In an age when we need to get more impact, for less investment, cross-channel marketing can be a useful tactic. However, the process of not just reaching, but engaging with, your target audience via a range of channels including social media, websites, email, mobile and offline isn’t without its challenges. We discuss inside tips for cross-channel optimisation.
Defining omnichannel and multichannel marketing
Cross-channel marketing presents an opportunity for organisations to portray a cohesive brand message throughout multiple channels. This can help to gain exposure and build trust and is an increasingly popular tactic in both B2B and B2C marketing. When developing your cross-channel strategy, one of the first considerations is whether you are seeking omnichannel or multichannel experience for your target audience. The distinction between the two is subtle, but it can make a big difference in your strategy.
An omnichannel experience focuses on the customer, and sees channels and platforms aligned within one customer journey; the customer can pick up where they left off and expect the same processes, platform, information and branding whether they are on their mobile, a website, or even on the shop floor. Multichannel is a little simpler and focuses on optimising each channel; the branding and the messaging are consistent across channels, but they act independently of each other.
Content integration
According to digital marketing specialists, Bravr, content forms the backbone of SEO interactions, bridging the all-important gap between visibility and engagement. While keyword research is, of course, vital, building relevant content around that research is central to being visible in the first instance and engaging in the second. For both omni and multichannel approaches, high-quality content is becoming increasingly important. High quality content allows your organisation to engage with its target audience and demonstrate its value and reliability. When integrated across social media channels, this effect is amplified; a blog post on a website will possibly gain traction but you make the content work for you by publishing it across social media platforms and interaction is encouraged it is possible improve reach and gain additional traffic.
Keyword optimisation
Just as there is little value in attracting people to your site if you don’t have adequate content to keep them there, there is no point investing in engaging content if nobody can see it. Skilled keyword research will allow you to optimise your content in a way that enables you to reach the people that you want to reach, when and where you want to reach them. There is a fine line to be walked when it comes to keyword optimisation; the temptation can be to go for the most obvious, high-volume terms but these terms also have the most competition for them. A combination of carefully selected, high volume keywords and lower volume, niche keywords can help your site to be considered as trustworthy and authentic up by search engines, which will in turn meant that it will be listed higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Mobile marketing
There is a wealth of research that shows us how important mobile optimisation is. The numbers vary, but the message is clear: most buyers will research online before they buy. It is, therefore, not surprising that mobile marketing is another central consideration when creating a robust cross-channel marketing strategy. Mobile marketing doesn’t just allow you to reach your target audience on the go; they present the opportunity to interact with your audience in multiple ways, from SMS messages to push notifications, apps and, of course, web searches. Mobiles are rarely very far from their owners, which means that they offer you 24-hour access to your target audience, as well as presenting the opportunity to exploit services based on location for a truly tailored campaign. Provided mobile marketing initiatives do not tip the balance from personalised to invasive, they have the potential for you to leverage multiple approaches to reach your ideal customer.
Analysis and reiteration
Data is the bread and butter for any skilled SEO specialist, and when it comes to cross-channel marketing, it has even more information to offer. Analysis of interactions and performance metrics across channels will allow you to assess what works on the whole, and what works better and less well for different channels. From here, you can experiment with adjusting your content slightly for different channels or focus on your bigger successes while investigating how you can achieve similar success elsewhere. When it comes to the bigger picture, SEO tools will allow you to track traffic, conversion rate and rankings; when combined with individual platform data it is possible to see the broader impact as well as areas for improvement.
There can be a temptation to think that cross-channel marketing is only applicable for B2C marketing; in fact, the best time to reach a busy professional is when they are not actively working, for example on the commute to or from work, or even when they are in the bathroom! The aim of cross channel marketing is to actively reach out to your ideal customer, as well as simply being there when they want to reach out to you; because truly brilliant marketing is a two-way conversation.
When organisations say they can’t afford to invest in marketing, the answer is usually that they can’t afford not to. For leaders looking to outperform the competition in an increasingly crowded space, investing in experienced marketers to lead you to a strong cross-channel marketing strategy may be one of the best decisions that you make.
