The companies I mentor are usually in the early stages and/or have limited experience with marketing and need help to give consistency to their business model and define the best strategy for their specific case.
In this context, I come across all kinds of beliefs related to digital marketing and very similar patterns. And many of them have been repeated over and over again for years. The phrase that sums up the topic could be:
For many companies digital marketing = Facebook
On the other hand, I have been instructed uk telegram number to define training programs saying “ please teach them that digital marketing is not Facebook ”, so all is not lost!
But as much as a percentage of us are clear about it, there is an immense majority that, for any need, project or type of company, has a single answer: Facebook + Instagram (in these cases, the strategy is usually conspicuous by its absence).
What's going on? Are these two social networks the solution to all our problems? Many believe so, but the real reason is that they are the ones that allow us to run campaigns with minimal investment.
The problem is when we try to solve all the marketing needs of a company through these two social networks. We are not falling short, we are just going to say the following.
Let's just think about the activity of our buyer personas : how do they buy? What type of digital channels do they use the most? What are the digital touchpoints that we can take advantage of? If we answer these types of questions, the only answer is: social networks. Then yes, but for the remaining 99.99% of humans, there are many other digital and non-digital channels where they spend their time and use to make their purchasing decision.
So if a typical company (SME), which normally has a brand that is not well established outside its circle, reduces its marketing actions to social ads campaigns, it is almost guaranteed to sign up for a negative return .
How do we decide which digital channels are most suitable for my company?
One idea is clear so far: if we want to achieve good results, we must implement multi-channel strategies.
To decide which media mix is best for my company, I first need to analyze its needs. What else does my company need in addition to sales to achieve its goals? What other points in the purchasing decision process should my marketing strategy impact?
The answers to these and many other questions may be:
Visibility : We are not well known enough among our audience.
Reputation : our brand is not correctly positioned.
Product : Our potential customers have a hard time understanding our value proposition.
Distribution : Our product is not easily accessible.
Costs : We need to reduce the cost of acquisition.
Competition : There is a dominant company and we have little room for manoeuvre.
As marketing professionals we must be able to respond to these and many other situations.
Going back to the introduction of this article for a moment, can anyone really believe that we can address these issues with social ads campaigns ? I hope you now have the answer!
To meet each of these needs, we can select different digital channels or strategic solutions. To give some examples :
Visibility issues : Usually the easy answer is paid media, although there is always a second side to the message's relevance (and the solution to this problem is not a greater investment).
Bad or poor reputation (brand image): brand strategy, PR, influencers or content.
Product poorly received by the market : redefinition of the value proposition, new functionalities, explanatory content and some of the tactics used to improve reputation.
Insufficient distribution : increase in digital sales channels, aggregators, agreements, offline presence,…
High costs : content, Google Ads/SEO synergies, email marketing, affiliate marketing, social networks, etc.