A Complete List of Marketing Channels to Consider for Your 2022 Plan

In order to get your business story in front of exactly the right audience, you need to determine which marketing strategies are best suited for your goals. As you follow our six steps to creating your annual marketing plan, we’ve created a comprehensive list of marketing channels to consider.

Pro Tip: You don’t have to choose them all! Select a few to focus on first, see how your audience reacts, and adjust from there.

1. Web Development

Your website is arguably the most important part of your marketing strategy. Without a good website, your business gives off a negative first impression, you lose SEO credibility, and you may miss out on a large segment of your audience. A website with current user experience and responsiveness is nearly required in today’s world. If your website isn’t fully responsive, we suggest making that your number one priority in 2018.

2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC is a good way to ensure that your brand is getting in front of the right people. It is very customizable, allowing you to choose specific bids, ad copy, time of day, location targeting, etc. Google search continues to be one of the dominant methods in which people find local companies, and PPC is a cost effective way to make sure your name shows up in search results.

3. Email Marketing

Email marketing continues to be a tried and true method of communicating with your audience. It is one channel that you have complete control over. This year, consider experimenting with segmented lists to nurture your current list, and creative email campaigns to capture new leads.

4. Social Media

There are two options when it comes to social media: organic and paid. Once you’ve built a decent-sized audience through organic social media efforts, paid advertising is a good tool to use periodically. The key to social media is consistency. In order to stay relevant in the eyes of the social media algorithms today, you must post and engage with your followers frequently. For B2B companies, we recommend focusing on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. For B2C companies, we recommend focusing on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. Check out the social media calendar template we created that will help you get started.

5. Search Engine Optimization

Optimizing your website for search engines is essential to your digital marketing strategy. Seventy-two percent of people turn to Google when researching businesses or purchases. By increasing your search rank, potential customers will be able to find you more easily. From blog posts to social media, every part of your online presence plays a role in SEO. Be sure to understand the importance of keywords and how to incorporate them into your content. It’s also incredibly important to work with your development team on making your website SEO friendly. Here you will find you will find the ultimate checklist for optimizing your landing page for SEO.

Public Relations

Public relations is a standard practice for both B2B and B2C companies. PR encompasses media pitching, influencer outreach, trade show management, speaking opportunities, and crisis communications. Press releases are a key tactic within public relations and are used for new product announcements, events, big company updates, and more.

Depending on the size and nature of your company, you may want to consider working with a PR agency that consists of a team experts ready to tackle your PR strategy on an as-needed basis.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the fastest growing tactics in the past few years, and it is essential to the success of your digital presence. It allows you to position yourself as a thought leader in your space, while attracting new and more targeted audiences. Learn how to work smarter with your content marketing strategies.

Content marketing is used to generate site traffic, improve brand recognition, boost customer engagement and increase conversion rates. Better yet, it’s cost effective. The most important thing to understand about content marketing is to master your audience. Knowing exactly who is following and engaging with your brand will help you customize your content in a way that makes it impossible for your audience to ignore you. Content marketing is most successful when distributed across various channels.

Pro Tip: Don’t ignore the importance of strong brand photography in your content marketing strategy. We wrote a lot more about using photography in your marketing plan here.

Traditional Marketing Channels

Traditional marketing channels hark back to the rise of the industry when direct mail, event marketing, television and radio spots, and print advertising were the dominating forces. While these tactics are still alive today, the goal is to create a fully integrated marketing campaign, in which your traditional marketing tactics work to complement your digital marketing efforts, creating a powerful user experience.