A company cannot succeed without marketing itself. Marketing is essential for businesses to thrive. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to marketing platforms, we have you covered.

What are marketing platforms?

There is no set definition for marketing platforms, but they are extremely important for businesses. A marketing platform is a way to market your company to your target audience. However, this is a broad topic, and there are many different types of marketing platforms. Let’s look at traditional and digital marketing methods and explore the best tools and platforms for each.

Traditional marketing methods

Before the age of the internet, companies wanting to increase their exposure had to rely on traditional marketing platforms. Some of the most popular examples of traditional advertising include:

• Television
• Radio
• Direct mail
• Newspapers and magazines
• Traditional and digital signage

You may already be aware of how these methods work, but it would still be beneficial to get a general overview of each topic.

1. Television

If you want to market your business on television, you can do this by airing commercials. These are typically spots that last for 15-60 seconds. Companies that want to use this marketing channel will spend less by airing local commercials, which cost an average of $115,000.

Local commercial costs are typically based on how many consumers will be exposed to the ad. This rate is higher in areas with more people, like Los Angeles, as opposed to less populated areas, like Omaha. The price for your business will also depend on factors like the length of the commercial and when it will air.

If you want to air a national commercial, you’ll need to spend at least $1 million. If you want your company’s national advertising campaign to air during popular television programs, you’ll need to set aside even more money.

2. Radio

The businesses that advertise on your favorite radio station do so because it is often less expensive than television advertising.

The cost of a radio marketing campaign can vary greatly, depending on factors such as where and when the ads will air.

3. Digital and traditional signage

If you have a business that is located in a physical space, you probably have a sign that tells your clients and partners where your company is located. Companies that want to take this further will purchase large signs, most of which are digital or traditional signage.

Many business owners feel that the benefits of digital signs, such as being able to change messages easily and the use of LED bulbs, are worth the slightly higher cost.

Billboards are large signs that are placed on high-traffic roadsides, and they can be very costly, upwards of $2,000 per month. It is important to differentiate between traditional business signs and billboards. Traditional signs are usually located on or near the business, making its location clear to the public. The cost of this type of sign varies widely, depending on the materials used, starting at around $50 and reaching thousands of dollars. Billboards are large signs placed on roadsides with high traffic, and they can be very costly, up to $2,000 per month.

Billboards are large signs that are usually located near highways or busy streets. They are often leased out to businesses for a set amount of time. The rates for leasing a billboard usually depend on the location and how many people will see it.

Online marketing methods

The internet has become a necessity for most people in the past few decades. It can be difficult to keep up with the constantly changing trends in the internet industry.

Here are several of the most popular online marketing platforms:

• social media marketing
• email marketing
• video marketing
• SEO/content marketing

Determining the best marketing platforms for your business

Digital marketing is a more affordable option for companies, and it also allows for more targeted advertising. For companies that are just starting out, or for companies that want to increase their reach, digital marketing is the way to go. After learning about traditional and digital marketing methods, you may wonder which option is best for your company. Traditional marketing may be a great option for companies that want to stay ahead of the competition. However, many companies are now relying on online marketing methods because they are more affordable and allow for more targeted advertising. If you are a company that is just starting out, or if you want to increase your reach, digital marketing is a good option for you.

1. Understand that internet-based services continue to rise in terms of popularity

In 2018, The Verge reported that streaming services accounted for 75% of revenue in the music industry, eclipsing traditional sources such as local radio. This isn’t to say that traditional marketing methods aren’t effective, but it’s clear that internet-based services are continuing to gain ground against their more traditional counterparts.

2. Don’t depend on only one type of marketing channel

The phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” means that you shouldn’t put all your resources into one thing because it might not work out. You should apply this to your company’s marketing methods by using multiple platforms to reach potential customers.

If your company has a great direct mail marketing strategy, you should try it out. Your company might have the advertising budget to purchase several local commercials and know people who would be perfect spokespeople. If this is the case, give it a shot. One of the main keys to success in marketing is trying several methods, tracking what works, and eliminating what doesn’t.

3. Choose a cost-effective marketing platform

However, companies that want the most return on their investment will want to choose digital marketing platforms. This is one main reason why many companies choose digital over traditional marketing methods, especially small businesses.

A study found that social media is the most affordable way to reach 1,000 consumers, with a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of $2.50. In contrast, magazine and newspaper advertising have a CPM of $16, which is six times more expensive than social media. Television advertising is even more costly, with a CPM of $28.

4. Utilize referral marketing for the best of both worlds

Referral marketing is a powerful marketing tool that companies can use to improve their marketing results. This is because happy customers are often the best advocates for a company’s brand.

A study found that if you keep your customers happy, they are four times more likely to refer your business to someone else.

If you want to create a referral program, there are many different ways you can do it. You can create a traditional referral program, or an online referral program. If you’re not sure where to start, you can read about some great ideas for referral programs.

The Best Content Management Tools

The main comparatives for content marketing tools are the features that leave the most impression on the reader’s mind and the reliability of the tool. Pricing and reviews can be secondary points to consider, and lastly is the tool’s ability to integrate.

It offers a variety of content types to suit your needs, including audio, video, charts, graphs, PDFs, and GIFs.

The content management system should allow for content versioning and import from any other platform. It should have a template library, easy means of creating content and storing it. The content should be easily viewable at the advanced-level of search. It should let you apply watermarks to the image and the charts.

This analytics tool provides you with quick and insightful alerts about your content usage, as well as high-quality reports. Check it out!

#1) monday.com

Best for marketing project management.

Monday.com is a tool that can be used for marketing project management. It can help with content planning, creating a content calendar, and blog planning.

Suggested reading =>> Best free blogging platforms

The editorial calendar provides the ability to organize content assets by channel, type, priority, and publish date. This makes it easier to assign designers and editors and keep track of who is doing what and when.

Pros:

• monday.com has a facility that will let you invite clients as guests so that they can see the progress and share feedback.
• Through creative requests, you will be able to easily share assets as well as receive feedback. monday.com allows you to customize such forms.
• Editorial Calendar is the facility that will let you plan the content.
• monday.com is the platform that can be used to plan and manage small as well as large events.
• It can provide file storage from 5GB to 1000 GB.

Cons:

• monday.com has a little bit of a learning curve.

Monday.com offers a platform with multiple capabilities including communications essentials, collaboration essentials, Insights Essentials, and features for security and control.

#2) HubSpot

Best for small, medium, and large business enterprises.

HubSpot is one of the most popular content marketing software. HubSpot helps marketers create quality content, and produce a variety of content to target a wide range of customers. It administers the complete content marketing system, analyses the impact of the content and maintains the quality of the content.

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use.
• Effective and personalized content creation for the target audience.
• Content impact analysis.
• Affordable prices of software.
• Manage content and store it in a central location.
• Make the content as mobile searchable.
• Content Automation provides simplicity to marketing activities.

Cons:

• E-mail Marketing, Blogging, Video hosting, and management is in the paid version.
• YouTube integration is only in the Enterprise package.
• Feature and price equation have an imbalance.
• Works best when you are able to produce a large amount of content.
• New features/updates are introduced often.
• Difficult to export and move the content.
• Limited design templates.
• Tracking edited content is difficult.

The HubSpot content marketing software is the best option for provisioning because it has features for blogging, social media, emailing, managing landing pages, automating marketing, and providing accurate web analytics. A major benefit of this software is that it allows Salesforce integration and monitors social media activities.

#3) Semrush

The best platform for combining creativity and analytics at every stage of your workflow.

Semrush provides a marketing toolkit that offers various services for SEO, Paid Traffic, Social Media, Content & PR, and Market Research. It has solutions for E-commerce, Enterprise, and competitive research.

It can help you research your target audience and find out what your indirect competitors are up to. The Market Explorer feature lets you see how much traffic they’re getting and what trends they’re following.

Pros:

• The platform will help you with the topic research.
• You can create a content plan.
• It can provide SEO-Friendly content.
• It will let you track your team’s tasks and deadlines for ensuring all activities will be implemented in time.
• It provides the functionalities to order content, optimizing the article, measuring the content impact, and for revising & improving the content.

Cons:

• As per reviews, UI needs improvement.
• Traffic volume is not accurate.

The Semrush Content Platform is a great tool for content marketing. It will help you with your everyday marketing tasks, and you will be able to measure your campaigns across all online channels.

B2B and B2C marketing have both benefited from the latest software, which has made things much easier. When choosing a content marketing tool, you should think about your long-term goals and how much profit you want to make. Having a good partnership between acquiring new customers and effective operations is essential.

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