8 essential marketing channels I need for my small business

There are some marketing channels you'd love to include to create the first stage of the complete sales funnel.
March 10, 2024

The mastery you love to sell requires more than just product creation. There are some marketing channels you'd love to include to create the first stage of the complete sales funnel.

Where to begin?

Start by collecting visuals and information you want your customers to know. If you are a small business selling handcrafted soaps, try to take professional photos and videos. Visuals attract 80% more than just words. But you need the words too. You have to tell them the ingredients, the smells, how to use them, why they should choose you and not any other soap seller.

When you have this content collected, think of the brand name and use a strategy for that too.

Branding identity and strategy as marketing channels

Your number one tool for selling your products is the strategy of how you would do it. Are you opting to be the cheapest on the market? Maybe the most luxurious?
Whatever you choose, you definitely have to research and plan very thoroughly.
We will talk about a small print studio for example.

“Ann Marrie has just opened her small sticker store called Stickipie. The name is strategic because it uses the main service in it. But it doesn’t have to be the case every time. Anyway, she has to explore who would buy these stickers?
Is it uncle Stephen, 72 years old grandpa? Maybe. He may buy them for his nephew Andrew.
Is it Angelia, 25 years old and a sticker collector? Probably. Now, Ann Marrie should explore this case.

  • How would Angelia find the stickers?
  • Are the stickers cheaper or more expensive than the other creator shops?
  • What graphics Angelia would be interested in as a 25 years old collector?
  • What are Angelia’s interests, level of education, and what social networks she uses?

When you declare this you will know where you have to have your main focus, so will Ann Marrie.”

Brand identity becomes a marketing channel when you focus 100% on your target audience.

What did we do with ours when we rebranded?

Our lead creative director Maya, portrayed her millennial generation into a logo and the slogan. She knows how millennials love wine, want to change the world and how much they research and review. So we have lab eprouvette and wine glass combined. Uixlabs loves superheroes and we want to be the superhero for every small business, with our digital superpowers. Cool right? That is why you also have to transform your simple branding into a story and market itself.

Your website is your source

Why do we say this? Your website is the only place where you have almost no limitations of character or word count (the more the better, the optimal is more than > 800 words).

However, it is not just about getting a website live.
81% of your online customers will use search engines to know more about new products and services. This means you have to optimize the content to show up for their search queries.

Your website is the top priority in creating marketing channels for your products or your services.

There are 2 ways of making it possible – doing it yourself, which is good when starting. If you have a budget, it would be very nice to work with a team of professionals that know what to deliver for a small business.

Social mediums are your primary marketing channels

Again, we will try to give you 2, not really working strategies. Creating profiles on every social media network and creating just a Facebook business page. Even though social media networks are marketing channels by default, it doesn’t mean that all will work for you. Examine where your ideal customer is.

“Example 1: Phillip has a car service company. This is a local business. But his customers would like to know his working hours, what kind of services he can provide. For Phillip, we suggest a Facebook page, maybe Instagram for showcasing already done works and etc.”

“Example 2: Konstantina created her new Constanta fashion brand. Her target audience is ladies between 18-30 years old. So probably her social marketing channels could be Instagram because the millennials and the z gen are mostly there. Tiktok is a great focus on providing videos on how she makes her masterpieces and engaging with new possible buyers. Facebook would bring a very small percentage of new buyers because the youngsters do not love it as before.”

  • Use social media as a source of sharing and content marketing, word of mouth marketing, influencer marketing, and even offline marketing.
  • Create a strategic social calendar containing all important dates in the year for you, for your customers, and your special holiday discounts. Do not forget to be consistent, be frequently posting, and keep a consistent brand voice.

Blog, blog, blog

Ugh, you thought this was overrated? As time went by, blogging became lame. But did it really? We don’t think so. Your blog doesn’t have to be just boring information you copy from the internet so it relates to your business. This is where you provide value, explain why people need your services or how you would ease their lives. At the same time, you will have a place to use more keywords and key phrases. Which is nothing but bringing the relevant audience to your website.

Email Marketing

If you search for email marketing on any search engine the results will say “Email marketing is the king of all marketing channels”. And this is where you ask yourself – but how do I find these emails? How do I find people to send them emails?

  • One risky way is to use cold email marketing. You do research, reach out to them directly and explain why they need you. However, we have so many people in the world using this strategy for spamming or hurting the email owner. And is not very effective
  • The other way is providing value. This always works. Make a newsletter form on your website and give them something in return for their email.
    Some ideas: e-books, 20% discount on your product, free item and etc.

Influencer Marketing & Partnership programs

Influencer marketing is working with people – influencers that have a big social media followers base. They mostly spread the word that they are using your products and are fascinated by them. Tiktok and Instagram are major influencing marketing channels.

Partnership programs work similarly with influencing. You find people that are willing to partner up and present your products or services. But in this case, they will mention it.

Few examples and ideas of partnership programs:

  • Co-hosting events
  • Charity partnerships
  • Creating co-branded content
  • Affiliate marketing partnerships
  • Referral or resell partnerships
  • Sponsorships

Word of Mouth

This is the evergreen strategy. WOM marketing strategy comes as a result of a person-to-person promotion, encouragement, or referral. This way, consumers are bonding emotionally to a company and they recommend the products or services to their dearest.
The big companies have a lot of sales representatives working on feedback lines. The reason behind it is to bring the company as close as possible to the buyers. Of all marketing channels, this one has been proven through the centuries and is considered traditional media marketing.

Display advertising

Visual engagement should be your priority. Display advertising is using visual/graphical ads or videos to communicate your idea better. You have seen tons and tons of these ads around the internet in the form of a banner (top, side, in between blog post lines, etc.).

Basically is paying less than for search advertising and giving a visual preview of your goods.

To sum up

Start with gathering information. Work on a good name and brand identity (logo, colors and etc). Then, build a website with an online builder or work with a team of experts.