The last few years have been full of changes, but there is one constant throughout it all: the emergence of new marketing channels. It feels as if a month hasn’t gone by without an emerging channel making waves in the marketing space.
After all, it can be difficult to capture the attention of a target audience in an increasingly fragmented media landscape — which is probably why 84% of marketers say user expectations are changing their digital strategies.
That number is on the rise for a reason. It makes sense to venture into uncharted territory for product marketing, as the move can offer a tech brand the competitive edge it needs to turn the average user into a loyal customer. If people are active and engaged on a channel, you’d be foolish not to dip a toe in the water.
But you still must be strategic with any new marketing effort. So, the big question is: What emerging channels are today’s growth marketers focusing their attention on to acquire new users?
Capturing the Eyes (and Ears) of Today’s Consumers
TikTok is probably the most obvious place to begin venturing into emerging channels, and the cost of entry can be relatively low. All you need is the internet and a smartphone to post content.
With 1 billion active users in September 2021 alone, this channel should be on your radar. E.l.f. Cosmetics certainly carved out a niche in the space with its “Eyes. Lips. Face” challenge. The company racked up 8 million views and 2 million user-generated videos to become the most influential campaign on the platform.
Though Instagram has been around for some time, it has grown even more popular for marketing purposes with the addition of Instagram Reels in 2020. Name any influencer, and the person has probably posted brand-related content on the channel. Sephora took to the medium quite well with its online challenges, and one intro to a new challenge by influencer Ryan B. Potter garnered almost 2 million views.
With cord-cutting still gaining ground, streaming TV has become an important channel for any marketing mix. Nielsen data found that more than three-quarters of U.S. households had at least one connected device in March 2020. This fact is not lost on brands, such as Fitness19, which created an eye-catching 15-second Hulu ad to reach consumers living near one of its gym locations to showcase various membership benefits.
There are also new channels like messenger bots, podcasts, online radios, gaming platforms, messaging apps, and so much more. Emerging channels are plentiful, and you’d be doing your product a favor by at least evaluating what’s available for reaching consumers most effectively in the ever-changing world of marketing.
Getting the Most Out of Emerging Channels
When evaluating emerging channels to drive product growth, certain strategies can help you get the most out of your investment. Though how you approach an emerging channel will vary by product, the following are often the best places to start:
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Set specific goals. As with any marketing effort, entering a new channel without objectives will just get you lost. Establish specific and measurable goals for the channel, and make sure it aligns with your North Star metrics to help provide direction and an understanding of what you hope to achieve with this new venture. Is it awareness, engagement, conversions, or something else? Use these goals to screen the channel you want to explore.
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Delve into the channel. Understand the ins and outs of a channel before creating or posting any content. Get the lowdown on its audience, penetration, type of content, and potential behavior it prompts from your target users. More importantly, determine whether the channel makes sense for your product or business goals. Spend time ensuring your chosen channel is effective for the message your product conveys.
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Venture beyond demographics. For deeper insights into a channel’s audience, psychographic analysis is key. Research the values, opinions, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles of audience members. Do they align with your target users? If not, that might not be the channel for your product. Your brand should resonate with channel users, and ensuring this ahead of time is crucial for success.
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Think long-term. It’s easy to fall prey to “shiny object” syndrome with any new marketing channel. If the channel is just a trend, it might not be worth the effort in the long run. Besides, your channel usage is ultimately a reflection of your product. Will posting content negatively impact your product’s reputation? Will an ad infringe upon the audience’s enjoyment of the channel? What’s possible creatively? When thinking long-term, ensure that there are plenty of opportunities in your selected channel before committing to it.
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Set benchmarks for success. It’s no small feat to measure your performance on an emerging channel. The newness can sometimes make the most common metrics feel antiquated. Keep yourself open to new success metrics, if not new ways to interpret the available data. Additionally, set goals for performance and reach, reviewing and revising as necessary to create an optimized marketing effort.
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Settle on a budget. Look back at other channels you’ve used in the past to create a budget for your new channel. Does it make sense to allocate the same amount of funds to this channel within your marketing mix? Ensure that the marketing efforts on the channel are feasible, and review costs frequently to see where they can be increased or decreased.
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Personalize content. The content you put out on an emerging channel should be relevant to the target audience. One survey by Google found that 61% of people expect brands to personalize experiences. By focusing on channel users — their likes, dislikes, and preferences — you can optimize your content for success on your chosen channel. After all, personalized content is key to successful user interactions.
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Test and optimize. All marketing efforts should be refined, and that practice is no different for an emerging channel. Monitor performance, make adjustments, and measure response rates. If it’s not producing results as it should, maybe it’s time to cut the channel from your mix. If the response is positive, then you might want to allocate more funds to the endeavor.
Variety, as they say, is the spice of life. The same can be said about your marketing mix, but it’s never wise to enter an emerging channel unprepared. Get to know the platform, understand its users, and make sure whatever you put out there aligns with what you hope to achieve with your product. Marketing is always changing; you can stay ahead of the curve by understanding how to properly leverage emerging channels.
Nick Chasinov is the founder and CEO of Teknicks, a product growth marketing agency that drives sustainable compounding growth by helping more people discover and find value in products.