The mantra “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” can be appropriately applied to digital marketing.
But sadly, a B2B brand message that works well on LinkedIn or Google may fall completely flat on Facebook or TikTok.
As such, some brands may feel pigeonholed into a tighter group of platforms on which they can engage with clients and customers.
Furthermore, diversity in ad spend and customer messaging are nearly as important as diversity in the platform for distribution.
Consequently, complete diversification in digital marketing can differ widely from company to company.
The true definition and mix for diversification that works for your business is likely nebulous.
With any successful marketing mix, the best distribution will require a healthy budget with ample live market testing.
Contents
- Digital marketing diversification defined
- The risks of not diversifying
- Identify the different types of digital marketing channels available
- Organic vs. paid marketing diversification
- Social Media Diversification
- Marketing vs. sales
- Discuss how to choose the right channels for your business objectives
- Outline strategies for optimizing each channel in your mix
- How to track and analyze results from multiple channels
- The best ROI doesn’t come from diversification
- Stay focused, test and diversify
Digital marketing diversification defined
Diversity in digital marketing can be defined in one of several ways:
- Diversity in the marketing distribution channel. Diversify your spend across channels that work for your brand, focused on ROI-first strategies (e.g. Google, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, TikTok).
- Diversity in the audience. Target a different customer persona with a different message for a tweaked or wholly different product or service.
- Diversify the message. What works for one audience, will certainly tank for others. Test and diversify the message to suit the platform and its audience.
- Diversify the content medium. Some audiences will find you through text and some through a form of video. Blogging is not on as swift of an upswing as quality-produced YouTube videos. Diversify among video, infographics and text-based content.
- Diversification in geography. This is one of the reasons we have diversified among geographic locations of our marketing services.
Diversification is typically driven by your appetite for risk.
The greater the risk, the greater the propensity to achieve higher returns.
The risks of not diversifying
If you’re not diversified and all efforts are focused in one area, then you likely have no back-up plan if something goes wrong or isn’t successful in your digital marketing.
Lack of diversification means you are more likely to be negatively impacted by:
- External pressures. Exogenous market shocks (e.g., recession) can have a negative impact on the growth and viability of any business. Diversification of channels and customers help to assuage such issues.
- Platform supplier risk. Algorithmic changes in your platform of choice is likely one of the greatest risks to today’s digital marketers, particularly those focused on organic SEO via Google (like when they start to deindex your content).
- Reduced Reach: By not diversifying your digital marketing channel mix, you are limiting the potential reach of your campaigns and missing out on potential customers that could be gained from other channels.
- Lost Opportunities: Failing to diversify also means that valuable opportunities may be lost due to a lack of focus on exploring new platforms or strategies for connecting with target audiences.
- Limited Analytics Insight: Without a diverse channel mix, it is difficult to gain an accurate understanding of how each platform is performing individually, or collectively as part of a larger strategy across multiple channels.
- Stagnant Growth: Ultimately, without diversifying your digital marketing channel mix, you run the risk of stagnant growth and reduced ROI over time as competition catches up with trends and technologies evolve rapidly. Changes in consumer sentiment may shift consumers away from your products or services.
Most executives know that not marketing at all when your competitors are is the ultimate sin of omission.
Identify the different types of digital marketing channels available
Are you looking to diversify your digital marketing channels? With so many options available, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are some tips for identifying the best digital channels for your business:
1. Analyze Your Target Audience: Research who your target audience is and which platforms they use most often. This will help you determine which digital networks are likely to produce the best results for your campaign.
2. Consider Your Budget and Goals: Think about how much money you have available for advertising campaigns and what type of ROI-first strategy will work best for achieving your goals.
3. Test Different Channels & Messages: Once you’ve identified a few potential channels, take some time to test different messages across those platforms using A/B testing or other techniques in order to find out which ones resonates with customers the most effectively.
4. Monitor Your Campaigns Closely: Monitor each of your campaigns closely in order to identify any issues that may arise as well as opportunities that present themselves over time.
Organic vs. paid marketing diversification
Organic search marketing and paid search marketing are two distinct and important components of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
While organic search marketing allows brands to organically reach users through natural search results, paid search marketing requires allocating budget to target audiences using ads or sponsored content.
Having a well-rounded and diversified approach to digital marketing means utilizing both of these channels in tandem.
Social Media Diversification
Some spurn paid social channels, but they’re absolutely an important component of a diversified strategy.
It’s important for brands to diversify their social media presence so that they can reach as many potential customers as possible. This means not just having a presence on the major platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but also exploring niche social networks that are tailored to a specific audience.
For example, if your target customer is a younger demographic, you may want to explore platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, or Twitch in order to reach them. And if you’re targeting business professionals, then LinkedIn should be part of your strategy.
Marketing vs. sales
Don’t forget, your sales factor heavily into your marketing.
Depending on how your sales and clients are acquired, you will want to ensure your marketing gives your website or sales teams the lead fodder they need to succeed.
Diversity of inbound lead flow may be desired from your sales teams.
Striking that balance could be critical.
For instance, perhaps your organization is focused on enterprise accounts, but you have found your sales teams are better able to focus when they can shoot rabbits along with the target bear or even whales, they’re hunting.
Diversity of marketing strategies can ensure you don’t fail your sales teams just to diversify your marketing mix.
Remember, the overall goal is higher revenue and better profitability, not just diversity for diversity’s sake.
Discuss how to choose the right channels for your business objectives
The key to success in marketing diversification lies in understanding the needs of your target audience, setting clear goals and objectives, and testing different platforms to see what works best.
To choose the right channels for your business, start by researching which platforms are most popular among your target demographics.
Then consider how much money you have available for advertising campaigns as well as which ROI-first strategy will produce the best results.
Once you’ve identified a few potential channels, take some time to test different messages across those platforms using A/B testing or other techniques.
Finally, make sure to monitor each of your campaigns closely so that any issues can be addressed quickly, and opportunities can be taken advantage of over time. With these steps in mind, finding success with diverse digital marketing shouldn’t be too difficult!
Outline strategies for optimizing each channel in your mix
When it comes to optimizing each channel within your marketing mix, there is always a balance between hiring the agency vs. hiring an in-house team.
There are pros and cons to both options, which we will outline later, but your best means of optimizing each channel is to avoid the generalists and use specialists who are experts in each avenue.
Optimizing each channel is typically performed by a channel expert.
Someone with credentials like:
Get the help of a credentialed professional to strategize, optimize and scale your campaigns.
How to track and analyze results from multiple channels
Tracking and analyzing the results of multi-channel marketing campaigns can be a challenge.
To ensure that you’re getting the most from your efforts, it’s important to understand which channels are performing best and then use those insights to inform future campaigns.
One of the most effective ways to track and analyze results from multiple channels is to use a marketing analytics platform.
These platforms allow you to track and analyze your campaigns on multiple channels all in one place, giving you an overview of which strategies are delivering the best results.
By taking the time to understand how each channel is contributing to your overall performance, you can make more informed decisions about where to invest your resources in the areas that matter most.
If your business is fully diversified across multiple marketing channels, you will absolutely need multiple digital marketing tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs) across the various methods of marketing distribution.
When you already know your customer lifetime value (CTV), you can better know what you are willing to spend on customer acquisition.
The best ROI doesn’t come from diversification
While we’ve been talking heavily about diversification, it is important to understand that the best return on your marketing dollars is going to come from concentration on what works, not on diversification.
The following quote applies:
Stay focused, test and diversify
In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for any business looking to reach their intended audience. With the right mix of digital marketing channels, businesses can effectively target potential customers and promote their products or services.
However, it can be challenging to decide which channels to use and how best to diversify your channel mix for maximum success.
Your digital marketing success will likely be best accomplished by choosing the best digital marketing agency. Contact us to learn more.
Nate holds a bachelor's in business management from Brigham Young University and a MBA in Finance from the University of Washington. He resides in Northwest Arkansas with his wife and four children. Connect with Nate on Linkedin.
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