What does a Multi-Channel Media approach and more effective sales prospecting have in common? Read on for everything you need to know and more.

Have you noticed the art of sales prospecting transforming in recent years? Gone are the days of cold calling and following up on potential leads.

Now, with the world more connected than ever, the process is mostly carried out online using a variety of methods or platforms called channels. But what happens when these different channels are combined into one sales prospecting strategy?

In this post, we'll explore a multi-channel approach to sales prospecting and how to implement it in your business.

Sales Prospecting with Multi-Channel Marketing

To form an effective multi-channel sales prospecting strategy, traditional methods are set aside in favor of a more diversified approach.

By utilizing different platforms for different aspects of the sales campaign, your message branches out to a larger audience, increasing the chances of securing high-quality leads.

The Multi-Channel Media Approach

The multi-channel approach doesn't necessarily leverage one method over the others. Rather, it's most beneficial when the different channels are used in balance with one another.

The message, however, will vary slightly from channel to channel. Doing so will increase the effectiveness of the campaign by catering to the different audiences targetted on each channel.

The Financial Times recently used the multi-channel approach with great success to grow their younger audience. To accomplish this the Financial Times distributed its messages using a variety of channels such as tablet device video ads, mobile video ads, office display ads, and outdoor digital displays.

The campaign resulted in increased subscriptions, an overall boost to site traffic, and doubled mobile traffic.

Now, let's examine the benefits to this approach:

Expanding Your Reach

The first and most obvious benefit of a multi-channel sales prospecting strategy is expanding the reach of your message. By distributing your message through a variety of channels, your campaign is able to reach more targets.

For example, if your campaign has relied on print and television ads in the past, your message will only reach a certain audience. However, if that strategy is expanded to include distribution on channels such as Facebook or online ads, your message is reaching a target audience outside the area already covered with print and television ads.

With your message now before an expanded audience, it's more likely to get forwarded on to other potential leads.

Reinforcing Your Message

As previously discussed, using multiple channels helps distribute your message to a wider audience. But what happens if that message begins to overlap with what's on other channels?

Your message is being reinforced.

If each channel is leveraged properly, the message will begin to resonate and carry more weight within an already expanding audience. Furthermore, as your message is being reinforced, potential leads will be more likely to recognize and respond to your messages in the future.

Snagging More Leads

Now that your message is reaching more people and carrying more recognition with it, you'll start snagging more leads. With a multi-channel sales prospecting campaign, your message will appear on multiple platforms.

But now you also have access to the data collected from each of those different channels. This new data can then be used to refine the target audience and amplify the message. As the message is refined and redistributed, more leads of higher quality will be generated.

Increasing Conversion Rates

Finally, your new sales prospecting strategy is beginning to pay off. Your message is now spread out across a variety of channels and reaching a larger audience.

As your message continues pushing through these channels, it will become easily recognizable and trusted more than other brands. At this point, your message is now connecting with the right prospects, and even generating a higher return on investment. But the process shouldn't stop there.

Now that your strategy is in place and is proving to be effective, take a step back to evaluate what worked and what didn't.

Channels

The channels that make up your sales prospecting strategy will likely vary. There are, however, plenty of options to choose from. For example, your strategy could consist of an online lead opt-in, webinars, and online directories.

What channels are leveraged depends on the target audience, though. There's no right or wrong way to this approach. The channels listed below, however, are some of the most effective:

E-Mail Marketing

E-mail marketing continues to be one of the most effective channels for online marketing. The technology driving this channel has improved greatly in recent years, too.

Having an email list is still important, but it might be time to implement new techniques to improve your marketing list. What's more, data is now collected with some e-mail marketing tools. This data can then be used to refine the target audience.

Search Marketing

In terms of value, search marketing is one of the best bangs for the buck. Hitting that number one Google search rank is invaluable to a business, but it takes work to get there.

Search engine optimization should become an integral part of your multi-channel sales campaign as it bolsters the effectiveness of your message on other channels, too. If your strategy doesn't have SEO as a priority, it's time to re-evaluate the game plan.

Social Marketing

Social media channels can prove very effective, but only if used correctly. Before implementing a marketing campaign using this channel, it's beneficial to look at what a successful social media marketing campaign looks like.

Some companies will insist on self-promotion and leave it at that. To get the most out of social media marketing, consider pairing it with search and content marketing.

Content Marketing

Have you ever heard the phrase "content is king"? It gets tossed around a lot nowadays, but for good reason. Content marketing is a highly effective tactic and should be used in conjunction with search and social marketing. It can also become an aspect of your email marketing campaign.

A solid content marketing campaign does require some experimentation, however. When beginning to implement this channel to your overall strategy, it's okay to experiment and take some risks. Just don't forget to review the data to see what worked.

Making It Work

Making the most of a multi-channel sales prospecting approach isn't cut and dry. An effective strategy takes time to develop and requires some trial and error.

But after the campaign is up and running, you'll have a wealth of new data at your disposal. This information can then be applied to not only your message but also to tweak what's being reinforced across the different channels. When the channels work together, this approach is highly effective.

Do you have experience working with a multi-channel marketing approach? We want to hear about it! Tell us about it in the comment section below.