Online marketing can be done through many channels and platforms, whether it’s on Social Media, Google Search or E-mail, each channel has different efficiency in working, depending on the suitability of each business as well. Each business may choose to use only some channels or use all possible channels for online marketing because each channel has different advantages and disadvantages. In this article, we will take you to see the top 5 most popular channels for online marketing, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each channel.
5 popular marketing channels
- Organic Search
Organic Search refers to all results on search engine results pages that are not paid for advertising. Organic Search is considered the backbone of the Internet. According to BrightEdge, 68% of all users started their online experience with a search engine. There are specific methods to get your website on the first page of search engines and we call these specific methods Search Engine Optimization or SEO . - Social Media
Social Media is a channel that many people are very familiar with using because it is a platform that allows brands to communicate with customers or those interested in both organic channels and advertising. Social Media has many platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even various chat programs such as Line, Discord, Slack, and WhatsApp are considered one channel of social media. And what’s even more amazing is that users actually use this Social Media channel to consume content about businesses. From Instagram, it has been found that 90% of users follow accounts that are business accounts. - Video Marketing
Video Marketing gives you more than you think! You can see from the results of these studies that 70% of viewers will decide to buy the product after seeing it on Youtube ( Google ) or 96% of internet users tend to watch video clips that explain the details of products and services ( Wyzowl ). From these figures, it can be proven that video marketing is another effective channel. There are 2 main principles of Video Marketing: creating video content instead of written content to reach users faster and can be adapted to video-first platforms like Youtube or TikTok. - Advertisement
This is a channel that many people wonder why they need to use advertising when there are organic channels where we can market. But doing Organic or Non-Paid marketing whether on Search Engine or Social Media takes a long time and has uncertain factors. If you want to reach your target customers before your competitors, advertising is the best answer, whether it’s SEM, Facebook Ads or advertising on other platforms that have users who match your target. - Email marketing
Another marketing channel that helps you reach your target customers or customers you choose is by sending emails, whether it’s inviting new customers who are interested in your products or services or even inviting existing customers to come back and patronize you repeatedly. The emails sent may be campaigns or special discounts for old or new customers to stimulate sales between them and your products.
Advantages and disadvantages of each channel
- Organic Search
strength :
- Get consistent traffic without paying for advertising.
- Multiply results in multiple areas
- SEO content can impact all marketing channels.
- Focus on quality and creativity over budget
weakness :
- It takes time to climb to the top of SERPs.
- There are uncertainties such as fluctuations in rankings or search algorithm updates.
- For beginners, it is considered to be a slow return.
- Social Media
strength :
- It is a channel where you can interact directly with your customers.
- Reach a wide audience across a variety of social media platforms.
- You can create highly effective ad campaigns that are delivered to your target audience.
- Can create brand loyalty
weakness :
- Negative comments can affect your brand image.
- It requires continuity of care, and each social media platform has different usage guidelines.
- Organic reach is difficult due to the large number of competitors.
- Video marketing
strength :
- Ideal for businesses that want to showcase their products and their excellence.
- Video content is often more popular than written content and can generate more engagement.
- Can be used across multiple platforms
weakness :
- It requires people, time and budget to produce content.
- If content needs to be updated, it is more difficult and takes longer to update than written content.
- Advertisement
strength :
- It is the path that gives the fastest results.
- You can set the target audience for whom you want your ads to appear.
- It can be used to promote anything, whether it’s a product, content, or the brand itself.
- Ads can be created in many formats and on many platforms.
weakness :
- Users may experience ad fatigue, or the condition in which customers see your ads too frequently and become annoyed or indifferent to them, and stop paying attention to your ads.
- May be blocked by third-party tools
- Bad advertising can ruin a brand’s image.
- Email marketing
strength :
- Highly effective personalized advertising
- It is the fastest way to reach our selected customer groups.
- It is a channel to create interactions with customers and do the cheapest e-commerce campaigns.
- Easy to measure results
weakness :
- It takes a long time to build a quality email list.
- If done too much, it can be illegal and become spam.
- It is difficult to get attention from the large number of emails users receive.
Data source: https://ahrefs.com/blog/marketing-channels/