Multichannel marketing isn’t a new concept – marketers have been utilising multiple channels and approaches to reach audiences for a while now, and plenty of marketers are aware of how effective a truly integrated strategy can be.
However, too many brands rely on a multichannel strategy without truly understanding how to execute one with ROI in mind – we’re here to help. If you build a strategy without considering the needs of your audience, the capabilities of your team, and the reach of your brand, then you’ve failed before your campaign has had an opportunity to launch. We’ve put together the key tips for brands to ensure maximum effectiveness when planning a new multichannel marketing strategy.
Engaging in the post-digital world
“Post-digital” sounds scary, but it’s not. Put simply, the modern consumer is far beyond reach when it comes to traditional digital marketing. With the majority of brands already aware of how important a strong digital presence is, consumers are increasingly looking for a more personal, experiential encounter with their brand of choice – something that’s only achievable through well-executed, well-strategised multichannel campaigns.
“Wait, what’s multichannel marketing?”
Once brands are able to reach their audiences at multiple touchpoints, and across platforms, they’re able to encompass the whole customer journey – meaning that they can influence buyer behaviours, grow their customer base, and build a stronger brand over time. With the right channel mix, the right team, and the right data at your fingertips, reaching your ideal customer isn’t a shot in the dark, but rather a completely targeted strategy.
Strategic channel choice
For a multichannel marketing strategy to succeed, you need to be aware of the channels that work for your brand, and which appeal most to your customers. It’s all too easy for brands to sink time, energy and resources into having a presence across all channels, only to find that only one of them culminates in real results. Take the time to check on your current platforms to see what, historically, has performed best. This isn’t just social media – you should also consider how your target audience reacts to paid advertising, digital PR, organic content, email marketing, and any other communications that you regularly send. Multichannel marketing isn’t an excuse to blast content across multiple channels all at once, but instead is a strategy that carefully considers:
- The platforms that work for you
- The rules and best practices for each channel
- What your buyers’ journey looks like
You should be able to map out who your customer is, what they want to see from your brand, and where they want to see it. From there, you can build out your multichannel marketing strategy.
Making it personal
The most important part of a successful strategy in 2021 is easy – make it personal. In recent years, new technologies have ensured that the buying process for any product or services is becoming increasingly personalised. Whether it’s ordering custom dog food, seeing your AI-recommended ‘for you’ list, or even just the slightly-concerning realisation that the shirt you looked at two weeks ago is following you online, the buying process is increasingly complex.
Multichannel marketing creates this personalised experience – by reaching your audience at multiple touchpoints, you’re able to customise and guide the journey as they go on it. From awareness of your brand to purchasing your product, they can engage with your brand multiple times, in a way that suits them. You could plan an experiential event for a product launch, use broad ads to spread the word, utilise influencer marketing and PR to hit your target demographics, and ultimately ensure that your in-person audience is actually your target audience. Using channels that work together in this way means that you can influence the way your buyers think – useful for long-term brand building.
Multichannel marketing: key points
1. Know your audience
Step one – you need to know your audience. This is true for all marketing, but it’s particularly important if you’re trying to target across multiple platforms. Consider the demographic, their most used platforms and channels, and where in their buying journey they’re most likely to engage with your brand. If you get this planning stage wrong, you risk sinking a large budget into a campaign that generates very little ROI.
2. Understand the channels you’re using
Each channel has unique rules. Whether it’s understanding the Instagram algorithm, knowing what type of ads are going to generate the best CTR, or getting the best PR for your brand, you need to know how to get your messaging out there in a way that’s tailored for maximum engagement, but still completely on brand.
3. Keep your campaign connected
If one channel starts performing better than another, don’t be tempted to put all your eggs in one basket. Ultimately, the success of a multichannel marketing campaign is due to each part of the strategy – without one aspect of the puzzle, you risk jeopardising the entire thing. Analyse and experiment with your multichannel efforts, but make sure that you don’t slip into just focusing on one channel.
Are you maximising the right channels for your brand?
Carrying out a channel analysis is often not high on the agenda for busy marketing teams, we get it. But giving your marketing activity a regular audit can potentially help you get more from your budget and generate better results. We’re TrunkBBI, an award winning integrated marketing agency that partners with brands to help them accelerate growth through content-led, performance marketing campaigns. Our clients benefit from our team of strategic thinkers, creators, digital marketers and technologists, that work together to deliver smart, integrated solutions that achieve meaningful results.