Which marketing communication channel brings you the highest engagement, conversion and sales? This may sound like a simple question, but is it? In this age of multichannel marketing, it is very likely that a small business does not pin its hope on a single communication channel for targeting potential customers. Isn't it enough to compare the performance of these channels over a period of time in order to find out which of them has been doing the best? It is not as simple as that.

It is woefully inadequate to look at the different marketing channels as separate from each other in watertight compartments. You may be using all the important channels of marketing — trade fair, email, B2B listing, personalized website, face to face meeting, phone call, post, online networking — and when you compare their individual performances over a particular period of time, it may seem on the surface that one or two channels are doing well while the others are not. So, should you focus less on or do away with those channels which, in your eyes, are not fetching great results?

That's a wrong strategy. A single communication channel hardly makes any real difference, but only a combination of different channels does. It may not be so obvious all the time. Your brand's online presence, for example, may be complementing your store sales — without your being aware of it much — in a big way. Similarly, your trade fair participation may not be immediately converting into sales, but it may be playing a major role in maintaining your brand awareness in the market. So, ignoring any of the key channels of marketing communication could be fatal for your business.

Each channel of marketing works at different times in different ways. Trade fairs, for example, can be used strategically as an excellent way of making initial contacts; B2B listing helps stay close to potential buyers 24X7; a personalized website is referred to by customers again and again at all stages of sales process; email is particularly important as a prelude to a detailed face-to-face discussion, online media can be used effectively for networking, blogging for product promotion, relevant events to develop business relationships, and so on. Marketing is reinforced only when all these channels are made to work as a unified whole rather than in isolation.

I invite your opinions. Please share your insights with our readers.