Multi-channel marketing can seem like a daunting task — so many different mediums, so many different ways to promote your business. It is easy to get lost and thus waste money on marketing strategies that, in the end, lead to few sales. How can you successfully navigate the sea of marketing opportunities?

Look at a giant company like Coca-Cola. When promoting its new “green” bottle, the soda manufacturer, rather than dumping money into  every social and marketing channel available, stepped back and assessed its situation. Coca-Cola managed to successfully sell the idea of the “green” bottle to multiple demographics through simple campaigns that appealed emotionally to their respective audiences. You can achieve similar success, if you follow these guidelines.

First, do not approach multi-channel marketing as a complex endeavor. Yes, each individual channel requires a different “voice” and panders to a different demographic, but that does not mean that you need to treat your users as beings that switch personalities as they switch social networks. Your followers, your customers, are real people. Treat them as such.

Appeal to your fan base’s emotions. Most people make decisions based on emotions rather than facts, so why not capitalize on that? Meet your followers’ emotional expectations by showing them things you know that they will like about your business. Build up their expectations and then meet them.

Finally, pick the channels best suited to your business. When Coca-Cola was promoting its “green” bottle, the company was sure to market on the right channels, in the right way. You should follow suite. For instance, if you have a product or service geared exclusively toward young people, consider emphasizing your outreach on Snapchat and Instagram. Do not waste time promoting yourself in an area where you will just be considered white noise. The smart marketer finds his niche and capitalizes on it.

Pick and choose your channels carefully; appeal to you followers’ needs. This, combined with an ability to flexibly finesse a campaign, will lead to your success.

See INCITE GROUP for more.