Every marketer knows that having a target audience in mind and selecting targeted channels is not only cost effective, but also more likely to generate higher ROI. However, with the dawn of social media, mobile and email marketing, and the low costs related to these channels, its not uncommon to find companies using all three in the hope of capturing optimum attention.

Australian marketers have however began selecting specific digital media channels to send messages through depending on specific content, with 62% doing so, according to a study by digital services provider Responsys.

Surveying 350 senior Australian executives and analysing data from 1 billion email, mobile and social media messages sent between July 2010 and June 2011, the study concluded that advertisers were taking a more targeted approach to digital marketing.

Only 16% of companies utilise all available channels.

The study also found that 77% of companies use social media for marketing purposes, with 89% using Twitter, 87% using Facebook and 63% committing to significantly increasing social media usage.

These channels are primarily being used to spread information and to distribute special offers and other types of sales promotion.

30% of businesses are also incorporating SMS or MMS in their marketing channels, using it mainly to transmit reminders of confirmations.

Simon O’Day, Asia-Pacific vice president of Responsys said: “This coming year we expect a growing shift from email to cross-channel campaigns that leverage mobile, social and the web.”