The Common Mistake: Starting with Channels
“Should we be on TikTok?”, “Should we open a Zalo OA?”, “Is Facebook still effective?”, “Is SEO or Paid Ads better?”
These are common questions in digital marketing. However, if a business starts with the channel, it is easy to choose the wrong solution. Each channel only holds value when it serves a specific growth challenge. TikTok may be excellent for discovery, but not necessarily for lead quality. Google can be effective for capturing existing demand, but cannot independently create new demand. CRM can boost retention, but only if your data and segmentation are clear. A website can be a conversion hub, but it will underperform if the traffic lacks intent.
Growth Challenges Should Be Defined First
Before selecting channels, a business should ask: Where do we need growth?
This could be increasing brand awareness, deepening interest, generating leads, driving online sales, steering customers to physical stores, reactivating dormant customers, increasing purchase frequency, or improving operational efficiency.
Each challenge leads to a different combination of channels, content, data, and tools. If the challenge is reactivation, the solution might lie in CRM, segmentation, and owned channels. If the challenge is content-to-commerce, the solution may require social content, optimized landing pages, performance media, and conversion tracking. If the challenge is O2O (Online-to-Offline), the solution must bridge online intent with offline action.
From Channel Plan to Growth System
A channel plan typically answers: Which channels? What budget? What content? What KPIs? A growth system answers more deeply: Where is the customer in their journey? Which touchpoint influences their decision? What data needs to be captured? What is the next action, and how is it optimized?
This is the fundamental difference between executing digital tasks and building a digital system.
The Digiverse Perspective
At Digiverse, we always begin with the growth challenge. Once the problem is clear, the capability mix becomes apparent: Do you need communication, CX, commerce, data, or technology? Do you need a specific capability or a connected solution? Do you need a short-term campaign or a long-term operating system?
Questions to Get Started
- What is the specific growth priority? Awareness, engagement, leads, conversion, retention, or operational efficiency?
- Where are customers dropping off in the current journey?
- Are existing channels addressing those specific friction points?
- Do current KPIs accurately reflect desired business outcomes?
If you cannot answer these questions yet, you should not be rushing to add more channels.
