Ok, I admit it. I’m a channel changer. No, this has absolutely nothing to do with television. For that, I have two remotes and DVR so I can record programs and watch them at MY convenience. I’m talking about changing marketing channels – far too frequently, and often without rhyme or reason.
So what is it that makes people like myself jump to a different marketing channel without giving each channel time to perform? The bottom line here is knowing how to measure results, and when to measure them. Here are some guidelines that have helped me - and hopefully they’ll help you as well.
Using a mix of different marketing channels is absolutely the best way to go for marketers. Why? Because you’ll be reaching a broad range of demographics, and you’ll be reaching most of them multiple times on different marketing platforms, which is every marketers’ dream. You could mix broadcast media with social media, print media with online banner ads, or simply use a variety of different social media approaches. The choices and mixes are unlimited – but the key to success is consistency. Jumping around to different marketing channels without giving each individual channel a chance to produce is simply a waste of time, effort and money.
So how long do you give a specific channel to generate results? Depends on the channel! Each one requires different amounts of time work its magic. For example, direct mail requires a minimum of three contacts with the recipient over a period of weeks in order to generate a response. Building a campaign on Facebook, for example, requires time to generate awareness and have people respond to the creative portion of your campaign, whether you’re asking them to “like” your page or share content with a friend.
If you’re using broadcast media, you’ll need time to build awareness and brand recognition, as well as time to respond to your call to action. To be successful, a broadcast campaign should be heard or seen a minimum of three times by your target audience before the target will respond. And if you’re merely building brand awareness without a call to action, it could take longer.
The overall pattern here is that each marketing channel you choose takes TIME to work. Make sure you measure results for each channel. You can do this using dedicated response phone numbers and web landing pages, social media counts and sales figures compared to other times when you weren’t running campaigns. Once you have that data, let it guide you on your next campaign.
Stick with it and results will come. And don’t be a channel changer.
So what is it that makes people like myself jump to a different marketing channel without giving each channel time to perform? The bottom line here is knowing how to measure results, and when to measure them. Here are some guidelines that have helped me - and hopefully they’ll help you as well.
Using a mix of different marketing channels is absolutely the best way to go for marketers. Why? Because you’ll be reaching a broad range of demographics, and you’ll be reaching most of them multiple times on different marketing platforms, which is every marketers’ dream. You could mix broadcast media with social media, print media with online banner ads, or simply use a variety of different social media approaches. The choices and mixes are unlimited – but the key to success is consistency. Jumping around to different marketing channels without giving each individual channel a chance to produce is simply a waste of time, effort and money.
So how long do you give a specific channel to generate results? Depends on the channel! Each one requires different amounts of time work its magic. For example, direct mail requires a minimum of three contacts with the recipient over a period of weeks in order to generate a response. Building a campaign on Facebook, for example, requires time to generate awareness and have people respond to the creative portion of your campaign, whether you’re asking them to “like” your page or share content with a friend.
If you’re using broadcast media, you’ll need time to build awareness and brand recognition, as well as time to respond to your call to action. To be successful, a broadcast campaign should be heard or seen a minimum of three times by your target audience before the target will respond. And if you’re merely building brand awareness without a call to action, it could take longer.
The overall pattern here is that each marketing channel you choose takes TIME to work. Make sure you measure results for each channel. You can do this using dedicated response phone numbers and web landing pages, social media counts and sales figures compared to other times when you weren’t running campaigns. Once you have that data, let it guide you on your next campaign.
Stick with it and results will come. And don’t be a channel changer.
