Labor Day has come and gone and you know what that means. It’s time to prepare for the final quarter of 2019 and improve your marketing channels. When it comes to marketing, a good place to begin the process is by examining your sales channels.

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A sales channel is defined as any way that you can make a sale to a customer. Some sales channels are familiar to everyone – storefront, website, email marketing – while others, including social media and messaging apps, may not be.

Begin by making a list of every sales channel you’re currently using. The next step is to make sure you know how to access and review the data captured by these channels. Every channel captures some type of data – for example, your website should have Google Analytics to track traffic sources, visitor behavior and more.

Be Aware: This is the point in the process when a lot of people get frustrated and give up, but you want to hang in there – if you want to grow in 2019, you have to be able to work with your data. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. This is a process you can tackle one step at a time.  And help is available if you need it.

Assuming all the data is accurate – that’s a big assumption, but let’s make it for now – what you have available to you is a snapshot of how all of your sales channels have been performing for you. It’s difficult to do an apples to apples comparison because no two platforms collect and report the exact same set of data; that being said, you’ll be able to form a general impression of how things stand right now and the relative importance of each sales channel to your marketing mix. This is vital information to have as you move forward with your plans to attract new customers, strengthen relationships, and generate sales.