The importance of diversifying your marketing strategies in today's market

When you set up your business, having an excellent product or service that people need and want in their lives is the core of your success. You know that when people see what you have to offer, they will want it - and hopefully, you can build up a loyal customer or client base around this.

However, relying solely on the power of your product is not the best way to attract those loyal customers. An important - and sometimes overlooked - aspect of any business success comes in the form of marketing. If you are not experienced in the marketing world, this might feel like a whole new challenge for you to overcome. But there are some simple ways you can market more effectively.

One of the most vital ways to make your marketing strategy work is by diversifying into multiple marketing channels. Not sure why you would bother when you get customers from the one or two marketing channels you’re familiar with? In today’s competitive market, branching out is essential - read on to find out how important this is, and the risk associated with only marketing in one or two channels.

Lower your risk

It might feel like the social media channels we use now will be around forever - but if you take a moment, you may remember the platforms of yesteryear which are becoming less and less popular, or maybe gone forever. The dominance of some channels with one generation may go nearly completely unused by the next and become obsolete, and so on. Diversifying your marketing strategy to include a whole host of channels means that you are everywhere at once, and will not be too badly stung if one channel shuts down or just ceases to be relevant.

Get ahead of changing tastes

In the same vein, consumer tastes can change on a whim. The way in which people consume content on one platform varies greatly from another, and ensuring that you cover all your bases means that your message is being seen and heard by as many people as possible, no matter how they prefer to consume their media messaging. While it might be challenging (and, unless you are an experienced marketing professional, perhaps impossible) to get ahead of the trends, jumping on them as soon as you see them occur is a great way to stay relevant and engaged even as tastes change.

A wider range of data

Even if you are not hot on gathering data and analytics, you should either learn or employ someone who knows what to look for. You can use Google Analytics as a starting point to find out where your customers are coming from initially so that you can focus on those channels with the most attention. Even within the channels themselves, you will be able to discover things like the gender, likely age bracket, location, and time zone of the people consuming your content, so that you can tailor your marketing strategy more closely to both appealing to your existing core customer base, and trying to connect with those who are not so engaged.

More loyalty

Marketing across a host of channels, including all the popular social media haunts, can help to encourage consumer loyalty. How? Well, think about some of your favourite brands and how you feel about them, and the image they portray. Some luxury brands or high-end businesses might feel untouchable, gaining loyalty through the exclusivity of their product or service. However, this is rare and reduces the consumer base to a very small number - what attracts people is connection. If people feel like they can make a human connection with your business, if they find your content and approach relatable, then you are much more likely to inspire engagement and loyalty, and turn content consumers into enthusiastic customers.

Appeal to a worldwide demographic

We all worry about the risks of overexposure and oversaturation, but using more social media channels actually does not necessarily raise the chances of this. The reason is simple - not everyone is using every channel, and not everyone is using the same channel at the same time. So even if you connect or advertise in the same way twice in the same day, the likelihood is that you will be reaching a different audience. With the advent of the internet, it is possible that the entire world could be your audience, so providing content for the “morning” and “evening” crowd is a smart move.

Avoid the danger of dependence

We have talked a little about the dangers of depending too much on one marketing channel if it ends up becoming irrelevant or shutting down altogether. However, there is another occurrence that some businesses have encountered - having their accounts suspended or shut down altogether. If you use just one or two marketing channels (which may be controlled by the same parent company) and your account is closed down, you could lose your point of connection to your customer base. Ensuring that you have plenty of marketing options means that a hit like this will not be a full-blown crisis. While it might sting a little, you will still have customers who can connect with you elsewhere.

Expect the unexpected

The truth is, you can anticipate and plan and predict, but even the most skilled marketing mavens do not have all the answers when it comes to what is going to be the next big thing. Diversifying your marketing channels now to incorporate both those with current popularity and those that could be up and coming means that you can be ahead of the curve and won’t have to scramble to catch a trend. You might even get the greatest response from channels you would not expect - turning content consumers into customers in places you might not have seen coming.

As you can see, making your marketing strategy more diverse gives your business the chance of reaching everyone who might need or want it. Appealing to a wider audience in more places expands your customer base immediately, and that could be the key to your far-reaching and long-lasting success. If you want to learn more about all things marketing, branding and more, sign up for our newsletter to get all the insider information you need.