In this reprise of the third most popular Exo B2B blog post of 2016, we talk about choosing communication channels. This is best done by first going back to the essentials of your strategic planning and past experiences.
Carefully reviewing these will generate specific ideas about what media to use for your marketing, as well as concrete ways to measure your results.
At Exo B2B, this our specialty.
Enjoy the read!
A lot of B2B companies wonder what communication channels they should emphasize in the new year or for their next campaign.
The answer isn’t simple. In fact, to choose an effective online or offline communication channel, you must first establish a communication plan that is to be defined after your strategic marketing planning. It’s a process which, by analogy, is comparable to playing with Russian dolls (matryoshka dolls). The channels are not visible at first because they are the last visible part of the puzzle.
Analyzing and clarifying 7 marketing elements
Many things come into play. Before choosing a tool or channel to focus on, such as advertising, websites, email campaigns, flyers, or other social networks, it’s essential to analyze or specify the following:
- Product or service
- Market
- Target audience
- Budget
- Message
- Strategy
- Evaluation
Evaluate past results to make the right decisions
An important step that is often overlooked is the evaluation of previous campaigns. How can you make the right decisions and choose the best channels if performance indicators (KPI’s) for each of the tools aren’t measured and analyzed? This regular assessment will also affect the strategy and the course of action during the year or campaign.
Once you’ve looked at your planning and achievements from a strategic marketing perspective, then comes the choice of which means or channels to use. Actions or communication tools that are most relevant and most effective should then be selected and prioritized based on the B2B company business objectives.
B2B Marketing Budget Breakdown
A recent survey by Forrester Research shows that B2B marketing budgets are divided between online and offline channels. However, while offline channel trade shows, conferences, and events represent the greatest part of the budget, they remain stable. Budgets allocated to online channels are up. This is a continuing trend in the market.
As you can see, I can’t tell you which is the best online or offline channel for your B2B business without using the Russian dolls approach to discover the answers.
How do you determine the best channels to use for your business?
