Which channels should they prioritize in their marketing mix to maximize their impact?

I would prioritize paid search and co-marketing. Here's why:

1. While paid search can get very expensive, you can learn a lot from this channel that can then help you optimize other channels. I love paid because it's very easy to measure performance. I can see what prospects are clicking on, how many are converting to leads, and then what the overall CAC is (spend divided by customer sign ups). In addition to this, I can learn a lot about how to optimize my funnel. Ad copy can be optimized, landing page design can be optimized, even form fields can be optimized. Best thing is all of this CRO improvement will raise the performance of the other channels I've invested in.

2. The reason why I like co-marketing is because it's the opposite of paid advertising: it's cheap! Co-marketing is a fantastic way to generate net new leads cost effectively. Co-host a webinar with a company that serves your target customer. Then in exchange for you promoting it to your mailing list, ask them to promote it to theirs. After the event, agree to share the registration and attendee lists. You will have a lot of net new leads to nurture and work.

This is a loaded question! There is no one right answer. Different channels will work for different organizations based on their buyer audience and their message. Here are a few to test to see if they work for your company:

1. Advertising - the classic awareness channel. There are search and display ads, ads on social media platforms, video and static ads, ads on search engines, ads on affiliate websites or through the Google network... advertising generically to a wide audience will help build brand awareness, while remarketing to a list of engaged prospects will help drive people back to your website for buying conversations.

2. Content - content is king! Don't tell someone "buy X because we are the best," say instead "solve X problem with Y" and do it through educational content. This could be blog posts (make sure to SEO optimize these for search ranking and AI answers), whitepapers, eBooks, interactive calculators, videos, social carousels, webinars, speaking sessions at events, podcasts, press releases... get the word out there. Once again, content is split based on the impact you want it to have: brand awareness, those ready to buy, and those somewhere in the middle.

3. Email - email is definitely not dead, but it can be overused. Focus your email marketing on educating, and segment your lists well. A new prospect from a list purchase who has never heard of you won't care about your new product release announcement, but they might care about a webinar on a topic they've been focused on during their day job. Create engagement scores that move prospects into new nurture streams filled with different content.

4. Direct Mail - often forgotten, direct mail can have a major impact on larger enterprise deals or for valuable customers. Make sure you're verifying addresses between LinkedIn locations and company database locations, and partnering with sales to actively engage recipients once the mailer arrives. These are usually highly bottom of funnel, more expensive and time consuming engagements, but done correctly can be hugely impactful.

5. Events - an expensive channel, but every industry likely has key events that are worth going to for the visibility and potential to converse and open new deals with prospects. You can do these in bulk - set up a booth, go and work the booth - or you can put together a focused program around each event including pre-event, post-event, and on-site activations.

This list only touches the surface of potential marketing channels. You can also utilize your website, partner networks, review sites and company listings, email signatures, BDR/SDR team emails and phone calls, and sales pitch decks to drive impact for the business. No one size fits all, and there will be testing involved to find the right fit!

The channels you prioritize should be based on your go-to-market motion, target audience, ideal customer profile (ICP), budget, and overall marketing goals and desired business outcomes. The tactics are then dictated based on what is needed to drive impact.

Here are a few examples to consider based on your business context:

• Performance marketing: This tactic becomes much more impactful once you have achieved product-market fit.

• Search engine optimization (SEO): This tactic is a long-term investment. While we don't know how this will play out with AI, there will still be a need for valuable and helpful content.

• Social media marketing: While it is more impactful to own the distribution channel to reach your audience, it is also important to meet them where they prefer to consume their content.

• Lifecycle marketing: Email marketing, in-product messaging, etc., are tried and trusted tactics that are considered table stakes nowadays and remain highly effective.

Depending on your business, PR, influencer marketing, and other tactics may be more interesting to drive impact.