12 Free Marketing Channels You Must Prioritize in 2023

Free Marketing Channels in 2023:

Peter Drucker, one of the world’s recognized elites in management and also the founder of modern management, says about the importance of marketing: “Only two categories in a business make money, and that is innovation and marketing.

Other cases only cost you.” Content creation is often the most enjoyable and practical part of marketing, but you must remember that how you publish this content is just as important as creating it.

If no one sees your content, it certainly loses its value. For this reason, knowing the best marketing channels to advance your content marketing goals or other marketing strategies is essential.

Note that the content here is not just articles and posts on social media. Any content that promotes your brand must be able to reach the target audience in the right way.

In short, marketing channels are different tools and platforms you use to communicate with your target audience. While the decision to choose marketing channels should be tailored to the profile of your audience, it is necessary to know the characteristics of each of these channels and how effective they are.

Continuing this article, we will familiarize you with their features and how to use them with a comprehensive review of advertising channels in digital marketing.

12 Best & Free Marketing Channels in 2023

Digital marketing is one of the best ways to drive people to your business website and, as a result, increase revenue and sales.

But in digital marketing, many online tools and channels can help you be more successful. Expanding these communication and advertising channels between you and your audience is the main advantage of this type of marketing.

Also, this way, you can monitor the audience’s interaction with your brand and evaluate how your marketing works.

Regardless of how big or small your business is, there are a wide variety of free marketing channels that you can choose from. But the main question is whether all these channels suit your marketing goals.

Let’s talk about it.

1- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

More than 62% of people use search engines, including Google, to get more information about a product or service, while this rate reaches 41% at the time of purchase.

People worldwide search billions of different words and phrases through Google every year; this proves the high importance of search engines.

Optimizing the site and various pages for search engines, called SEO, includes all the actions taken to make your website rank higher in Google.

Improving SEO provides more opportunities for users to choose your website. So, getting targeted and quality organic traffic is one of the main benefits of search engine optimization.

SEO Tips:

Since online marketing is the key to the growth of a modern business, it becomes essential to show your site in first or second position in search engine results.

Studies show that three out of four users will only go to the second page of Google search results. So, it is essential to prioritize your SEO presence on the first page and then in its top ranks.

The following three general and crucial points are beneficial for improving your site’s SEO:

• Learn Keyword Optimization: Keywords are the main elements of SEO. So, it is necessary to do keyword research to identify the best possible keywords to drive traffic from search engines to your website. You can use many tools to identify and analyze keywords, such as Google Search Console.
• Update your content: Your website can fully achieve its SEO goals with high-quality content. You need good content to improve your SEO ranking with the help of precise keywords as well as links to your website. But more than having content alone is required. Users expect to receive new and updated content to answer their questions.
• Optimize your site for mobile viewing: People usually spend more time using their mobile phones, and it is essential to optimize your website in terms of design, structure, and speed for viewing on these devices. This compatibility is also necessary for different Google algorithms. Therefore, keep the site’s mobile compatibility in mind in the SEO optimization and its pages.

2- Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful way to interact with people who have shown interest in your product, service, website, or brand.

These digital marketing channels use email to develop relationships with current and prospective customers. This channel is often used for branding, keeping customers informed, and delivering promotional messages to email recipients.

There is no doubt that some business audiences do not use email, but all major online brands still consider email marketing as part of their strategies.

Email Marketing Tips

Email marketing works if its all potential is used well.

• Increase the number of your email subscribers in numerous and creative ways.
• Have a plan for the content you send in emails. Email content should be valuable and attractive to the audience.
• Use email marketing, especially automated email marketing.
• Email marketing educational resources

3- Social Media Marketing

The massive increase in the use of social media and the number of active users in them has made social media marketing one of the most critical and influential marketing channels in digital marketing.

In marketing through social media, brands implement their strategy on social media such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc. This marketing method leads to branding, increasing audience numbers, direct relationships with customers, product promotion, and thus increasing sales.

Tips on social media marketing

The following tips will help you to succeed in social media marketing.

• Integrate your marketing efforts: Like other forms of digital marketing, social media marketing works best when integrated with marketing strategies such as content marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, influencer marketing, and even offline marketing.
• Know your audience: Accurately knowing your audience is a rule of thumb for any advertising channel, regardless of your chosen strategy. If you have a vague idea of your audience and their needs, creating the right content for them will take time and effort.

4- Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing happens when a well-known person with many social media followers collaborates with a brand and introduces their product or service.

This method is one of the most effective free marketing channels in 2023. According to some experts, the quality of traffic generated and brand recognition is better than other advertising formats.

Using influencers effectively achieves your brand marketing goals and increases brand awareness and social proof among the audience.

People also trust these people have more education and see them by their side. Also, the content produced by influencers can be considered UGC content, and this type of marketing can be related to word-of-mouth marketing.

The different methods of influencer marketing are:

• Reviews of products by influencers
• Produce sponsored content
• Cooperation in the production of content related to the product
• Competition and prize giving

Influencer Marketing Tips

• The number of followers is not the gauge: just because an influencer has, for example, 1 million followers, it does not mean that after working with him, all or a large part of that million people will follow you. Instead, you should pay attention to the engagement rate of followers with these people, the click rate, the number of comments, and the type of user comments towards them.
• Consider the adequacy of the influencer with your brand: If you are looking for an influencer to work with, pay attention to their expertise, reach, knowledge of their audience, and level of influence and popularity. These characteristics can guarantee the success of your cooperation.
• Direct advertising and over-publishing of promotional content overwhelm the audience: let influencers create the content they want. They know more about their audience and understand better how to present your advertising content to them in an indirect and targeted way.

5- Content Marketing

Constantly confusing your customers and website users with advertising messages will not only positively impact your business’s success, but you will even lose existing customers.

They will think that the only thing that matters to you is increasing your sales, and they will share this unpleasant experience even with those around them. You can use other positive methods to compensate and prevent this negative marketing.

Content marketing is an approach that helps attract the target audience by publishing valuable, targeted, and planned content.

Blog posts, videos, infographics, e-books, text content, podcasts, etc., are standard and effective methods of content marketing. Content marketing aims to lead customers to action that is profitable for you with content that satisfies their needs and wins their trust.

Different companies and brands use content marketing for the following:

• Building and creating a suitable position for the brand (brand positioning)
• Attracting leads or potential customers
• Retaining existing customers
• Increase sales with new customers
• Providing the required information to the audience before and after the sale
• Helping with SEO strategy and social media marketing
• Creating and maintaining a good brand reputation

Content Marketing Tips

For content marketing to fit your marketing goals and bring you to those goals, you must keep the following two essential points in mind.

• Content marketing is a long-term process: building a good reputation and gaining the trust of your audience is not something that can be done in a short period. You will gradually become known in your field by consistently providing valuable content, and people will trust you. Regular and continuous content publication will help you establish a better relationship with the audience. By answering their questions or solving their concerns, you will help your website’s reputation. That way, you’ll be the first option they think of when they’re ready to buy.
• Content marketing is not a stand-alone marketing strategy: content marketing drives other forms of marketing. Therefore, it should be integrated with the overall marketing strategy of your business and implemented in conjunction with other advertising channels in digital marketing. Your content will be used in SEO, online advertising, PR, and marketing strategies.

6- Affiliate Marketing

Partnership marketing happens when two brands work together to create mutually beneficial campaigns. It’s a cost-effective way to boost your marketing goals and get more customers with prominent ads.

Methods such as co-hosting events, creating joint content for both brands, participating in affiliate marketing, standard product leads, participating in charity work, etc., are all used in digital marketing channels. 

Tips On Affiliate Marketing

Consider the following tips for affiliate marketing to increase the likelihood of your marketing goals being successful.

• Determine the best brands to work with: Work with reputable organizations that can help you achieve your brand marketing goals. Remember that the best brand is the one that best suits your business. 
• Set goals and metrics: Define key performance indicators to achieve goals. In this way, your path in cooperation is determined.

7- Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Have you ever bought a product only on the recommendation of your friends? Have you ever suggested a product to your friends after purchasing and using it?

This means we are doing word-of-mouth marketing for brands daily in our lives without even knowing it.

Today, gaining people’s trust to buy products from different brands has become challenging. These people are usually distrustful of conventional advertising, and the explanations and messages they receive from marketers are less believable for them.

It is in this situation that brands must seek to find a way to regain people’s trust. Your previous clients are the best people to give your potential clients honest, unbiased advice. This is what is called word-of-mouth marketing.

Word-of-mouth marketing, or WOMM, is one of the free marketing channels and even a marketing strategy. It happens when customers express their satisfaction with a product, service, or brand to others.

This action results from the targeted efforts of a brand and the sharing of experiences by customers. Of course, this marketing method is more than just a face-to-face or direct conversation.

Still, your customers can share their opinion or expertise on personal social networks or in the comments section of the product page on the website, and other users can use them.

You can enhance this type of marketing by creating more innovative customer experiences and providing excellent service.

Word of Mouth Marketing Tips

To be successful in WOM marketing for your brand, read the following tips.

• Encourage customers to post user-generated content (UGC): Use a UGC marketing strategy. Ask your users to use them as your brand ambassadors for marketing as much as possible by including their opinions and experiences about your product or service on your website or sharing them on social networks.
• Use hashtags to your advantage: You can easily use hashtags to inform your advertising or marketing campaigns on social media. Using the right hashtag can also bring UGC content to your website. In this context, read the articles on hashtag marketing and what is an Instagram hashtag.
• Include user reviews on your landing pages: Landing pages, product pages, about us pages, and customer reviews pages are some of the best places to display reviews from satisfied customers on your website. 

8- Online Advertising

Online advertising uses the Internet to promote a product or service or deliver an advertising message. This means you will have many options and opportunities to choose the best marketing method for your products.

The types of online advertising methods are:

• Display advertising: This method of advertising uses images and video for advertising. The most obvious examples of these ads are banner ads. Search Engine Marketing or SEM (Search Engine Marketing): This method should be distinct from the SEO channel in marketing that we examined earlier (although, according to some, SEO is a subset of SEM). This method uses advertisements in search engines such as Google AdWords as an online advertising method.
• Remarketing: In this method, people who have already seen or interacted with your website content are retargeted.
• Affiliate Marketing: In this method, your users act as marketers, and by introducing your products to other people, they receive a commission for each successful sale.
• Video ads: In this method, videos are used instead of images or text in your ads. Advertising in the application includes different advertising methods in mobile applications.
• Push notification advertising sends notifications to the website browser or mobile application.

 Advantages of online advertising in digital marketing channels:

Online advertising has many advantages, and these days its use is more common than other methods available in marketing advertising channels. We see some of the main benefits of this advertising method below.

• This advertising method is cheaper than traditional methods: Although online advertising can generate much buzz for your brand online, the costs you spend on it are much lower than offline methods.
• Statistical data analysis: In traditional methods, it is impossible to analyze statistics, but in online forms, you can quickly evaluate and analyze the performance of your ads.
• Targeting is possible in this method: One of the significant advantages of online advertising over offline advertising is ad targeting, which allows brands to determine to whom each ad will be shown. 

9- Offline Advertising

Today, it’s easy to dismiss offline advertising as a viable marketing channel. But remember that not all people use the Internet to find information about the products or services they need.

When the brand’s goal is to influence as much as possible on a wide range of target audiences, it will take advantage of every opportunity to achieve this goal.

At a time when all businesses have moved to the online space for their promotion and marketing, it is possible to identify and use an excellent opportunity to market your brand in the offline area in the absence of competitors.

Some of the popular offline advertising methods are:

• Use of business cards
• Considering gifts and prizes in various events
• Advertising in local magazines and publications
• Printed advertisements such as brochures, banners, etc.
• Trade shows and customer appreciation events
• Printing and giving unique gift cards to customers
• Advertising signs and billboards
• Radio or television advertising
• Telemarketing

10- Podcast Marketing

Due to the increase in people’s interest in podcasts and their relevance to today’s busy life, the demand for audio content has increased.

For this reason, if you own a brand and want to start your marketing efforts through advertising channels more seriously, consider the impact of podcasts.

Producing and publishing a podcast can create a unique relationship with your audience because podcasts are more explicit in expressing your goals.

Podcasts also create more opportunities for audience interaction; Because your audience does not have to look at the mobile or desktop screen while listening to the files.

For example, podcast listeners can listen to it while taking a morning walk, doing chores, driving, etc.

11- Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing includes any advertising channel that targets users on mobile devices or even tablets. All the methods mentioned above are related to mobile marketing.

Marketing managers think building a mobile app is necessary to reach and interact with customers. However, there are more straightforward and more effective advertising channels to reach the target audience on mobile phones.

Building a mobile-friendly website, displaying ads on mobile phones, in-app ads of applications, etc., are among the most common methods of mobile marketing.

All these methods can be implemented together and are a good starting point for any mobile marketing campaign.

Mobile campaigns can also be fully tracked and optimized, as we’ve seen with desktop campaigns. When creating a mobile marketing campaign, you can use various technologies, including SMS, MMS, Bluetooth, mobile phone applications, etc., to reach the audience.

12- Video Marketing

Video marketing is the last and most attractive advertising channel we present in this article. Video can increase conversion rates, improve your advertising return on investment, and create better relationships with your audience.

You can use advertising videos on the website, social networks, video sharing sites, email, mobile advertising, etc., and have a more significant impact on your target audience in less than a few minutes.

Conclusion: Free Marketing Channels in 2023

The above are just a few basic and standard advertising channels in marketing that you can use to achieve your marketing goals.

More and better methods are suitable for your field of work, which may even bring you more effective results. The main thing you should pay attention to is to be successful.

You can use only some of the advertising channels available in the marketing world to achieve results. Doing so will lead to failure and will likely lead to loss.

Kahn says: In traditional methods, it is not possible to analyze statistics, but in online forms, you can quickly evaluate and analyze the performance of your ads.

Targeting is possible in this method: One of the significant advantages of online advertising over offline advertising is ad targeting, which allows brands to determine to whom each ad will be shown.