A single channel rarely brings in much business for an organization. Customers just don't behave that way. Instead, they tend to engage with a number of channels and experience multiple interactions with brands before they finally make a decision.
For that reason, brands often have no choice but to embrace a multichannel marketing strategy. If your company has deployed one but is struggling to get results, some troubleshooting might be required. Start by checking for one of these common mistakes that brands make when rolling out a multichannel strategy.
The Customer Journey Remains Unknown
How does one piece of marketing content move customers closer to a conversion? This is a crucial point when considering how marketing content serves your business goals. Ad Week argued that in a multichannel marketing strategy, marketers must look at behavioral data to figure out tendencies when it comes to customer activity. Social media may not drive immediate conversions, but perhaps it drives deeper engagement with blog content or email sign-ups, and maybe those email sign-ups are much more effective at driving conversions.
Marketers need to know how these channels relate to one another in order to create effective content. In the scenario laid out, social media should aim to drive a more lasting connection, while email can take a more aggressive role in trying to close the deal. Every company may have a different journey map, so close study of customer behavior is key.
Customer Data Remains Siloed
Data is the fuel that drives a successful multichannel marketing strategy, but data must be accessible to the entire marketing team. Marketers can't just rely on data generated by marketing efforts — any data related to the customer experience must be utilized.
Data must be gathered from every resource possible, and this information should include demographics, purchasing behavior and other data applicable to your marketing strategy.
Data Is Mismanaged and Misunderstood
Mistakes around data can torpedo multichannel strategies in more than one way. Even if you manage to break data out of its silos, creating broad access to the same data sets throughout the organization, this data must still be managed and analyzed correctly. Your business might not have the right tools in place. Analytics tools are essential, and it's important that your analytics be connected to a CRM solution, which can help streamline how customers are viewed and understood through this data.
Content Isn't Consistent Across Channels
As brands produce content for various marketing channels, it's important that this content present consistent messaging and voice. If content isn't viewed through the larger lens of its relation to other materials produced on other channels, this disconnect will be evident to customers, and will disrupt efforts to create a cohesive multichannel experience. Marketing teams should be on the same page when it comes to creating this content, and they should also ensure sales and even executives understand the messaging the company is trying to push.
Whether it's ironing out your data management practices, embracing new technologies or changing the culture of your marketing department, make sure you focus on the finer points that will affect this strategy's success.
