes on the sidebar of a website. Many times, the banner ads are completely different from the actual site the user is on. The advantage of using GDN ads is that it allows you to place your ad directly in front of customers, rather than having them find you. You can be a lot more active in the awareness stage of the sales funnel (cold traffic) so that you can introduce a wide range of people to your product or service. These people may not have even thought about needing your products until they saw your ad!
Retargeting with GDN ads has some advantages, too. With GDN ads, you can get more creative. Rather than the plain text ads of paid search, GDN ads allow you to add images and videos, creating more vibrant content which people tend to pay more attention to. Perhaps you saw a video ad on a page you were visiting, and it piqued your interest, yet, regrettably, you failed to click on the ad and forgot what it was. Retargeting means that this ad may show up again, offering you, the interested party, another opportunity to get in touch and learn more about the product or service that you thought you might have missed out on in the first place.
YouTube Video Ads
Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google? Yes, it’s true. YouTube is much more than a place to watch the latest ASMR episode or music video. People love to search on YouTube. Up to 3 billion searches a month are processed on YouTube! Executives prefer to watch videos rather than read the text. YouTube reaches more 18 – 49-year-olds on mobile than any broadcast or cable network. So what are the different types of YouTube videos for branding and informational queries?
Brand Videos: You can create short, fun, and unique videos that can introduce your brand to your audience. Brand videos are going to be perfect for those that are at the top of the funnel.
Explainer Videos: These are videos that do just that, explain. They can be something that shares helpful tips or offers a solution to a problem. These videos create awareness and are a part of the top of the funnel. Adding a call to action may help bring prospects to the middle of the funnel.
Product Review Videos: These videos are a part of the middle of the funnel. Here is your chance to educate and highlight what you are offering. Product videos can instill more confidence in consumers so that they trust what you are offering them.
Testimonial Videos: You can rave about your products all day long. However, someone else is giving the praise, people notice. For these videos to be successful, they need to sound genuine. Avoid hiring paid actors. When done right, these can be excellent for those lingering in warm traffic.
VLOG/Webinars: Now that your customers in the hot traffic zone, engage them. You can keep a loyal audience by creating monthly vlogs on different topics or new products, with a teaser that reels them in for the next installment.
Email Marketing Creative
Email sequences are designed to get people moving through the journey from never having heard of your company to loyal buyer and advocate of your brand. These sequences operate much like the sales funnel. First, you create an email or set of emails that help introduce your company. Offering a coupon is a great way to get the interest started right. The next set of emails are the engagement emails that you use to deepen the relationship with your customer. Finally, the last email in the sequence is the conversion email. These emails are for the customers that you have nurtured, and now you are ready to ask them to take action – purchase something.
Summary
Organic, paid search and social media are essential multi-channel digital marketing tactics of any good digital media marketing mix distribution. Today, we can utilize a variety of multi-channel digital marketing platforms. YouTube, GDN ads, email marketing, Facebook – the potential to reach a huge audience is greater than ever before. The proper mix makes all the difference, whether it is a dance track that triggers the senses to get people dancing or a mixture of the perfect cooking ingredients that can make a recipe pop. The same applies to a good digital media marketing mix. By integrating the right blend of organic, paid search and social media channels into your marketing strategy, you have a higher potential to reach your ideal target market , create brand loyalty, and get them to convert.
