Marketing Channels

To reach a target market, the marketer uses three kinds of marketing channels.Communication
channels deliver and receive messages from target buyers and include newspapers, magazines, radio,
television, mail, telephone, billboards, posters, fliers, CDs, audiotapes, and the Internet. Beyond
these, firms communicate through the look of their retail stores and Web sites and other media.
Marketers are increasingly adding dialogue channels such as e-mail, blogs, and toll-free numbers to
familiar monologue channels such as ads.

The marketer uses distribution channels to display, sell, or deliver the physical product or
service(s) to the buyer or user. These channels may be direct via the Internet, mail, or mobile phone
or telephone, or indirect with distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and agents as intermediaries.
To carry out transactions with potential buyers, the marketer also uses service channels that include warehouses, transportation companies, banks, and insurance companies. Marketers clearly
face a design challenge in choosing the best mix of communication, distribution, and service channels for their offerings.