Why a Multichannel Campaign Will Get You the Best Results

Direct mail is an amazing marketing tactic. But postal fees are expensive, and direct mail is a one-off occurrence. The recipient opens the mail and either takes action, or tosses it. Furthermore, the success of your entire campaign is limited to about a one-month time frame.

It’s a marketing-science fact, however, that most people need to see a message multiple times to fully process the message and then act on it. So, how do you keep your message in the market longer? Simple: Use the multi-channel approach.

Be where your prospects are

The multi-channel concept is pretty simple. It’s based on the premise that you must be where your prospects are—and these days they’re all over the place. They’re on Facebook; they’re checking email; they’re visiting your website; they’re surfing the Internet on mobile phones; they’re driving down the street and glimpsing billboards; they’re watching TV and, as illustrated above, they’re sifting through postal mail.

It’s okay to reach your audience via different channels; just make sure that the channels are consistent so customers will recognize your brand as a whole. In fact, Mashable reported that 72% of consumers prefer an integrated marketing approach. It’s all about giving people choices.

Implementing the multichannel approach

Implementing an integrated-marketing approach is easier said than done. It’s very tricky to determine which media channel to use. According to Fast Company, 78% of “companies believe [cross-channel marketing is] important or very important, more than half (51%) still believe their current marketing efforts fall short due to a lack of analytics that provide cross-channel data.”

The best way to see what works best is to follow a step-by-step approach. According to VerticalResponse, you should:

“Set goals: With any marketing effort, before embarking on your new venture write down what it is exactly you are trying to accomplish (generate awareness, leads, revenue?), along with target numbers not just for the overall campaign, but for each channel that you plan on using.

Get buy-in: Building an integrated marketing plan requires a decent amount of work and patience before seeing results, so make sure anyone that has a say in the matter is aware of your plan, the opportunities and risks involved, and gives you the thumbs-up to move forward.

Bridge silos: You might not be the owner of all the channels that will be going into your cross-channel marketing plan (for instance, Sales might own the telemarketing aspect, while PPC ads belong to demand generation). So, coordinate with each team leader so everyone knows which part they have to play. Also, determine how credit will be given to each team if the campaign proves successful.

Keep everything consistent: Note that this strategy is called cross-channel, not cross-message. Keep your communications consistent across all channels to avoid confusing your audience, as well as faithful to your brand guidelines, so that your intended recipient knows all these touches are coming from the same company (preferably yours).

Set up sound tracking processes: There isn’t one absolutely foolproof way of measuring the success of such campaigns (yet), as the Forrester report pointed out. So, use the tools proper to each channel, and check for any increase in clicks or conversions. Google Analytics is actually a good starting point to serve as hub for your integrated reporting, as you can create dashboards based on lead source as well as perform some basic funnel analysis.

Rinse, repeat: Whether your campaign is ongoing or has come to an end, make sure to keep an eye on your results by channel and tweak as needed.”

“78% of “companies believe [cross-channel marketing is] important or very important, more than half (51%) still believe their current marketing efforts fall short due to a lack of analytics that provide cross-channel data.”

– Fast Company.

Tags: content, direct mail, marketing, multichannel