9 Digital Marketing Channels that Actually Works

Being in the digital marketing industry and providing SEO services for over 13 years, I’ve seen trends come and go. What’s hot and trending today may not be so hot tomorrow. This is the reason why I’ve always told my clients that while I’m pretty confident about my skills, I wouldn’t claim to be a “master”.

Whether traditional or digital, marketing requires continuous learning as technology advances. With new tools, features and updates, we have to keep a close watch and relearn (and sometimes, unlearn) things we thought were the “standards”.

The only thing that’s constant in marketing is change.

It’s a Writer’s World

Having said that, there are still certain digital marketing channels that have stood the test of time and continue to be effective even today. This guide will discuss the 8 effective digital marketing that actually works, the best practices, and how you can leverage them.

In this guide:

What is Digital Channels in Marketing?

Before diving into the guide, let’s first understand what digital marketing channels are.

One of the best ways to drive potential customers into your sales funnel is through digital marketing channels. Digital marketing channels are ways you can promote your product or service online. It’s the process of creating a relationship with your customers/prospects/customers through the use of various digital platforms and tools.

There are quite a few marketing channels you can leverage as compared to traditional. Each channel has its own set of best practices, and it can get a little overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting out.

But actually, this is what makes digital marketing so powerful. Since you have multiple touchpoints where your business can engage prospects, you can build a deeper relationship with your audience.

Every digital marketing channel is also measurable, which means you can see exactly how your audiences interact and react to your marketing campaign. Within a few hours after launching a marketing campaign, you can already get data from your analytics tool to see if it’s working or not. This makes it easier to assess and fine-tune your marketing efforts.

9 Effective Digital Marketing Channels

To make things easier, I’ve narrowed down the list to 8 effective digital marketing channels that actually work and provided some tips on how you can use each one to your advantage.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 

SEO is optimizing and making your website to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO’s primary goal is to drive more organic traffic to your site to generate leads .and sales.

As we all know, organic traffic is the lifeblood of any website. If you are not ranking within Google’s top 10 results for relevant keywords, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential traffic (and revenue). Google controls about 92% of the global market share in search engines, including a little over 72% of the desktop search market as well as about 92% of the mobile search.

SEO is important because it helps your website to be visible in the search engine results pages for words and phrases related to your business. When customers search for services or products online, they’ll tend to click the first few websites that appear on Google’s search results.

SEO is all about standing out from the crowd. If you get your website to rank highly for relevant keywords, you’ll be capturing new possibilities organically and maintaining a consistent flow of leads down your sales funnel by doing so.

The higher your website ranks in search engines; the more likely people are to find it. 

To start with SEO, you need to ensure that your website is search engine friendly. This means that your website must be well-organized, with a clear hierarchy, and easy to navigate. Your pages should also be keyword-rich so that the search engines can easily find them.

In addition, you need to build high-quality backlinks to your website. Backlinks are links coming in from third-party websites that point to your site. The higher quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank on SERPs.

Related reading: SEO Tips for Small Businesses

Best to partner up with a reliable SEO specialist in the Philippines for an amplified SEO campaign.

Email Marketing

email marketing

Email marketing is sending emails to you prospects and existing customers to build relationships and drive sales.

Email marketing is effective because it allows you to reach a large audience at a low cost. Moreover, email is a great way to build relationships with your customers and prospects.

To get started with email marketing, you need to build a list of subscribers. You can do this by offering something of value in exchange for people’s email addresses, such as a free report or e-book.

Once you have a list of subscribers, you need to create engaging and relevant emails. Your emails should provide value to your readers and should not solely focus on selling your product or service.

Moreover, you need to segment your list to send more targeted and relevant emails. Segmentation helps you group your subscribers based on their interests, demographics, and behavior. This way, you can send them emails that are more likely to convert.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the process of using social media platforms to promote your business.

Social media marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing channels because it allows you to reach a large audience, build relationships with your customers, and generate leads and sales.

To get started with social media marketing, you need to create a business social media profile. Some of the most popular social media platforms are:

  • Facebook: Businesses that are looking to engage with their customers and build relationships can very well benefit from Facebook marketing. You can use Facebook to post updates about your products or services and create a customer support page.
  • Twitter: Twitter is perfect for businesses that want to share news and updates with their customers. You can also use Twitter to run customer service and support. Service providers will benefit from using Twitter along with industry leaders.
  • Instagram: Instagram is ideal for businesses that want to share visuals, such as photos and videos. You can use Instagram to promote your products or services and build a following. This works best, especially for e-commerce or any brand that sells an actual product.
  • TikTok: TikTok is a new social media platform that has taken the world by storm in recent years. It is perfect for businesses that want to share short videos. You can use TikTok to promote your products or services, create brand awareness, and generate leads. With video content on the rise, TikTok is a great platform to be on.
  • LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a social media platform that is perfect for businesses that want to build relationships with other businesses. If you’re a B2B brand, you can use LinkedIn to build a network.
  • Pinterest: Pinterest is an image-based social media platform. It’s perfect for businesses that want to share visuals, such as photos and infographics. This platform works best if you are in the home services industry or anything food and fashion, as Pinterest is known for being a DIY hub.
  • YouTube: YouTube is a video-sharing platform that works best to build your industry’s brand loyalty and authoritativeness. You can also use YouTube to post informative videos, product demonstrations, or customer testimonials.

Once you have created your social media profile, you need to post engaging and relevant content. Your content should provide value to your readers and should not solely focus on selling your product or service.

Moreover, you need to be active on social media. This means that you should regularly like and comment on other people’s posts and share your own content.

Related Reading: Social Media Marketing Guide

Influencer Marketing

influencer marketing example
source: keyhole.co

Influencer marketing is working with social media influencers to promote your business, which allows you to reach a large audience, build relationships with your customers, and generate leads and sales.

Influencer marketing has exploded in popularity over the last five years, with brands working with social media stars to create awareness. Influencer marketing has gone from an ancillary marketing strategy to a $5-10 billion industry as a result of these collaborations.

In a recent study, 89% of the marketers confirmed that influencer marketing is most likely to be successful when done correctly. Influencers are an excellent way to reach target audiences who wouldn’t otherwise see your ad.

To get started with influencer marketing, you need to identify the social media influencers who have a large following in your target market. Once you have identified the social media influencers, you need to reach out to them and pitch your product or service.

If they are interested in working with you, they will promote your business to their followers. This will help you to reach a larger audience and generate leads and sales.

Paid search, also known as SEM, is a digital marketing channel that allows you to reach your target market through paid ads. This means that you can bid on keywords and have your ad appear in the search results when people search for those keywords.

Paid search is effective because it allows you to reach your target market who are already looking for your products or services. This is a great investment, especially for brands that have just launched and are looking for quick ways to get their audience to find them.

The primary benefit of PPC is that your advertisements appear right on top, allowing them to be readily seen by the customers. Paid search is still a valuable advertising vehicle, even if you must pay for each time a person clicks on your ad, and it can often cost a lot of money to launch. 

You’re capturing an engaged searcher before they even have a chance to check out their other alternatives (your competitors) if you’re above organic results.

Here are some notable statistics on Paid Search Ads:

  • 55% of people clicking on Google search ads prefer text ads. (Clutch)
  • For every $1 businesses spend on Google Ads, they make $2 in revenue on an average. (Google)
  • Google Ads’ average CTR or click-through rate across industries is 3.17% in the search network and 0.46% on the display network. (WordStream)
  • Google Ads’ average conversion rate across all industries is 3.75% for search and 1.77% for display. (WordStream)

To get started with paid search, you need to create an account with a paid search platform, such as Google Ads. Once you have created your account, you can start bidding on keywords and creating your ads.

Paid search is a great way to reach your target market, generate leads, and increase sales.

Display Advertising

display ads
soure: impactplus.com

Display advertising is a visual form of paid ads that can reach your target market through banner ads.

Since your banner ads are delivered through the Google Display Network (GDN), you will get access to millions of websites online, each having its own unique audience. When done correctly and strategically, your advertisements can motivate visitors to take the desired action, whether purchasing your goods or downloading your company app.

Display advertising has a lower cost-per-click compared to paid search ads due to the abundance of ad space available. The only difference is that you don’t get to add target keywords with display ads. Therefore, the success of your display ads will depend on how well you can match your ad to the website’s audience.

If you’re interested in doing display ads, you need to create an account with an ad network, such as Google Display Network. Once you have created your account, you can start creating your banner ads.

Display advertising is a great way to reach your target market and increase brand awareness.

Mobile Marketing

mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is reaching your target market through mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

There’s a steady increase of people using mobile phones worldwide, and this is expected to continue in the future. In 2021, 56% of web traffic took place on mobile phones, according to Broadband Search.

Mobile marketing is effective because it allows you to reach your target market wherever they are. Therefore, it only makes sense to serve some of your promotional content to mobile users.

The key to launching a successful mobile marketing campaign is to invest in a mobile-friendly website or a responsive website design. This will ensure that your website can be accessed and viewed on mobile devices.

A mobile-first website design allows you to have a website that is designed specifically for mobile devices. This type of design is perfect for businesses that want to have a dedicated mobile website.

On the other hand, a responsive website design is a website that can be accessed and viewed on any device, whether it’s a desktop, a laptop, or a mobile device.

In addition, you need to create engaging and relevant mobile content that can capture the attention of your target market. Great mobile content can include short videos, GIFs, and images.

Smartphone users are also said to spend 90% of their time on games and apps. This makes developing mobile apps a profitable marketing channel.

If you want to develop a mobile app, the process is a bit more complex. You need to come up with an idea for an app that would be useful for your target market. Once you have done that, you can develop your app and market it to your target market.

Mobile marketing is a great way to reach your target market and increase brand awareness and sales.

Affiliate Marketing

The term “affiliate marketing” refers to the collaboration between merchants and affiliate marketers who promote a product or service via referrals. The easiest way to spot an affiliate marketing content is when you come across phrases like “sponsored post” or “affiliate link.”

Affiliate marketing can effectively create leads and drive sales as a digital marketing channel. Affiliate marketing is a full-funnel approach that’s worth considering, regardless of where your target audience is in the customer journey.

Affiliate marketing is incredibly popular among publishers and companies since it requires little to no investment. Advertisers only pay for what they receive since this form of marketing is performance-based. Also, the increased affiliate marketing passive income is enough motivation for publishers (84%) to perform better. Affiliate marketing is so popular that many large and small businesses rely on it. 81 percent of firms use affiliate marketing in some capacity.

Affiliates are trusted influencers that audiences rely on when making purchasing decisions. This connects you with customers who are ready to buy following the recommendations of their favorite influencer.

To start an affiliate marketing program, you need to identify the products or services that you want to promote. Then, once you have identified the products or services, you need to find affiliates who are willing to promote your products or services.

Video Marketing

Video in marketing is unquestionably valuable. Videos are more engaging and deliver your message more concisely and effectively.

According to a recent study, 84% of customers have been influenced to buy a product after viewing a video, and they’re twice as likely to share videos compared with other forms of online material. According to Cisco, by 2022, video will account for almost 82% of all internet traffic.

Video is one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. There’s no shortage of data about video marketing, with improved open rates and conversion rates that should persuade you to dig in.

To get started with video marketing, you need to create an informative and entertaining video. You also need to make sure that your video is properly optimized for search engines. After creating and optimizing your video, you can upload it to various video-sharing websites, such as YouTube and Vimeo.

How to Choose Digital Marketing Channels

The truth is, you don’t need to use all digital marketing channels. Instead, you can choose to be in one or two channels that will help you drive sales.

To find the right digital marketing channels, consider these factors:

  • Goals & Objectives: What are your business goals and objectives? Once you have defined your business goals, you can better identify the channels to help you achieve them. 
  • Target Audience: Who is your target audience? Consider their demographics, interests, and needs when selecting digital marketing channels.
  • Budget: How much are you willing to spend on digital marketing? Depending on your budget, some channels may be more viable than others.
  • Competitors: Where are your competitors promoting their promotions? By studying your competitors, you can better understand which channels are most effective for your industry.
  • Functionality: What can your website and team handle? It may not be worth pursuing if you don’t have the manpower or resources to maintain a certain channel.
  • Integration: How well will the selected channel fit in with your current marketing mix? Make sure that it complements your other channels and helps you achieve a cohesive digital marketing strategy.

Now that you know some of the most popular digital marketing channels and select the right ones for your business, you’re ready to start planning your strategy!

Need help with your digital marketing and SEO strategy?
Contact me today!

Hi I’m Maria!

content marketing and seo services in the philippines

Content Marketing x SEO Digital Nomad x Mom of a beautiful ASD boy Musician x Frustrated Crossfitter

Latest Achievement

CXL Certification for SEO link building