The useful question is not which channel is better. It is what your business needs to learn, change or achieve, and what you can support after someone discovers you.
AT A GLANCE
The useful takeaway.
Choose a channel around the action you need, the destination it leads to and what your team can sustain.
Define the action first.
An enquiry, an online purchase and recognition of a new brand are different objectives. Write down the action that matters, the audience you need to reach and what would make that action valuable to your business. A channel choice becomes more useful when those details are clear.
Look at the destination.
Before deciding how to attract visitors, consider where they will arrive. Does the page explain the offer? Is the next step clear? Can your team respond to an enquiry? Sending more people into an unclear experience does not resolve that experience.
Separate your questions.
An SEO brief can investigate how people search and how well your site answers those questions. A paid media brief can investigate audiences, offers, creative and the actions that follow an advert. The two can support the same goal while answering different questions.
Decide what you can sustain.
Consider your content resources, website access, advertising budget and capacity to review the work. A focused brief that your team can support is more useful than a long channel list with no clear owner.
What to bring to the conversation.
Bring your website, current reporting, target market, business goal and available budget. Ask an agency to explain the rationale for its proposed combination, how progress will be reviewed and which costs sit outside its fee.
BRING THIS TO THE CONVERSATION
Your next-step checklist.
- Define the business action and priority audience.
- Review the destination and the enquiry process.
- Separate media, agency and production budgets.
- Agree what you will learn and when to review it.
CONNECT THE THINKING TO THE WORK
Growth strategy & SEO