5 Tips for a Successful Cross-Channel Marketing Campaign

In today's digital marketplace, most brands know that they can no longer expect to use just a single channel to reach their customers. Many brands are creating content for a variety of social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and more.

So, you may think that these brands are using a cross-channel marketing strategy – but it's not quite as simple as that. Posting the same content to these multiple channels is not enough to see significant results, and a much more personalised approach is required. In fact, 92% of marketers say that their customers and prospective customers expect a personalised experience. 

With cross-channel marketing, brands can reach their target audience wherever they are with a unified and personalised approach across platforms. If you can implement this successfully, the results include increased brand awareness, an enhanced customer journey, and better engagement across platforms. 

In this article, you'll discover exactly what cross-channel marketing is, why it is beneficial, and five tips for building a successful cross-channel marketing campaign.

What is cross-channel marketing?

Cross-channel marketing is a digital marketing strategy where brands use multiple channels to reach their target audience. The purpose of cross-channel marketing is for customers to have a seamless and consistent experience with your brand, no matter which platform they are using. 

Cross-channel marketing vs. multi-channel marketing

Although there are similarities between cross-channel and multi-channel marketing, it is important to note that they are not the same thing. Both terms are related to the customer experience on multiple channels but are separate concepts, which we will describe below. 

Multi-channel marketing

Multi-channel marketing is a general term used to describe how multiple channels are used for different campaigns. This strategy focuses on each channel in isolation. For example, your social media strategy will have different goals from your email marketing strategy. 

Cross-channel marketing

Cross-channel marketing also uses multiple channels to reach the customer but in a much more unified and integrated way. Brands will have a single goal or campaign which is consistent across all channels and tailored to connect with the customers on their preferred platform.

What are the benefits of cross-channel marketing?

While multi-channel marketing campaigns coexist as part of a wider strategy, cross-channel marketing campaigns work together towards the same goal. Some businesses are even investing in tools such as Dialpad's omnichannel contact centres to handle communications with their customers across their preferred channels. Integrating your cross-channel marketing and customer communications leads to a better customer experience overall.

This cross-channel marketing strategy not only improves the experience for your customers but builds brand awareness, recognition, and trust with your target audience. Let's explore some of the benefits of cross-channel marketing in more detail. 

1. Build strong brand awareness

With a successful cross-channel marketing campaign, your brand becomes easily recognisable. 

Not only that but the more visible your brand is across multiple channels, the easier it is for your audience to find you – no matter what their preferred channel is. As your customers are exposed to your brand's message throughout their journey, it becomes impossible to ignore. It is more likely that you will pique their interest and convert them.

2. Perfect the customer journey

The customer journey is at the heart of a good cross-channel marketing campaign. Creating a customer journey omnichannel experience allows customers to become familiar with your brand, build more trust, and, therefore, become more likely to make a purchase.

A well-thought-out campaign guides the customer through the purchasing process effectively, ensuring it is optimised and personalised to the customer's needs. 

With effective cross-channel marketing, customers can pick up where they left off on different channels and receive consistent messages whenever or however they connect with your brand. Organisations using a virtual phone number for business, for example, can ensure employees can connect with customers no matter where they are and enhance the cross-channel journey even further.

If customers see inconsistent or even conflicting messages on different channels, this can be very confusing and should be avoided at all costs. Using a cross-channel marketing strategy simplifies and perfects the consumer journey, which ultimately leads to happier customers who are likely to return. 

3. Increase customer engagement

Cross-channel marketing not only increases brand awareness and enhances the customer journey but also increases customer engagement with your brand. By creating consistent and more meaningful brand interactions, customers can build a relationship with your brand, and therefore, your customer engagement will increase. 

An effective cross-channel marketing campaign will increase your engagement across your channels and can lead to more followers on Instagram and other social media channels. But remember, your strategy must be consistent, meaningful, and personalised to be effective.

According to Moengage, almost two-thirds of consumers said they expected a curated shopping experience when shopping with a brand they use regularly. When you make customers feel like they are getting a personalised experience rather than generic content, they will be more likely to form an emotional connection to your brand and, therefore, become loyal customers. 

5 tips for building a successful cross-channel marketing campaign

So, now you know what cross-channel marketing is and what some of its benefits are, it's time to discuss how you can successfully implement a cross-channel marketing campaign for your brand. Here, we will explore 5 tips for achieving this. 

1. Gather data 

It's not possible to build an effective cross-channel marketing campaign personalised to your customer's needs without first gaining an understanding of who your customers are. Before you begin the process of developing a cross-channel marketing campaign, you must gather and examine data about your customers' needs, habits, and expectations. 

To ensure you build a successful cross-channel marketing campaign, you should consider gathering information on the following: 

• Customer demographics: Information such as age, location, gender, life stage etc. 
• User behaviour: Utilise user experience analytics such as website analytics to gather data such as which pages users visit and how long they stay on your site
• Conversion rates: Which channels are converting more users into paying customers?
• Social media analytics and insights: How much engagement do you have on each of your channels, and how does this translate to paying customers? 

These are just some examples of the data you can gather to build an accurate picture of your customers and their behaviour. In doing so, you can create a cross-channel marketing campaign with your customers at the centre. 

2. Create customer personas 

Using the data you have gathered, you can then create customer personas. Understanding your audience and their personas is essential if you want to create a personalised experience. This means understanding their habits, preferences, behaviour, and pain points throughout their customer journey. 

Your brand will likely attract multiple customer personas, and it's important to understand each one in turn. For example, you may notice that a particular customer persona has much higher levels of engagement with your mobile app versus your website. Knowing this helps you tailor your cross-channel marketing campaign to meet their needs, specifically on the app. 

Personalisation is where cross-channel marketing really shines, and using data on your customer personas will help you identify what is working and where more personalisation is needed in your strategy. 

3. Map the customer journey 

After you define your customer personas and understand their behaviour, you can map out their customer journey. In doing so, you understand what their journey looks like step by step, can identify specific pain points along the way, and work on improving those. You can also understand the key decision-making points in their journey and connect with them more strategically at those important times.  

The more you understand your customers and their journey, the better placed you are to connect with them in a meaningful way. To meet the requirements of some customers, you may need to learn how to fax with a computer or how to integrate AI chatbots into your customer service strategy. Understanding all of this before you implement a cross-channel marketing campaign is essential. 

4. Develop your cross-channel marketing strategy 

Now that you have done all the groundwork, it's time to formulate your cross-channel marketing strategy. 

Consider exploring partnerships with relevant influencers or websites through affiliate programs to expand your brand's reach and attract a wider audience. 

Remember that personalisation is key, so you need to meet the needs of your customers and ensure the customer journey is as smooth as possible for them. For example, a business based in the United Arab Emirates may decide to use the .ae domain from OnlyDomains to make better connections with local customers or clients. 

It's important that your goal or message is the same across your channels – it's just delivered in a different way depending on the channel used and the customer persona you are hoping to target. For example, you may leverage social media influencers to highlight an exciting new product line and promote your new product through an email marketing campaign.

5. Track and optimise KPIs

Now that you have developed and implemented a cross-channel marketing strategy, it's essential that you measure its success by setting and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs could include conversion rates, churn rates, or even evaluating the SEO value of your content. 

Tracking KPIs for your cross-channel marketing campaign will help you to understand what is working and where you need to re-think. You can then make informed decisions about current and future campaigns and optimise your strategy based on your desired outcomes. 

Final thoughts

When all of your channels are well-integrated in a successful cross-channel marketing campaign, the customer experience will be better, your customer engagement will increase, and you will gain stronger brand awareness. 

You should also leverage marketing data analytics to ensure your cross-channel marketing efforts are measured and tracked effectively. In doing so, you can make improvements and ensure your strategy is driving the results you want to see. 

Remember that personalisation and consistency are the key driving factors behind a successful cross-channel marketing campaign. Keep the customers at the forefront of your strategy and remain consistent, and you will reap the benefits.