Alternative acquisition channels for a diversified strategy
Many online businesses use Google Ads as their main acquisition channel.
While this platform is highly competitive, it is also particularly saturated.
What’s more, its algorithms change frequently.
With
affiliation platform for the Home & Fashion Made in France universe
of sales generated in 2023 for our advertisers
1 invested generates over €14 in sales
Why diversify your acquisition channels?
You may well wonder what diversifying your acquisition channels can do for you. Well, it can! This strategy brings you nothing but benefits!
Reducing the risk of dependency
Indeed, depending on a single acquisition channel presents significant risks and challenges, especially if that channel regularly updates its algorithms, like Google Ads. A single channel can quickly become saturated and lose effectiveness over time. Diversifying your channels allows you to avoid losing traffic, conversions and revenue.
Better reach and exposure
Using a variety of marketing channels can increase your visibility to potential customers. Not all consumers have the same habits. Some enjoy YouTube videos, others prefer to browse social networks like Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. Varying channels therefore helps you engage and attract more prospects who may be interested in your services or products.
A clear improvement in customer loyalty
Offering more value, variety and convenience to your audience improves loyalty and retention. You can communicate more frequently and consistently with your target audience. It also makes it easier to build stronger relationships. For example, you can leverage email marketing to send personalized messages to your subscribers, such as newsletters, tips or offers. To offer instant assistance to your customers, you can use chatbots, which are rapidly gaining in popularity.
Improved creativity
To gather qualitative data directly from customers, use surveys and polls. Ask open-ended questions to obtain information about your customers’ preferences and expectations. This will also enable you to target your offers. Make surveys attractive by offering rewards, for example.
Enhanced customer experience
The customer experience remains a top priority for any e-commerce company wishing to grow its business. By diversifying acquisition channels, you can enhance this experience in a number of ways. These days, consumers use different channels at different stages of their buying journey. It’s a trend that’s gaining momentum. So it’s all the more reason for you to diversify your channels. In this way, you can provide different contact points and opportunities for interaction and conversion.
How do you create a plan to diversify acquisition channels?
Marketing channels are becoming increasingly numerous. Making the right choice can be difficult if you don’t adopt the right techniques. Here are the best practices for choosing the acquisition channels that will help your online store grow.
Define your marketing objectives
The first step is, of course, to define your objectives, which must remain SMART – measurable, realistic, relevant and time-bound. These objectives will guide you in choosing the right channels for your strategy.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), on the other hand, need to match your objectives to help you track your progress and results. Is your goal to increase brand awareness, for example? Track KPIs such as website traffic, number of subscribers or engagement on your publications. Want to generate more leads? Focus on metrics like conversion rate or quality of leads obtained.
Matching your objectives to your KPIs will enable you to improve your efforts and ensure better diversification of your acquisition channels.
Identify your target audience
In-depth knowledge of your audience and their preferences enables you to select the most appropriate channels. Identify the type of consumer you want to reach and the content they consume. Tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Audience Insights will help you :
- Collect demographic data
- Analyze your audience’s interests
- Identify your needs and weaknesses.
Don’t hesitate to create profiles (personas) to facilitate the segmentation of your target audience. This will enable you to choose the most relevant acquisition channels and personalize your messages to maximize their impact.
Create your customer paths and contact points
Take an interest in how your target audience interacts with your brand, so you can choose the right acquisition channels.
Analyze the different stages of the buying process to identify key touch points.
Determine where consumers encounter your brand.
This could be through search engines, social media, e-mail
Align channels with your specific objectives
Each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses. Your choice will be determined by your objectives. Do you want to generate leads? E-mail marketing, webinars and landing pages are best suited. These are particularly effective in capturing the interest of potential customers. Want to increase brand awareness? Give preference to social media, podcasts or influencer marketing. These offer broad, targeted visibility.
Don’t forget to define key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of each channel. Use Google Ads, Facebook Ads or YouTube Ads to analyze click-through rates. Platforms such as Instagram or TikTok will enable you to evaluate the engagement rate.
Test and optimize marketing channels
Once you have a list of potential acquisition channels, you need to organize them into categories, according to their characteristics, and test them. You can, for example, group them by type (paid, organic, etc.), by stage in the customer journey, or by marketing cost, which can be low or high. This segmentation enables you to test each channel in a targeted way.
Prioritize those that show high traction, low cost and can generate results faster. Continuously optimize your choice according to the results obtained. This will enable you to focus your efforts on the most profitable channels and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Analyze the performance of each channel
Testing different marketing channels also enables you to analyze their performance. You’ll be able to determine which ones contribute most effectively to your conversions. With tools like Google Analytics, you can measure the impact of each channel on the customer journey and final conversion.
Also keep an eye on how your competitors are exploiting these channels. Study their strategies, budgets and results to compare your performance with industry best practice. This benchmarking helps you identify areas for improvement. It can also help you identify new opportunities in your market.
Integrate and coordinate your channels
Once you’ve identified the right acquisition channels for your marketing strategy, you need to coordinate them. The aim is to ensure a seamless customer experience at every touchpoint. Use tools to manage and schedule publications on social networks. This will enable you to maintain an active and consistent presence.
Also consider automating and personalizing your e-mail campaigns according to your subscribers’ behaviors and actions. This integrated approach will help you maximize the effectiveness of each channel. You also create a customer journey that guides your prospects through your conversion funnel in a natural and engaging way.
How can an affiliation platform meet the challenges of diversifying acquisition channels?
Diversification of acquisition channels clearly enables us to reach a wider audience and maximize growth opportunities. This approach presents a number of major challenges that require careful management. An affiliation platform can be a valuable asset in overcoming these challenges.
Better management of skills, tools and resources
Each acquisition channel requires specific skills, tools and resources to function optimally. Creating and distributing video content on YouTube, for example, requires audiovisual production skills, professional equipment and a considerable investment of time. Writing textual content on a website may be less resource-intensive, but requires specific writing and SEO skills.
An affiliation platform facilitates this management. It offers a diversified network of specialized partners. They have the skills and resources required for each channel. You can therefore delegate certain tasks, but also benefit from their expertise. Partnering with affiliates who have experience in specific fields guarantees better optimization of each channel.
Maintaining brand consistency and quality
To maintain the credibility of your brand and the trust of your customers, you need to guarantee the consistency and quality of your brand across the various channels. You need to ensure that messages, offers and values remain consistent and aligned across all channels.
Working with an affiliate marketing platform like Casaneo helps you maintain this consistency. An affiliate marketing site lets you choose affiliates who share the same values and quality standards. Rigorous criteria are put in place to ensure that affiliates follow brand guidelines and produce quality content. An affiliate marketing platform also offers tracking tools so you can check that affiliates are complying with your guidelines.
Measuring and evaluating channel performance
Evaluating the performance of multiple acquisition channels can be complex. Each channel may require different metrics and tracking methods to assess its success. An affiliate marketing platform offers advanced tools for measuring and analyzing the performance of different campaigns across multiple channels.
It provides detailed reports and in-depth analysis of affiliate performance. This enables you to track the return on investment (ROI) of each channel. These tools help you identify the best-performing channels and adjust strategies accordingly.
Find out how Casaneo can help you meet the challenges of diversifying acquisition channels. Use our expertise to successfully master a varied acquisition landscape.
