Channel Diversification in Online Marketing

Putting everything on one card means you're either very lucky or could quickly lose a lot of money. The same applies to online marketing. Focusing solely on one channel allows you to concentrate all your attention there, but it also carries significant risks. If there's an issue with that channel, your entire outbound marketing effort could quickly come to a halt. So if you rely solely on that for customer acquisition, you might soon find yourself in a pickle.

That's exactly why it makes sense to broaden your marketing strategy through channel diversification. Besides risk mitigation in the event of failures, there are additional advantages such as:

• Greater Reach - Certain target groups prefer specific channels. By diversifying, you can reach more users, and thus potential new customers.

• Higher Brand Awareness - A consistent message across multiple channels strengthens brand identity and increases visibility.

• More Data-Driven Insights - Different channels provide unique perspectives on data, enabling additional insights that help make more informed decisions.

• Better Customer Engagement - Engaging with users across multiple channels can lead to potentially more personal interactions and thus a stronger connection to the company.

• Potentially Higher ROI - Data-driven decisions across multiple channels often lead to increased efficiency in online marketing efforts, resulting in higher profits.

Choosing Suitable Channels

Which channel we should consider for diversification usually depends on what goal we want to achieve with it. Where do we see the greatest potentials, the best chance to position ourselves as a brand, or possibly even those so-called "low hanging fruits"? Are there channels where there are currently few competitors?

One way to choose the most suitable channels is to be guided by the classic marketing funnel - depending on which step the target group is in and which conversion actions we particularly want to promote.

It's also advisable to regularly check whether the current target group definition is still accurate or needs to be adjusted. Because requirements, needs, and search behavior can change over time. This allows us to observe a potential shift in the target group and respond accordingly. In some cases, the target group defined in advance differs from the actual group we reach and convert.

The ideal customer can be determined by various factors, such as:

• Demographic data (age, gender, location, family status...)

• Interests

• Purchase behavior/purchasing power

• Lifestyle

• ...

This is where you need to discover further potentials and expand existing ones. There may also be niche target groups that are highly relevant to us. The advantage here: Generally, competition is lower, which can lead to lower customer acquisition costs. By identifying the pain points of the target groups, we can also tailor the messaging of campaigns and creatives precisely to them. This can lead to more relevance, higher interaction, and, at best, a better ROI.

Adhering to Rules

As we can see, channel diversification is extremely important in marketing. However, we should observe two rules:

1. Channel diversification should always be well thought out and not done just for its own sake. Expanding immediately to multiple platforms carries the risk of being overwhelmed and not doing justice to the nuances of each channel. This could quickly lead to undesirable results, causing the channels to be shut down before they have reached their full potential.

2. It is also important to give the channel sufficient time. Rarely does the first attempt succeed directly, and adaptations and optimizations along the way are essential. Only after going through several optimization cycles and gathering sufficient data can we fairly assess the channel's performance and make sensible decisions.

Of course, channel diversification also requires a certain investment. As mentioned above, it depends on many factors how many and which channels are suitable for diversification. Additionally, these differ individually from company to company and should therefore be carefully examined and considered beforehand. But if we approach it correctly, it can be more than worth it in many cases.

Thank you for your attention! Hopefully, it was insightful, and you could take something from it! In the third part of our mini-series, we'll delve further into the topic of Contextual Advertising. You can find our previous post on Business Goals here.

Did we forget anything important, or do you have further questions on the topic? Feel free to leave it in the comments!

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