Cross-Channel Campaign Management for Marketers
Enhance your marketing efforts with cross channel campaign management. Learn how to optimize your campaigns for success.
POST UPDATED:
January 3, 2025
I was a marketer for financial services in a former life. To get new clients, we would run newspaper ads to generate leads. We would switch offers every now and then to keep it fresh; the latest CD rate or a guaranteed fixed-rate annuity, for example. Of course, when someone called, we took the conversation further, asking them other questions, hoping to find an angle for a sale.
Keeping score was easy. We only tracked three metrics: the number of callers who had seen the ad, how many sales we made on those calls, and new account assets. We didn't track how many people had seen the ad because you had no idea. The sales representative from the newspaper would just tell us how many people within a zip code subscribed to the paper. Besides, at that time, we only cared about how many people called in.
It was pretty simple to manage marketing campaigns back then.
Not today.
For the modern marketer, marketing and advertising is much more complex. They must be able to master cross-channel campaign management to be successful.
Your customers use many digital platforms. Social media, email, and websites to name a few. Marketers must be adept at managing cross-channel strategies using several platforms. The trick is to do so using a cohesive strategy.
And that's easier said than done.
The evolution of cross-channel marketing strategies
Cross-channel campaign management has transformed over the last decade. Initially, businesses focused on single channels, such as print and television. The rise of digital channels, including social media, email, and websites, led to early multichannel efforts. But the result was a disjointed customer experience, which created friction in the buying process.
By the mid-2010s, customer relationship (CRM) systems became a valuable tool for getting a unified customer view. Omnichannel marketing emerged, which aims for seamless experiences across online and offline channels. The mobile revolution then created a new channel known as an app.
In recent years, data privacy concerns and regulations have emphasized transparency and consent. New technologies, such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and the Metaverse, continue to reshape how brands connect with customers.
Defining cross-channel campaign management
The consumer's path to purchase is rarely linear. People use several channels and devices to research and buy products. Marketers must understand how consumers interact with brands through these channels. For example, social media, email marketing, and websites each capture attention in unique ways. And for local businesses, customer engagement can take place in a physical location, not just on digital platforms.
Cross-channel marketing merges these interactions into one experience. As simple as this sounds, creating a consistent experience on several channels is actually challenging. Each one has its own capabilities and limitations, so messaging and design can drift gradually over time. I call this brand drift. Brand drift creates inconsistencies that undermine your unique value proposition.
Advances in digital marketing and CRM technology make it easier for companies to use a unified channel strategy. Marketers can now develop campaigns using detailed customer data. This information reveals a lot about their behaviors at each touchpoint. For example, a customer might see a social media ad, receive an email offer, and find the same product highlighted on the brand's website. This coordination keeps the brand in front of the consumer with consistent messaging. As a result, they're more likely to remember and buy the brand's product.
Overcoming the challenges of cross-channel campaign management
Marketers must overcome the challenges of cross-channel campaign management to capitalize on it. In this section, we'll look at the potential problems that arise and strategies for managing them.
Data silos and fragmentation
Customer data is usually scattered across various platforms. Companies often have CRM systems, email marketing platforms, social media analytics, among other data sources. Having several data sources makes it difficult to create a unified customer profile.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) can merge data from all sources into a single, cohesive customer view. This enables marketing teams to create more personalized and effective marketing strategies.
Inconsistent messaging and branding
Maintaining brand consistency can be difficult, especially when the customer experience involves several teams or tools. Businesses must develop and enforce comprehensive brand guidelines. Collaborative platforms for content creation and approval processes ensure consistency in brand messaging.
Complex attribution
Another challenge of cross-channel campaign management is understanding the impact of each channel on the customer's buying decision. For example, someone may see your product for the first time in a social media ad. Then, they might go to your website to learn more about it. After receiving a few product updates via email, they decide to go back to your website and buy the product.
Which channel was responsible for the sale?
Advanced multi-touch attribution models were developed for this very reason. Attribution models provide a fair distribution of credit to each touchpoint along the customer's journey. As a result, marketers can get clearer insights into the effectiveness of each channel.
Resource allocation
Deciding how to invest the budget in channels for optimal return on investment remains a significant concern. Companies can use clear key performance indicators to conduct routine channel performance analysis. Performing this analysis shows marketers how to allocate resources strategically. Automation tools can help optimize spending and effort in real-time.
Keeping up with technological advancements
The digital marketing landscape evolves so fast it can be tough to keep up with new platforms and tools. Successful companies commit to ongoing learning and adaptation. Teams must explore new technologies and integrate beneficial tools into the marketing stack to stay current.
Personalization at scale
One of the biggest problems marketers have is delivering content to customers across several channels while keeping it personal. Automation, by nature, makes it easy to fall into the trap of creating content that sounds generic or canned. To maintain efficiency, leverage AI and machine learning technologies to keep your content personalization in tact. These tools can also analyze customer data and automate personalized messaging at scale.
Privacy and compliance
Customer data is critical in marketing personalization. But balancing it with the growing demands of data privacy laws and regulations can be tricky. Adopt a privacy-first approach in all marketing initiatives. Ensure all data collection and marketing practices follow regulations like GDPR and CCPA to build trust with your audience.
Measuring ROI
Assessing the ROI of cross-channel campaigns can be complex due to the intricate web of customer interactions. Robust analytics platforms that are capable of consolidating data across channels into actionable insights can be helpful. Focus on holistic metrics that reflect overall business impact rather than isolated channel performance.
Organizational alignment
Sometimes the marketing, sales, and service teams have different goals. So, brands must ensure that all departments align and work toward common marketing goals across channels. Promote a culture of communication and collaboration. Regular cross-departmental meetings and shared performance dashboards can maintain focus on unified objectives.
Tools and technologies for cross-channel alignment
To manage cross-channel campaigns, marketers need tools that streamline and automate processes. One of these key tools is a customer data platform (CDP), which consolidates data from various channels into one central location. A single source of data helps marketers analyze the customer journey by organizing all their information.
For example, a company might use a CDP to combine customer interactions from their website, social media, and email campaigns. This unified view lets them see how a customer moves from first contact to purchase. As a result, they can improve future communications.
Automation also plays a crucial role. By automating repetitive tasks, such as email marketing, social media posting, and other data, marketers can be more efficient. Using these tools not only improves campaign management but also leads to better results. Automation can be used to develop customer relationships too. For example, a retailer might use automate a birthday discount email campaign. This task, once set up, runs itself, and that no customer birthday is missed.
Automation also brings consistency and accuracy to marketing. Workflows and triggers that make sure messages reach customers at just the right time can enhance their experience with the brand.
Best practices for cross-channel marketing management
By following these best practices, marketers can create cohesive and effective cross-channel campaigns with higher ROI and drive desired outcomes.
Strategic foundations: Managing key metrics for multichannel campaigns
Successful cross-channel campaign management begins with a solid plan and laser-focused goals. Your goals could be to boost brand awareness, drive sales, or nurture leads. Whatever they are, each goals should have KPIs that you can apply to each platform that support each other.
For example, imagine you are a fashion retailer launching a new line of athleisure wear. Your campaign involves social media, including Instagram, Facebook, email marketing, and your website. Here is a possible cross-channel campaign management strategy:
| KPI | Platforms | Specific Metrics | Insights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reach & Awareness | Instagram, Facebook | Impressions, Reach, Video Views, Social Shares | Understand the initial exposure and virality of your campaign across social channels. |
| Open Rate, Click-Through Rate (CTR) | Gauge initial interest and engagement with your email campaign. | ||
| Engagement | Instagram, Facebook | Likes, Comments, Shares, Saves, Clicks on Links | Assess how actively users interact with your content on social media. |
| Clicks on Links, Replies to Email | Measure the depth of engagement within your email audience. | ||
| Website | Time on Page, Pages per Session, Bounce Rate | Evaluate how users interact with your website content after clicking through from social or email. | |
| Conversions | Website | Add to Cart Rate, Checkout Abandonment Rate, Sales | Assess the effectiveness of your website in converting traffic into purchases. |
| Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) | All Channels | Total Campaign Spend / Number of New Customers | Measure the average cost of acquiring a new customer across all channels, indicating campaign cost-effectiveness. |
| Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) | All Channels | Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency x Avg. Customer Lifespan | Estimate the long-term value of customers acquired through your campaign, indicating long-term profitability. |
| Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) | Instagram, Facebook | Revenue Generated from Ads / Ad Spend | Measure the revenue generated for every dollar spent on social media advertising. |
Applying insights:
- Reach and awareness: If social media impressions are high but engagement is low, you may need make content more compelling or target a different audience.
- Engagement: A high email CTR but low website time-on-page could suggest that your email content is enticing, but your website isn't delivering on the promise.
- Conversions: A high add-to-cart rate but high abandonment rate may reveal issues with your checkout process.
- CAC and CLV: If your CAC is higher than your CLV, you'll need to assess audience targeting or messaging to attract higher-value customers.
- ROAS: A low ROAS on Facebook might mean it's time to experiment with different ad formats or targeting options.
Cross-channel KPIs should align with your business goals. To maintain alignment, regularly review and analyze your data. Don't be afraid to experiment with different channels and tactics to see what works best for your brand.
Also, make sure you understand how to connect with your target audience across different channels. One way to do this is to map the customer journey. Mapping helps you visualize how customers interact with your brand across various touchpoints. What you discover will help your team develop campaigns with a higher degree of confidence and ensure a cohesive experience.
Crafting a compelling and consistent brand narrative
If you don't have a well-defined brand identity, it will be difficult to maintain a consistent narrative on all channels. Without clarity, you'll find yourself experimenting to see what works. When this happens, you end up sending mixed messages and confusing the audience. And when you're close to the brand, as most company leaders are, it's not always easy to see where you're missing the mark.
To achieve messaging consistency, make sure you have clarity for all the following:
- Mission
- Core values
- Persona
- Target audience
Your visual identity (i.e., the logo, color palette, typography, and imagery style) also plays a crucial role.
It is equally important to customize your content for each marketing channel. So, you must understand the nuances of each one, how your audience uses them, and the format that works best. What might be engaging on Instagram may not have the same impact on LinkedIn.
Cross-promotion is a powerful strategy to reinforce your brand narrative. Repurpose and reuse content across different channels. Share snippets of blog posts on social media, promote email sign-ups on your website, and link to your social profiles in email campaigns.
Centralized content planning is essential for a coordinated approach. Use a content calendar to plan and schedule content across all platforms. An editorial review process to vet all content before publication will also ensure it adheres to your brand guidelines.
Embracing agility and adaptability
The best cross-channel campaign managers remain agile. They use tracking and analytics tools to watch campaign performance in real-time. This enables them to analyze the data regularly to spot trends, opportunities, and potential issues.
One of the best ways to remain agile is to keep the lines of communication open. Promote collaboration between marketing, sales, and customer service teams. Regular performance review meetings can help teams make adjustments quickly.
Flexibility and adaptability are at the core of agile marketing. Design campaigns with modular elements that can be adjusted or swapped out as needed. Be prepared for the unexpected with contingency plans, and embrace a mindset of experimentation. Test different approaches, and be ready to pivot if something isn't working.
Need help with cross-channel campaign management?
The dynamic world of cross-channel marketing is here to stay, and modern marketers must master it. If you're ready to take your cross-channel marketing to the next level and unlock its full potential, The Brand Auditors is here to help.
Our team of experts can guide you through the intricacies of cross-channel strategy, data integration, and personalization. Contact us today for a free consultation to see how we can transform your marketing efforts and help you achieve lasting success.
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