Cross-Channel Marketing: Why Your Business Needs It

Every channel is important, but when it comes to marketing, you cannot forget about cross-channel marketing. With the right approach, companies can use cross-channel marketing to their advantage and set themselves up for success.

Try as they might, no company has completely cornered the market on one channel. As consumers continue to move away from traditional media (and even mobile devices) in favor of real-life experiences and interactions with other people, marketers must explore every possible way to reach out to prospective customers. In this article, we will explain what exactly cross-channel marketing means, and how it can help your business!

What is Cross-Channel Marketing?

Cross-channel marketing is a marketing strategy that involves using more than one marketing channel to target customers. The channels can be online and offline, and each channel may have several touchpoints to the consumer.

What is the Goal of Cross-Channel Marketing?

The main goal of cross-channel marketing is to create a positive brand experience for your business so that you stand out from your competitors. The widespread use of smartphones and social media has made it easier than ever for brands to communicate with their target audience across numerous touchpoints such as email, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click advertising (PPC) and more.

When executed correctly, cross-channel marketing delivers relevant messages at precisely the right time before customers are compelled to make a purchase decision or engage in some other form of business interaction. Cross-channel marketing requires marketers to consider how their customers engage with various devices and media at different stages of the purchase process.

What Marketing Channels Exist?

There are many different marketing channels for your business to choose from when it comes to planning a strong marketing strategy. Here are some of the channels to choose from:

Traditional Media

Traditional media is typically the go-to form of advertising because it has a longer reach and is typically cheaper than digital marketing. It can be difficult to target specific demographics using traditional marketing, but when combined with other forms of advertising, such as digital marketing, the effectiveness of this marketing tactic increases.

Online Advertising

Online advertising is the act of advertising products or services on the internet. Online ads can be displayed on many different websites, including social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Ads are served through an online ad agency to these sites. These agencies typically disperse ads for multiple clients simultaneously with algorithms that optimize for certain keywords within searches to bring up their ads.

Digital Couponing

Digital Couponing is an option for online retailers that sell a wide variety of goods. What it does is offer a simple and easy way to provide promotional offers through the customer’s mobile phone or computer browser. It can also be used as a lead generation tool, whereupon customers have to share their contact information in order to receive the discount. The offer can then be sent as a direct mail coupon or as a link on social media channels such as Facebook.

3 Mistakes to Avoid

In today’s world, there are many different audiences spread out across many different platforms. The younger generation tends to be on many social media platforms while the older generation is more likely to be attracted by an ad they see on the street or newspaper.

That means big brands are well aware that their advertising efforts should stretch beyond Facebook ads and Google display ads. They know that reaching customers requires a multi-channel approach. Brands don’t limit themselves anymore to TV spots, radio, print ads and billboards. Forward-thinking companies of all sizes are using a variety of channels to get their message across. If you’d like to get started on the right foot with cross-channel marketing, here are three mistakes you should avoid:

Focusing Only on Paid Advertising

When done correctly, social media marketing can be a powerful tool for any business. But not every company can afford to pay for advertising space in order to reach new customers and build brand awareness. This is especially true when they’re just getting started and don’t have much money to spend. That’s why many businesses start out by setting up profiles or pages on Facebook and Twitter — they think that this will help them target prospective customers.

Focusing On Big-Name Channels

Some sellers choose to promote their products or services on sites like YouTube, because they’re hoping that users will stumble across their videos by chance and take an interest in what they’re offering. However, this isn’t always the best approach. For one thing, it’s very difficult for companies to rank well on search engines unless they have a lot of backlinks pointing toward their website. There are exceptions to this rule, but it is important to keep in mind that if you want your company’s information to be found online, SEO is key. Otherwise, you’re relying too much on chance.

Not Offering an “Incentive” to Buy

There is a common misconception that advertising is all about making “salesy” pitches to consumers. As such, many companies will try and bury the lead in their ads — they’ll reveal what’s on sale after telling customers why they should care about the product or service first (and as you probably know, this can be irritating). However, it has been proven time and again that buyers respond more favorably to offers than anything else. That’s not to say that every ad — sales or otherwise — should make some kind of pitch; rather, sellers need to develop a clear sense of what their company stands for and how they intend to convey this message at all times.

How Can Outreach Bee Help?

If you are ready to get started with cross-channel marketing, leave the hard work to the experienced team at Outreach Bee with years of experience in the marketing industry. Our professionals can help you ensure that you are making the most of your cross-channel marketing plan. Get in touch with us to get started today!