What are the types of marketing channels? Today, the most popular types of marketing channels are websites, email, targeted digital advertising, and events (digital or in-person). In the past, people usually used a direct distribution channel (like mailers) or an indirect marketing channel (like television). It can be complex. One level channel of distribution could be good for one company and another might be terrible.
Either way, these advertising channels differ significantly in audience and reach. To discuss marketing channels 2021 and beyond, we should take a look at the four major types of marketing channels for consumer marketing.
How many types of marketing channels are there?
We recommend these four marketing channels that modern go-to-market teams use today:
- Websites. Modern advertising companies are leaning heavily on websites as a way to drive conversion through content.
- Email. Email remains one of the highest conversion-rate marketing channels, largely because it allows for personalization and has great reach.
- Digital advertising. One of the most effective marketing channels, advertising can be expensive and does require that the organization understand its audience.
- Events. Today, events can be held digitally as well as in-person. They offer face-to-face contact and one-on-one communication, but they can be expensive and difficult to manage.
Marketing Channels Definition
Let’s start with a simple marketing channels definition. What are marketing channels? The purpose of marketing channels are to look at different areas of advertising, their core metrics, and whether they can reach your targeted audience. Take a marketing channel like email. It’s usually the first in a journal marketing channels PDF but it’s not everything.
A long time ago, email was the major marketing channel. People purchased email lists and blasted marketing messages directly to those lists. From there, they were able to convert. But the importance of marketing channels goes beyond direct conversion.
The purpose of marketing channels includes being able to build a brand identity and a brand persona. So, websites and social media accounts may also become marketing channels. Mailers can become marketing channels. Events can become marketing channels.
In essence, a marketing channel is any area in which a company can market to a consumer — including other companies. That can include things like seminars, online events, and even cold-calling them on the telephone. Different companies will find that different marketing channels are most effective for them. But they do need to be able to track how people are coming in; how people hear about the organization and whether their marketing channels are truly effective.
The more information the organization has, the better.
Functions of Marketing Channels
We know the definition of marketing channels. But what about the functions of marketing channels? What are the function of marketing channel members? How does this differ from the functions of distribution channels?
Let’s take a look at an example.
We have a company that installs pools. They are affordable and reliable. There are two major ways that they get clients. They go to seminars and expos to court commercial clients. And they send out mailers to new homeowners who might want pools.
When they go to seminars and expos, they’re dealing with commercial enterprises and other professionals. They want to underscore the fact that they are reliable and easy to work with. They want to show off their commercial jobs and the ties they have to the community.
When they send out mailers, they’re dealing with individuals, and often those who have already spent money on their house. They want to underscore the fact that they are affordable and improve property values. They want to show off jobs they did for residences in the area and direct client testimonials.
So, marketing companies should put together a functions of marketing channels PPT or a functions of marketing channels SlideShare to really get their organization on the same page when it comes to brand identity and messaging.
How to Choose Marketing Channels
You just opened an eCommerce store. What next? There are so many channels today, knowing how to choose marketing channels can require expert advice. But don’t get overwhelmed.
Most companies don’t always know how to choose marketing channels. Whether you’re an eCommerce store, SaaS company, or a brick-and-mortar retailer, you need to go in with an open mind and experimental approach.
Generally, companies start with a distribution channel strategy or encompassing market channel strategy. In other words, they try everything and see what sticks.
What are examples of marketing channels?
You can start with social media, paid digital advertising, your website, direct mail, and events. From there, you see what works best.
You can take a look at factors affecting channels of distribution PPT slides. You might note that mailers tend to do better in older demographics. The importance of distribution channels varies depending on different audiences. An importance of distribution channels in marketing PPT will cover this. Your marketing channel strategy PDF will grow the more strategies you try out. Take in-depth marketing channels notes and fill out a marketing channels PDF or marketing channels PPT for your marketing and sales teams.
Today, it’s important that an organization synergize and that marketing and sales work together. By pulling together all your information about how your channels are going, you can give them the data and support they need. It may be that sales will say that it needs stronger marketing in one channel. It may be that sales needs to report to marketing that a certain channel just isn’t likely to work, no matter how hard they try.
Online Marketing Channels
Since most of the world today is online, online marketing channels are most important.
What are the four channels of distribution?
For digital marketing, there’s targeted digital advertising, email, chat, and website. These digital marketing channels comprise the bulk of marketing today. These digital marketing channels examples can also outline where you’re going to start. But let’s look at these types of distribution channels in detail:
- Digital ads. Paid ads can target an audience’s demographics very narrowly, including their behavior online (such as whether they’ve visited your site before).
- Email. Email feels very personal. When someone opts into an email from you, you already know that they’re interested. You just need to get them to commit.
- Chat. Often today, live chat is the first connection someone makes. Having an AI chat that bleeds into a live chat can be the perfect way to keep them captured.
- Website. This is where people go for information, and it can be used to develop authority, brand awareness, and your company’s brand identity.
Of course, it can also be difficult to manage all these channels. That’s where platforms such as Terminus step in to ensure that nothing is missed and that all available metrics remain tracked.
You should examine the role of marketing channels with examples, or a types of distribution channels PPT. For instance, email can be a “cold” email (emailing lists), can be in the form of a newsletter, or can even “re-market” and re-target individuals who purchased before (or failed to make a purchase). All these strategies are valid and need to be combed for more information regarding their effectiveness.
Traditional Marketing Channels
While online marketing may be the “new thing,” traditional marketing is still extremely effective today. There are traditional marketing channels; in fact, there are three.
What are the three marketing channels?
Historically, the most popular offline marketing channels have been direct mail, magazine advertisem*nts (or newspaper ads), and television ads.
Marketing channels examples are easy to think of. There was a time when the marketing channels list was as simple as “What channel do you want your commercial to show up on?” You will need to describe different types of distribution channels for business documents. Today, you are likely to use mailers or newspaper ads rather than television ads.
In any distribution channel presentation, you’ll see why. In the distribution channel structure PPT, television is at the top in terms of brand awareness, but very poor at targeting, and very expensive. The more common types of marketing channels SlideShare presentations highlight include direct mailers, because direct mailers give a personalized touch, and because they can reach out to specific demographics.
Additionally, companies can also use the online world to reach out in a traditional way. As an example, LinkedIn can be used to identify people who have just moved into new roles, and then telephones can be used to connect with this person and see if there’s anything new they need.
But with both online channels and traditional channels working in tandem, many are concerned that they can lose track of their metrics, or may not immediately know whether something has been successful. This is again where platforms like Terminus step in. Terminus can help you consolidate all of your marketing channels and your marketing efforts, so it’s easier than ever to determine whether your organization is moving in the right direction.
Marketing channels aren’t always intuitive, especially to those who see the bigger picture. But a more detailed understanding of marketing channels can help marketing teams to create the right messaging and focus their advertising spend.
