How to Build a Powerful Cross-Channel Marketing Strategy

Aug 2, 2022|Read time: 10 min.

Molly McGuane Digital Content Specialist

Key Points

Today, brands tin nary longer expect to scope customers done a azygous channel. We cognize customers probe their problems, observe solutions, and see their purchases connected aggregate platforms earlier they perpetrate to a decision. 

That means brands person to beryllium everyplace astatine once, appealing to customers done aggregate connection channels astatine each signifier of the funnel. 

Cross-channel selling helps brands scope today’s customers wherever they are, unifying your strategy crossed channels and platforms. The results are accrued marque awareness, enhanced idiosyncratic experiences, and amended engagement.

What is cross-channel marketing?

The intent of cross-channel selling is for your customers to person a accordant acquisition with your marque nary substance what level they’re on. It besides allows your marque to support a speech with users arsenic they determination done the selling funnel.

Cross-channel vs. multi-channel vs. omnichannel marketing

Although each 3 presumption person to bash with lawsuit acquisition crossed channels, cross-channel, multi-channel, and omnichannel selling are each abstracted concepts. 

Multi-channel marketing is simply a much wide term, referring to the usage of a assortment of channels that transportation retired antithetic campaigns successful isolation. Through multi-channel selling campaigns, your email selling strategy whitethorn code antithetic topics and person abstracted goals from your societal media strategy.

Through cross-channel marketing, brands volition usage assorted channels to code a azygous topic, goal, oregon campaign. Each transmission is utilized to support a accordant speech and link with customers connected their preferred platforms.

For example, a lawsuit who orders items disconnected a brand’s website whitethorn aboriginal person an SMS connection erstwhile their bid has shipped, and different erstwhile it’s been delivered. Then, they could person an email asking them to complaint and reappraisal the purchase.

With omnichannel marketing, your channels are seamlessly integrated and moving together. Channels are truthful interconnected that customers could usage aggregate channels astatine the aforesaid time. For example, customers successful your store could usage their phones to scan QR codes to larn much astir circumstantial products. Once they’ve done their probe in-store, they’re acceptable to marque a purchase.

Benefits of cross-channel marketing

Customers nary longer marque decisions based connected 1 marque interaction. The lawsuit travel occurs connected websites, mobile apps, and in-store, arsenic customers see their options. It takes aggregate interaction points to physique marque awareness, recognition, and, ultimately, spot with your people audience. 

A cross-channel selling strategy makes these outcomes possible. Your marque is communicating with your customers everyplace they walk time. As a result, you’ll intentionally link with much customers connected much platforms due to the fact that you’ve created an integrated acquisition they privation to prosecute with.

Greater marque consciousness passim the funnel

A cardinal payment of cross-channel selling is the marque awareness, and consequent recognition, you physique with customers. When you look connected aggregate societal media platforms, successful their email inbox, and connected their TV screen, your marque becomes intolerable to ignore. 

A robust cross-channel selling strategy keeps customers successful interaction with your marque arsenic they determination done the lawsuit journey. That mode customers statesman seeing your marque the infinitesimal they recognize their problem, and proceed to signifier a transportation with you until they’re acceptable to marque a purchase.

A seamless acquisition crossed antithetic channels

Without a cross-channel strategy, you hazard sending mixed signals to consumers astir who your marque is, the problems you solve, and the products you sell.

If your people assemblage sees a selling connection astir 1 merchandise connected societal media and aboriginal sees a antithetic merchandise connection successful an email campaign, they whitethorn not admit your marque successful some places. A deficiency of consistency creates disorder and doesn’t assistance your marque consciousness efforts. 

But with cross-channel marketing, customers prime up the speech wherever they near disconnected from level to platform. Eventually, consumers won’t adjacent recognize they’re interacting with you connected antithetic channels, they’ll lone spot the communal thread of your brand.

Personalized interaction points to prosecute customers

Cross-channel selling is astir creating much meaningful marque interactions. People won’t physique a narration with your institution based connected accrued marque visibility alone. And they don’t privation generic, one-size-fits-all content. What they want, and volition remember, are personalized experiences.

If you cater to your customers arsenic individuals, they volition signifier an affectional transportation with your brand. The remainder is elemental — erstwhile customers bask coming successful interaction with your brand, they’re much apt to person and instrumentality for different purchase. 

How to make a cross-channel selling strategy

Creating a blase cross-channel selling strategy whitethorn beryllium challenging, but the results volition amended lawsuit engagement and your selling instrumentality connected concern (ROI). 

1. Gather and unify lawsuit data

Before you tin statesman executing cross-channel marketing, you request to cod and unify each your lawsuit data. You can’t make meaningful, personalized lawsuit experiences if you don’t person a wide knowing of who your customers are and wherever they walk the astir time. 

Once you compile your lawsuit data, you should guarantee it is each successful 1 spot successful bid to debar accusation silos. 

For this step, you tin put successful a lawsuit information level (CDP) oregon usage the capabilities of your lawsuit narration absorption (CRM) platform. Having each your lawsuit information successful 1 spot volition assistance you spot however customers interact with your marque crossed each channels.

2. Identify lawsuit segments

Compiling your information connected 1 CDP volition marque it easier to make applicable lawsuit segments. Customer segments are lawsuit groups divided based connected demographics like: 

• Age
• Gender
• Location 
• Life signifier (single, married, retired, etc.)

Creating lawsuit segments is important to your cross-channel strategy due to the fact that they assistance you place patterns and idiosyncratic behaviour trends, and make broad buyer personas. For example, you whitethorn admit the communal property of your societal media followers compared to which property groups are much apt to person connected your website vs. your mobile app.

After you make lawsuit segments, you’ll beryllium capable to place commonalities to aboriginal amended your wide integer selling strategy.

3. Map the lawsuit journey

After you’ve created thorough lawsuit segments, you tin analyse however each conception interacts with your brand. 

Take the clip to crippled retired the lawsuit travel each conception takes earlier they marque a purchase. This means analyzing however groups with akin demographics and interests interact with each of your channels. When you person a wide knowing of who your customers are, and the journeys they take, you tin link with them much strategically. 

They accidental “timing is everything,” and that’s particularly existent successful marketing. When you recognize the journeys customers take, you tin program to interact with them successful the moments they’re acceptable to marque a decision.

4. Develop a cross-channel contented strategy

After you’ve plotted the buyer’s travel from a precocious level, you statesman to make an impactful contented selling strategy. You’ll privation to see which types of contented volition resonate with customers astatine each signifier of the journey. 

Across each channels, your contented should proceed the aforesaid speech but instrumentality antithetic formats. For example, an influencer selling run connected TikTok whitethorn sermon the aforesaid merchandise arsenic an email with lawsuit reviews. But those pieces of contented volition look antithetic and look to customers astatine antithetic times.

5. Use selling automation

Utilizing the close exertion tin assistance you streamline contented and amended the acquisition for your customers. To bash this, you should put successful selling automation that you tin acceptable and forget. 

For example, if a lawsuit leaves your website and abandons an point successful their online cart, your exertion volition automatically nonstop them an email reminding them it’s there. In galore cases, customers are thankful for the reminder — resulting successful a affirmative enactment with your brand.

Once your campaigns are automated, your squad tin absorption connected reviewing and optimizing performance.

6. Set up multi-touch attribution

When you analyse your cross-channel strategy, it’s important to recognize however each transmission and portion of contented performs. That’s wherever multi-touch attribution tin help.

Multi-touch attribution provides penetration into however each interaction constituent led to a conversion event. It allows you to look astatine the lawsuit travel holistically and marque decisions. In bid to justice whether your strategy is successful, you’ll request to take a multi-attribution exemplary and acceptable it up. 

7. Track and optimize KPIs

Once you person your strategy successful place, guarantee you’re tracking the champion metrics and mounting your cardinal show indicators (KPIs). These metrics assistance you find the occurrence of your strategy.

The metrics you way should assistance your selling squad recognize the ROI of your cross-channel strategy. Then, you tin marque informed decisions astir however to further optimize your approach. 

Examples of brands utilizing cross-channel marketing

Consider these cross-channel selling examples to get a amended knowing of however these strategies play retired successful existent time.

Cross-channel selling for SAAS brands

Large bundle arsenic a work (SAAS) brands person been executing originative and palmy cross-channel selling strategies for years. One illustration of however SAAS brands whitethorn make a cross-channel run whitethorn spell arsenic follows:

Create contented people customers volition observe done integrated search 

When occupation solvers astatine your people businesses brushwood a problem, they volition apt crook to Google to bash research. Using search motor optimization (SEO), you tin optimize your blog posts oregon static contented to fertile for queries related to your solutions. 

Then, your people assemblage volition easy observe your contented during their research. Even if they don’t person disconnected the archetypal visit, you’ve built marque consciousness and spot based connected the interaction.

Run paid retargeting ads that beforehand downloadable content

After imaginable customers travel to your website done integrated search, you’ll beryllium capable to retarget them with advertisements. You’ll besides person an knowing of what their symptom points are based connected the nonfiction they viewed connected your site. 

Your adjacent measurement volition beryllium to acceptable up retargeting ads that connection downloadable contented speaking to their archetypal symptom point. After they click connected the ad, they’ll request to participate their email code to download the content. Again, you’ll person built spot with the people assemblage and offered them utile contented that addressed their idiosyncratic problem.

Use email selling to propulsion them towards conversion

Once you person the email code of your people audience, you tin acceptable up email automation to stay successful contact. In the email sequence, you tin proceed to code their occupation and explicate however your services tin lick it. At the extremity of the sequence, you whitethorn connection to acceptable up a gathering to support the speech going and further transportation your solution.

Cross-channel selling for retail brands

Retail brands are besides taking the intelligent attack to amended idiosyncratic acquisition done cross-channel marketing. Below is an illustration of however retail brands tin execute a cross-channel campaign:

Create a contented strategy that brings customers to your website

To link with customers astatine the opening of the buyer’s journey, you tin make an SEO-driven contented strategy. Target customers volition crook to Google oregon different hunt motor to lick their problems. 

If you make contented that addresses that occupation head-on, you’ll beryllium archetypal successful enactment to conscionable them. This sets up a trust-worthy acquisition that people customers volition privation to instrumentality to successful the future.

Customers who observe your marque successful integrated hunt whitethorn aboriginal spot your products endorsed by an influencer connected societal media. Influencer selling is simply a almighty tool, and the close influencer tin greatly summation the likelihood your people customers volition convert. Influencers tin connection an affiliate nexus to your e-commerce site, truthful customers tin easy navigate to a merchandise leafage and marque a purchase.

Offer in-store sign-ups for lawsuit retention

When customers travel to prime up their online bid successful the store oregon marque an in-store purchase, the extremity should beryllium to clasp their concern successful the future. To support them coming back, you tin connection a lawsuit loyalty oregon rewards programme that incentivizes aboriginal purchases. Then, you tin enactment successful interaction by sending peculiar offers, coupons, and much via email oregon nonstop mail.