What You Should Know About 4 Main Marketing Channels
It seems like everyday there is the option of choosing to advertise through a different medium. Print, E-mail, Mobile, Social Media. And while no individual channel is sufficient, there are definite pros and cons associated with each. Some of these more recent channels have been greatly impacted by the internet and mobile devices. Here are some of the main ones with their associated Pros and Cons:
Cost per 1000: $170 to $200,000 for a magazine or newspaper ad, depending on the size and circulation.
Pros: Because a print ad can include pictures and formatted text, it can be visually persuasive. Magazine ads also have the benefit of appealing to a specific audience’s interests.
Cons: Print ads are impossible to track, unless they contain coupons. But clipping and saving coupons is work that a consumer may not be willing to do. Print ads are also the most expensive by far.
Cost per 1000: $0.01 to $0.02
Pros: Email marketing is relatively simple and inexpensive, and it can work well with targeted lists and offers. Email marketing can be effective for purchases that require high involvement and a previous relationship with the seller. Sales from email campaigns can be tracked through offering unique promotion codes.
Cons: Emails have a very low open rate of 11% to 30%, and subscribers with low interest in the company will opt out quickly once their inbox is cluttered. Also the respond rate is significantly slower.
[Tweet “11% of all emails are opened. This percentage is trumped by text’s whopping 98% open rate.”]Social Media
Cost per 1000: $0.01 to $3.50
Pros: Social media is a great way to increase exposure and increase customer loyalty. Also, it’s easy to advertise special sales or promotions to a wide audience. Local, smaller brands have more success gaining followers and seeing results.
Cons: It’s proven to be fairly ineffective for bringing in cash, since only 3% of facebook brand followers read messages, and only 1% of those are influenced towards buying.
Text Messages
Cost per 1000: $0.01 to $0.05
Pros: The opt-in feature of mobile marketing make it highly effective–people want to see the advertisement! This reduces annoyance and fatigue that can be associated with other kinds of advertising. Unlike social media, 98% of text messages are read, guaranteeing that your targeted market knows the deals you’re offering. SMS marketing is particularly effective with low-involvement purchases, like buy-one-get-one lunch deals or one-day-only retail sales. And it doesn’t require customers to clip a coupon–they just have to show the message on their phone screen! It’s also really easy to track results with unique key words. Read how one family business boosted daily sales by $525 using Txtwire here (Insert link to Geraldine’s case study).
Cons: Text messages aren’t quite as effective with high-involvement purchases, like furniture or cars. However, some large companies still use Txtwire’s program for news, event announcements, and in-house communication.
[Tweet “It takes an average of 90 minutes to respond to an email, while only 90 seconds to respond to a text.”]Conclusion
Print is a costly method that doesn’t have traceable results. So if you are on a budget then usually digital is your best bet. Social Media is a great place for hanging out, but not the most effective for effecting purchasing decisions. Out of the small percentage that actually opens your email, an even smaller percentage is likely to take action. Stats like this really open the eyes of business decision makers. While both email marketing and text message marketing have their strengths, the overall return on investment and conversion rate goes to SMS text messaging.
Sources:
Leave a Reply