Alex Rascanu's "Cross-Channel Marketing Like a Boss" presentation at the Inbound Marketing Toronto meetup on November 21, 2013. Alex is a digital marketing strategist and the marketing manager at Powered by Search. To learn more about him, visit http://www.alexrascanu.com
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Cross-Channel Marketing Like a Boss Alex Rascanu l November
2013
Customers dont think about channels, they simply want
convenience. They move seamlessly in and out of channels, using
multiple devices to interact with content and marketing
messages.
Brands tend to interact with customers from within individual
channels, often delivering disjointed and uncoordinated messages.
This disconnect is confusing and frustrating to customers, and
expensive and cumbersome for brands.
What well cover today: 1. How to fight channel fragmentation 2.
What influences the online purchase behaviour of Canadians? 3.
Which channels should you use? 4. Ideas
1. HOW TO FIGHT CHANNEL FRAGMENTATION
The if it aint broke, dont fix it cliche got replaced in many
businesses with if it aint broke, break it. Weve been playing in
the hands of public enemy #1 in todays marketing environment:
fragmentation.
Integrated, cross-channel marketing is powerful in overcoming
fragmentation. Integration is not simply slapping a common tagline
onto all your ads, using a single color palette, or force-fitting a
message thats suited for one medium into another (great television
commercials rarely translate well to outdoor billboards, which in
turn are very different from online banners).
Integration means communicating a consistent identity from
message to message, and medium to medium, and (more importantly)
delivering consistently on that identity. It requires not only the
identification of a powerful, unifying strategy and compelling
voice for your brand, but the discipline to roll it into every
aspect of your organization from advertising to sales, customer
service to customer relationship management programs (and beyond).
Its not for the faint of heart. (Steve McKee, CEO of McKee Wallwork
& Co, in a Bloomberg Business article)
These are the worlds biggest brands. Whose taglines can you
recall? Source: Interbrand
You recall their taglines not merely because of the money they
spend the other top brands spend just as much or more. Its because
theyve maintained a singular focus since 1997, 2003, and 1988,
respectively.
To fight off fragmentation effectively, everything you do to
attract, convert, close, and delight your customers should be
integrated and cross-channel marketed. Image source: HubSpot
If your brand isnt woven beyond your marketing efforts into
your hiring practices, your training programs, even your
compensation and employee evaluation metrics, youre leaving
opportunities on the table.
Why dont companies implement an integrated, crosschannel
strategy more often? Lack of perseverance. Integration takes time
and patience to implement, and it then takes time to soak into the
marketplace. Consumers just dont pay attention as much or as
quickly as they used to. The average advertising campaign lasts
approx. 2 to 3 years. Companies that maintain healthy growth over
time tend to have longer-lasting campaigns, while those that
struggle tend to change direction more frequently.
The Cola Wars: Pepsi fell to No. 3, behind Coke and Diet Coke,
in USA cola market share. PepsiCo significantly increased its
marketing spending and spent a year in extensive research and deep
introspection. They appear to be taking the correct steps to right
their brands ship, but as it does, it shouldnt neglect the need for
and power of long-term integration. Neither should you.
Find a time to gather together as many different expressions of
what your company says and does in one place, then make an honest
evaluation. If it doesnt all connect for you in some meaningful
fashion, it wont for your customers and prospects, either. If your
strategy is weak or off the mark, you may need to do what Pepsi did
and re-examine everything. Image source: eConsultancy
If your problem is more a matter of execution, your enemy is
entropy: everything in the universe (including your brand) tends
towards disarray. Bring it all together and communicate the same
message across all channels. While perfect integration is
unachievable, companies that do the best job of harmonizing all
their marketing efforts have an important advantage.
Benefits of multi-channel marketing: More attention (more
customers and brand recognition) Customers can use their favorite
medium (increased chances that youll boost your conversions) More
touch points (collect more data, then develop a better
understanding of where your promotions work best and measure your
success) Your brand stays consistent across channels
Marketing should be aligned around the customer. Lets create
more intelligent interactions across all channels. Lets aim to
exceed customer expectations every time and inspire long term,
organic brand advocacy.
2. WHAT INFLUENCES THE ONLINE PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR OF
CANADIANS?
The Customer Journey to Online Purchase Marketing channels
influence the customer at different points in the path to purchase.
Image source: Google
Each channel plays a different role in the customer journey.
Googles findings in Canada, across all industries: Image source:
Google
How does the length of the customer journey impact purchase
value? It varies widely, in both number of days and number of
interactions, depending on the type of purchase. Some decisions
require substantial research, while others are made very quickly.
Typically, more complex purchases lead to longer paths and larger
purchase values. This is an example of a single customer journey
leading to the purchase of a holiday. Image source: Harvest
Digital
Customer Journey to Purchase: All Industries in Canada Image
source: Google
Customer Journey to Purchase: Canadas Tech. Industry Image
source: Google
Customer Journey to Purchase: Canadas Travel Industry Image
source: Google
Customer Journey to Purchase: Canadas Retail Industry Image
source: Google
3. WHICH CHANNELS SHOULD YOU USE?
Canadas advertising industry: 6.6% year-over-year growth in
advertising spend (2011-2012) At 23% share of revenue, digital
marketing is rapidly closing the gap with TV (27.3%) for the
largest share Source: Media Digest 2013/14
Source: Media Digest 2013/14
90% of marketing investment is being spent on channels that
interrupt people in order to get their attention. (2013 Interactive
Marketing Predictions by Forrester Research) TV, print, and radio
ads, billboards, as well as online channels like banner
advertising, pop-ups and non-opt-in emails, are part of this.
Interruption-based marketing isnt wrong and can be very
effective if it's done empathetically and delights its audience.
Source: Media Digest 2013/14
But online, less than 10% of all the clicks and traffic go
through outbound marketing channels. The vast majority of internet
users' time and attention, regardless of the device theyre using,
goes to inbound marketing channels.
Source: Moz
We believe that in the next decade, the effort and dollars put
toward web marketing will become more sophisticated, and growth in
channels like SEO, social media marketing, content creation, etc.
will dwarf the growth rates of those in more traditional,
interruptionbased endeavors. (Rand Fishkin, CEO of Moz)
Which channels work well together? MediaPost released a report
earlier this year that examined the most frequent media pairings
for adults age 18-64. The most popular multi-channel marketing
pairings were: Computer / Mobile TV / Mobile Computer / TV Radio /
Mobile Computer / Radio While Computer / Mobile was the most
popular pairing during work hours (9am 5pm), TV / Mobile rises
ahead in the evening (5pm 11pm).
Theres a lot of multi-device activity happening in a consumers
life. Taking advantage of multi-channel marketing is the best way
to capitalize on these trends. Source: WordStream
E.g. Advertisers are implementing multichannel marketing
promotions by adding hashtags to their TV advertisements,
especially for ads that are expected to get a large number of
viewers at once, like ads that appear during the Super Bowl.
4. IDEAS
Cross-channel marketing ideas: 1. THINK BIG. 2. Build assets.
3. Deliver value above and beyond what you charge.
1. THINK BIG. developed a blue ocean: world's #1 inbound
marketing software platform is going after eCommerce software
against Magento and Bigcommerce is positioning itself as the best
inbound marketing agency in Canada
2. Build assets. Source: Media Digest 2013/14
3. Deliver value above and beyond what you charge.
Think BIG. Build assets. Add tons of value. Cross-channel
marketing: just do it.
THANK YOU. Alex Rascanu @alexrascanu Marketing Manager Powered
by Search