We’re occasionally asked about how many marketing channels you should actually have, especially if you’re just starting out in Self-employment or business ownership.
But what do we mean about marketing channels?
Well, if you’ve been following us for a little while, you may have heard us talk about the ABC methodology of marketing, which is know your audience, know your boast, broadcast or brag, and just as importantly, know the channels that you’re going to use to reach them with your broadcast.
It’s very common when people start out in business to fall into the trap of believing that you need to do absolutely loads of marketing on as many marketing channels as you could possibly reach.
But the danger with that is that you are running the risk of spreading yourself too thin and making it very difficult for you to do a good job on any of them.
You see if you’re trying to be expert at everything you’ll end up mastering absolutely nothing.
We’ve always believed that knowing your audience is key. Then you look at the channels that you can legitimately get underway quickly and test as fast as possible.
Now, we always suggest that you try to limit your marketing channels, particularly social media, to no more than two or three. It’s very difficult to try and get everything everywhere, hoping to reach everybody with potential money to spend.
It doesn’t work like that.
The marketing channels that you use depend on the audience you’re trying to reach
For examples: you’re wasting your time on Linked in if you sell to consumers.
If you’re trying to reach women it’s pointless advertising in a football magazine and so on.
So it’s often a smart move to be really good at a small number of marketing channels. And I mean really good.
It’s going to be impossible for anyone to be an expert on 20 marketing channels. Not only that, you can’t manage and monitor 20 marketing channels. And it’s impossible to be in that space consistently enough to make your market fully respond to what it is that you’re saying.
So I’m not saying that you should limit yourself just a small number. What I’m saying is that if you just start with a few and get really good at them.
And the key thing about getting good at it a good at just a few is that it’s easy to manage and monitor.
Putting stuff out on your marketing is one part. But monitoring the results is vital. You need to make sure that you’re getting the response you want and that it turns into a credible return on investment.
Far too few people in small businesses just chuck stuff out into the market through their channels and have no idea whether it’s working.
So, you need to choose the channels appropriate to your audience.
But then the only way you’re ever going to know if those channels work is if you test and measure and it’s almost impossible to test and measure a dozen plus marketing channels right up front from the get go.
Being consistent is essential in marketing
Now, a big deal in marketing is being consistent. Turning up on a frequent basis with the right messages for the right people in the right places.
And when you’ve got loads of different marketing channels, you end up not having enough time to do them all very well.
If you’re struggling to cope and keep up with all of the marketing channels that you’re involved in, then it’s possible that you’re involved in way too many marketing channels. Or you’re just not organised enough.
Once we got to grips with marketing consistently, every day my last business changed quite radically.
You cannot be an expert on 20 marketing channels but you can get really good on half a dozen.
So have a think. Are you trying to do too much?
And if you’ve only got a couple of channels, do you know whether you’re really good at them? Are you getting the results that you’d like?
In fact, to be honest, you should be looking at results all the time (weekly, to begin with), amending what’s not working and scaling up.
And here’s what to measure: what it is you’re doing, how much time it’s taking you, whether you are truly keeping up, whether you are properly managing and monitoring the results and adjusting if they’re not going the way you want.
If you’re struggling with all of this, then it’s likely that you’re doing too much and you may need to have a think about how many marketing channels you’re trying to use.
It’s far too easy to take on too much but it’s highly likely that, if you’ve got ten marketing channels, there’s probably two or three of them which are just not performing. And the only way you’re going to know if they’re performing is to monitor it.
The key message: it’s better to be brilliant at two or three marketing channels, than mediocre (or poor) at 10.
Want more on marketing? Check out :
The real key to marketing success (article and video)
Don’t waste time on marketing channels that are never going to work (YouTube video)