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Do you know where your customers are? Are they on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook? Do they prefer reading blogs or watching videos? Consumers are present on multiple channels, and as a marketer, you need to reach them where they are.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, The buyer journey is no longer linear, with 73% of customers using multiple channels during their buying process. Google’s survey also supports this, revealing that when browsing from a desktop, consumers interact with an average of 3.4 touchpoints before making a purchase.
So, You can’t rely on just one channel to target or engage with your potential customers. Customers will not see your message if you only market on one channel. Cross-channel advertising is the answer to this problem.
“A juggling act where you get all the balls of advertising in one spot.” This is how cross-channel advertising is often described. It involves creating and executing marketing campaigns that span multiple online and offline channels. These channels can include social media, search engines, websites, email, mobile apps, print media, TV commercials, and more.
The goal of cross-channel advertising is to have a cohesive and consistent message across all channels, providing customers with a seamless experience as they move from one channel to another. This approach allows you to reach potential customers at various touchpoints in their buyer journey, increasing the chances of conversion.
Cross-channel advertising is often confused with omnichannel advertising, but the two have significant differences. Cross-channel advertising focuses on using multiple channels to reach and engage customers. This means advertising on different platforms and mediums, but the messaging and strategies may not be integrated. You may have separate campaigns for each channel, and the messaging may not be consistent.
While omnichannel advertising goes a step further by providing a consistent experience across all channels. It considers the customer’s entire journey, whether from a desktop or mobile device, online or offline. It aims to create a unified and personalized experience for the customer, regardless of their channel.
For example, if a customer adds an item to their online shopping cart and then later visits the physical store, they should be able to pick up where they left off on the website. This integration of channels breaks down the silos between online and offline channels, creating a more holistic and customer-centric approach.
Cross-channel advertising uses data to create a unified customer profile and journey. Let’s break down the process step by step:
The first step in cross-channel advertising is collecting data from all the channels you are using. This data can include customer demographics, behavior, interests, search history, purchase history, and more.
The data may be collected through various methods such as cookies, website tracking, social media interactions, email subscriptions, loyalty programs, and more. With the decline in third-party cookies, marketers are relying on first-party data to gain insights into customer behavior. To effectively collect data from multiple channels, you need a solid analytics system that can track and measure interactions across channels.
Once you have collected the data, it’s time to create a unified customer profile. Buyer personas or customer segmentation is at the core of this step. You need a solid understanding of your target audience, their pain points, interests, behavior, and preferences to go for multiple channels. Gathering this information from different channels can help you create a comprehensive customer profile.
Next comes mapping out the customer journey. This involves understanding the different touchpoints a customer may have with your brand and how they interact with each channel during their buying process.
A unified profile combines all the data points from different channels to create a 360-degree view of the customer. This step helps you identify the gaps and opportunities in your customer journey and allows you to create a cohesive experience across channels.
You can use data management platforms (DMPs) to consolidate and organize the data from different channels into a single customer profile. CRM systems can also be valuable in providing a more detailed view of individual customers.
You can now plan and execute cross-channel campaigns with a unified customer profile and journey. You can use the insights from your data to personalize the messaging for each channel. For example, if a customer has abandoned their online cart, you can retarget them through email or social media with a special offer to complete their purchase.
You can also use the data to optimize your campaigns for each channel. For instance, if a particular ad performs well on social media, you can use that insight to create similar ads for other channels.
Viewers will interact with your campaign in their preferred channel and with a personalized message. You must fine-tune your messaging and creatives for specific segments and channels to achieve this. For instance, the smart content feature by Hubspot allows you to personalize your website content based on the user’s location, device, referral source, and more.
Now that your cross-channel campaigns are live, you can allocate or adjust your budget based on the performance of each channel. By analyzing the data, you can identify which channels deliver the best ROI and which need improvement. You can also track customer engagement and conversions across different touchpoints to get a holistic understanding of your campaign’s success.
The KPIs you measure will depend on your specific campaign goals and objectives. For example, if you aim to increase brand awareness, you may track metrics like reach and impressions. If it’s lead generation, you may focus on conversion rates. Having this data allows you to make informed decisions and optimize your cross-channel campaigns for better results.
Cross-channel attribution models determine how much credit each channel receives for a conversion or sale. If a customer purchases after seeing an ad on social media, receiving an email, and clicking on a search ad, which channel should get the most credit for the sale? Cross-channel attribution models aim to answer this question by assigning a percentage of credit to each touchpoint in the customer journey.
Here are some commonly used cross-channel attribution models:
First Interaction Attribution: The first interaction gives all the credit to the first touchpoint a customer interacts with.
Last Interaction Attribution: The last interaction model credits the last touchpoint a customer interacts with before converting.
Linear Attribution: This model divides the credit equally among all touchpoints in the customer journey.
Time Decay Attribution: Time decay attribution gives more weight to the touchpoints closest to the conversion and less to earlier interactions.
Multi-Touch Attribution: This model assigns a unique percentage of credit to each touchpoint in the customer journey, considering both early and late interactions.
Data is the foundation of cross-channel advertising. To effectively track and measure interactions across channels, you need a solid data management system.
A customer data platform (CDP) is a centralized database that collects and organizes customer data from social media, email marketing, website interactions, and more. This unified data allows you to create a comprehensive customer profile and track channel interactions.
A CRM system can also be valuable in this process, providing a more detailed view of individual customers, their preferences, and purchase history. By integrating data from your CDP and CRM, you can completely understand your customers and their journey.
Creating a cohesive experience across channels requires a multi-touchpoint campaign strategy. This means using a combination of channels and touchpoints to reach your audience throughout their journey.
For example, you can use social media ads to drive traffic to your website and then follow up with personalized email marketing. This multi-touchpoint approach allows you to engage with customers at different touchpoints and increases the chances of conversion.
One of the key benefits of cross-channel advertising is the ability to personalize messaging for different audience segments. You can create targeted and relevant messages for each channel by utilizing the data from your CDP and CRM.
For example, you can use location data to target local customers with specific promotions or use purchase history to recommend related products in email marketing. This level of personalization can greatly improve customer engagement and conversion rates.
The formats and creatives you use for each channel also make a difference. To increase engagement and conversions, tailor your messaging and creatives to each platform’s audience and format. Consistency in brand messaging and design elements across channels is also key.
This means using the same brand voice, visuals, and key messages to create a cohesive experience for your audience. This consistency builds trust with customers and reinforces your brand identity.
Cross-channel advertising can build brand awareness, improve customer engagement, and drive conversions if done correctly. Multiple touchpoints and personalizing messaging for different segments can increase the chances of converting a potential customer into a paying one.
If you have limited resources or expertise, outsourcing your cross-channel advertising efforts to a partner is a viable option.
VenziMedia, a leading demand-side platform (DSP), can help you efficiently plan, run, and optimize your cross-channel campaigns. With our expertise in real-time bidding and machine learning algorithms, we deliver targeted ads to the right audience where and when they are most likely to convert.
