5 Steps to Increasing Engagement With Cross-Channel Marketing

Enhance Your Customer’s Experience

Your customers expect to connect with your business through their favorite channels, from email, social media, text messages (SMS/MMS) and push (RSS), to voicemail, direct mail and live calls. Cross-channel marketing helps you create a seamless customer experience by integrating your campaigns across all channels. This gives customers the freedom to switch between channels, and yet experience your brand as a whole.

The Rules of Customer Engagement

Cross-channel marketing is not hard, but it does require planning to provide customers with a consistent experience across channels. To help you plan a successful cross-channel strategy, we’ve outlined six steps below:  

1. Automate Your Marketing Campaigns

Marketing automation platforms (like Eloqua) make building and launching marketing campaigns across multiple channels an easy affair. More importantly, they enable you to boost engagement levels by equipping you with customer data, insights and information that can be used to make content personal which enhances the customer experience. Cross-channel marketing platforms also help you deliver information that matches a customer’s place in the sales cycle.

2. Use Data to Get Personal

As you collect data during a customer’s journey, patterns emerge. This information gives you visibility into their experience and allows you to see trends, behavior patterns and areas that need attention. It also helps you take action in real-time and move quickly on opportunities. Data helps you make marketing messages more personal so you can better address customer needs. A cross-channel approach that is personal makes customers feel heard, known and understood, which leads to increased brand loyalty, engagement and lifetime customer values.

3. Experiment With Multiple Channels

There are many ways to connect with customers, so if email and phone are your main channels, it’s time to try a new one. Adding new channels one at a time ensures you don’t annoy customers with too much contact. Once you are comfortable with your latest channel, you can expand your cross-channel marketing strategy by adding more to the mix. Lastly, make a habit of asking for customer feedback about all new channels you try.

4. Establish Brand Continuity Across All Channels

Good design instills confidence and consistent messaging builds trust, so make sure your campaigns present a united brand across all channels. As you add more channels to your mix, be sure to test messages and designs for each channel to ensure your efforts are successful and your messages appear right on all types of mobile devices and operating systems.

5. Optimize the Right Channels

Just as you wouldn’t use a wrench to do a hammer’s job, don’t use push to do an email’s job. As you plan your campaigns, think about how your customers like to connect, the type of message you need to send, as well as its length, frequency and urgency. Then, choose the best channel for the job. As you test channels and campaigns, your data will reveal what’s working and what’s not, which helps you adapt quickly and spend your budget where it matters most.

Cross-Channel Tools and Use Cases

To help you choose the right channel for your next message, we’ve outlined the top B2B use cases for six channels:

SMS/MMS — Text, Audio & Video Messages

• Pitches: Videos and Product Demos
• Links: Videos, Apps, Blogs and Social Sites
• Announcements: PR, Sales and Events
• Alerts: Service and Product Statuses
• Data Collection: Feedback and Surveys
• Notifications: Shipping, Schedules, Events
• Reminders: Appointments, Updates, etc.

DIRECT MAIL — Personalized Printed Pieces

• Alerts: Service and Product Statuses
• Notifications: Shipping, Schedules, Events
• Reminders: Appointments, Updates, etc.
• Information: Fliers, Catalogs and Letters
• Announcements: PR and Sales
• Invitations: Events, Trials and Samples

PUSH — Mobile Notifications

• Alerts: Service and Product Statuses
• Notifications: Shipping, Schedules, Events
• Reminders: Appointments, Updates, etc.
• Links: Videos, Apps, Blogs and Social Sites
• Announcements: PR, Sales and Events

VOICE — Voice Messages

• Alerts: Service and Product Statuses
• Notifications: Shipping, Schedules, Events
• Reminders: Appointments, Updates, etc.
• Announcements: PR, Sales and Events

GIFTS — Promotional and Thank You Products

• Invitations: Events, Customer Surveys, Product Demos, Webinars, etc.
• Promotional: Thank You’s for Leads, Referrals, Loyalty, etc.
• Sales: Product Samples, Lead Gen, etc.

CHAT — Online Chat

• Customer Support: Replies for FAQs, Info, etc.
• Event Management: Schedules, Appointments, Service Calls, etc.
• Sales: Qualify Leads, Direct Leads to Landing Pages, etc.
• Data Collection: Feedback and Surveys

Transform Marketing Efforts into Engaging Customer Journeys

When you deploy a cross-channel strategy, you create a path for prospects and customers that speaks to them where they are. You relate to them based on their behavior towards you, which allows them to feel as though they are in a relationship with someone who is listening to them and respecting their needs and wants.

Sureshot Is a Master at Helping B2B Customers Integrate Multiple Channels

If you’re ready to engage customers on a more personal level and provide them with a user experience that makes them glad they gave you their contact information, Sureshot can help. Our cross-channel marketing tools enable you to boost engagement and elevate your customer experience with push-button ease.