5 Best Growth Marketing Channels to Profitably Acquire Customers

If there are no fish in a lake, you won’t catch anything. It doesn't matter how long you fish or what bait you use. There are simply no fish to catch. Knowing where and when to cast your line and what bait to use for specific fish is the most effective way to catch what you're hoping for.

“Fishing” for customers works the same way: You won’t see the results you want if you use the wrong marketing channels. Just like seasoned fishermen know where to find the biggest catch, successful businesses understand the proper channels to reach their ideal customers.

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Not All Growth Marketing Channels Are Equal

There is no one "best" channel that works for every business. Yet, choosing the right marketing channel for your business is crucial to attracting and retaining new customers.

How do you find the best channel for your business? Great question!

The products or services you offer, your target audience, and where your competitors have a strong presence all impact your ideal business channels. Identifying the gaps in the market and knowing where your ideal customers focus their attention (and where your competitors aren’t) helps determine the right channels to communicate your content.

Here are 5 of the best growth marketing channels you could use for customer acquisition and some tips to help determine which channels you should focus your efforts on.

1. Social Media

Seven in ten Americans use social media to connect, shop, and learn. This means that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others are prime real estate for companies marketing to all generations of consumers.

Not only should you be advertising on these platforms, you need a presence. The more your audience feels like they can connect with your brand, the more likely they will support it.

Consider Coca-Cola. They launched their “Share a Coke” campaign in 2014 to target Millenial social media users, encouraging participants to share a photo of their personalized Coke bottle. It was wildly successful, and the campaign ran–with an increasing budget–for 3+ years. Not only did Coca-Cola receive millions of photos across platforms in free advertising, but it personalized its brand to be available to everyone.

We’re not saying you need a worldwide campaign with a matching budget. But, finding your voice on social media, and figuring out where on social media people want to listen to you, is pivotal in acquiring support.

2. Youtube and TikTok

You might be thinking “wait a second, aren’t Youtube and TikTok also social media channels?”

While the answer is yes, these platforms differ greatly because they focus on video-based content instead of image or text-based content. With billions of active users worldwide, these platforms host diverse users from various backgrounds and locations.

And don’t be fooled into thinking only younger generations care about video platforms. While Millennials and Gen Z DO spend significant time watching video content, Gen Xers (users between the ages of 40 and 54) contribute to over 1.5 billion YouTube searches daily.

Whether you’re using videos, tutorials, or influencer collaborations, both platforms offer a unique and exciting way to showcase your products or services in ways text copy alone can’t.

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3. Email

You may be in tune with the current debate that email is dying and wondering if it’s still a channel worth investing in. And we get it, both due to the rise of other social media channels and the massive uptick in spam emails the average person receives.

However, 19% of Americans still check their email when a new message hits their inbox, proving that the right message still has a high chance of being read.

Optimizing email as a profitable marketing channel is simple to do with some ingenuity. Try adding these tips to optimize the emails in your next campaign:

Use a stand-out subject line to make your emails pop
Personalize your emails to senders instead of using a generic “dear customer”
Add GIFs or memes to break up email content and keep readers engaged with your copy
Keep it short and sweet - most top-preforming emails are between just 50 and 125 words

4. Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful marketing channel that can help you identify the most effective keywords to target your ideal audience. These valuable insights show what your customers care about and what you should be talking about as a result.

The better you speak to your audience’s pain points, the more likely they are to return to you for other content in the future, improving your website traffic and conversion rates. SEO and keyword research should be a part of your regular audit to ensure you capture new and existing keywords and best meet your customers’ evolving needs.

On these same lines, optimizing the title and meta description of the content is crucial because these are the only elements that users see on the search engine results page (SERP). How well you optimize these key pieces determines whether or not a user clicks through to the website and how easy it is for them to find your site.

5. Industry Groups and Forums

Last but certainly not least, industry groups and forums are profitable marketing channels because their niches or topics tell you exactly how to market to that group.

For example, you already know a LinkedIn group for “Aspiring Sales Leaders” will be interested in the material around leadership and sales. Members of these groups and forums are typically highly engaged and active in seeking information, advice, and solutions related to their industry.

Best of all, joining these groups is usually free or low-cost. This gives you a budget-friendly way to position yourself and your product or service as a valuable resource the group could benefit from.

Digital Media Marketing Channels Are Superior

Digital marketing channels offer unparalleled opportunities to reach and engage your target audience. With the rise of influencer marketing, video marketing, and short-form video content, you can now create compelling, visually engaging content that resonates with your audience.

Using multiple marketing channels makes developing new strategies aligned with your customer's goals and values easy. This approach helps you hit your target audience from every possible angle and offer a seamless, integrated experience across multiple channels.

Want more advice on how to set your business up for profitable growth? Download the growth playbook.

A Growth Marketer by day, and a dancer, Disney fan, and designer by night. With over 5 years of experience working in Growth, Marvin is passionate about helping others accomplish their goals, and is always happy to lend his expertise or experience where applicable.

4 Min Read

Growth Marketing

Jun 01, 2023