This article is based on Aaron Cullers’s talk at the #Demand24 summit in Denver. As an RMA member, you can enjoy the complete recording here. 

My name is Aaron Cullers, and until very recently I was the Senior Director of ABM and Vertical Marketing at UL Solutions, a product testing and safety organization. 

While I was with UL, I led a global team of around 65 marketers. Each year, we executed up to 300 programs, also known as campaigns. These included everything from trade shows to email marketing campaigns and a litany of other activities – way more than anyone should put on a yearly to-do list, let alone spend money on!

One of the reasons I moved away from being a marketing practitioner was the kind of questions I kept getting. 

People would ask things like, “Hey Aaron, when are we going to use better-converting channels for our programs?” As if there was some kind of velvet rope with all these secret magic channels behind it, just waiting to deliver perfect conversions.

But the truth is, there are no magic channels. So, how do you figure out which channels might work for your organization? And how do you ensure you get the most out of each and every channel?

That’s what I’m going to help you with in this article. 

Choosing the right channels to engage your audience

Once upon a time, I was a Forrester Consultant – and if you know anything about Forrester folks, it’s that we love a good framework. However, before you dive into frameworks, you need to have a common-sense conversation with yourself and your team. 

What can you realistically execute? Whether it’s a matter of budget, time, expertise, or systems requirements, you’ve got to be honest about your capabilities. Sometimes, there are just things you shouldn’t attempt.

You also need to think about what might actually work in the market. What are your target audiences’ preferences? What platforms do they engage with? What stage are they at in their buyer journey? What kind of knowledge are they seeking?

In short, you have to balance two things: internal constraints and external needs.

To help you understand which channels best serve both your internal and external needs, I’ve created a simple grid that I like to call the “common sense test”. It’s a way to analyze all the tactical options you have. Let me walk you through how to use it.

Step one: List all your options

You start by listing out everything you could do, whether it’s launching a podcast, spending money on retargeting or paid search, or even teleprospecting. List all the channels and tactics you can think of – this is your ideal, perfect-universe scenario.

A marketing mix selection chart titled 'How do you pick channels for a marketing mix?' with a list of marketing channels such as live events, text, LinkedIn, social, chat, podcasts, paid search, and others on the left. The top row includes categories for evaluation, such as goals defined, budget available, data needs met, system needs met, tracking, skills, persona defined, preferences met, engagement points, behaviors match, buying stage match, and inflection points match. The chart contains check marks in the 'Goals Defined' column for each marketing channel.

Then, before you go any further, make sure that a goal has been set for each of these potential tactics. If someone comes to you asking for, say, a whitepaper and they haven’t laid out a goal, tell them to get out of your office. If there’s no reason or strategy behind the request, it’s not even worth having the conversation. 

Now, assuming you do have goals, you can move onto the next step. 

Step two: Check your capabilities and constraints

The next thing you need to ask yourself is, “Do I have the budget available?” If, for example, you don’t have the budget for paid search, take it off the table. 

You’ll also need to look at data requirements. Do you have the data capture capabilities you need? For example, can you easily and legally get hold of prospects’ phone numbers? Do you have the necessary opt-ins for texting, especially given today’s data privacy regulations? If not, then texting gets removed from the list too.

Next, you need to interrogate whether you can fulfill the system needs for each channel, and check if you have (or can get) the necessary tracking in place. 

Don’t forget about the skills of your team. Let’s say you don’t have anyone with teleprospecting experience – strike that tactic off the list so you can focus on the channels that you can use without needing to hire new resources.

Step three: Keep refining based on experience

As you continue this process, you should whittle down your options based on your knowledge and experience of what works. For instance, maybe you’ve tried retargeting before, and it didn’t work – get rid of it.