What Is Cross-Channel Marketing and Why Do You Need It?
It doesn’t matter what business you’re in — markets are vicious. Your company needs to compete for the hearts and minds of the same customers as everyone else, and competing is never easy. It takes skill and intelligence to succeed as a company, and it’s smart to invest in new kinds of marketing.
Your marketing is the cornerstone of your business — it’s what people think of when they think of you. New kinds of marketing are enabling you to engineer the perfect persona for your company. Cross-channel marketing, specifically, is helping business owners take complete control of how their company is seen in any market.
With cross-channel marketing, you can reach out to customers through a wide range of formats. You can send out email newsletters to keep people informed about you, send people to your website through social media channels, and many more! Yet, that’s just the beginning of what cross-channel marketing means.
A good cross-channel marketing campaign will make all its individual components work together in harmony. In it, they’re used to tell a compelling story about your company. And to tell the best story possible about your company, keep reading below!
Cross-Channel Marketing a Part of Multi-Channel Marketing
Cross-channel marketing is easily confused with another concept: multi-channel marketing. The best way to understand the difference is that multi-channel marketing is cross-channel marketing in its most fundamental form. Multi-channel marketing simply means using a variety of tools to reach customers.
It doesn’t emphasize that those tools should work in coordination with one another to boost the campaign’s effectiveness. With multi-channel marketing, the message people see on an ad will be the same one they see on your company’s social media. Cross-channel marketing takes it a step further.
With cross-channel marketing, no two messages are ever entirely the same. The things you post on social media don’t say the same things your newsletter does. Yet, they’re all designed with the same purpose: to bring people to your company, and to tell a good story.
Each tool in a cross-channel marketing campaign is a character in a larger tale. And that story should be designed to bring people to your company, as well as the characters driving it.
Businesses Connect With Customers in More Ways than One
There isn’t a single company in the world that only connects with its customers in one way. Long ago, there was a time when people would only learn about a company through billboards or print ads. Yet, there were also fewer ways for people to connect with one another back then.
Now, we have smartphones, social media, and many other kinds of sophisticated technology. And all of it can be used to market your company. If you’re relying on a single channel to communicate about your business, you’re almost certainly losing business to your competition.
Cross-Channel is About Building a Relationship
The advantage cross-channel marketing has over multi-channel marketing is that it’s about building a relationship. Most kinds of marketing try to create basic connections with customers; most of the time, marketing is just about telling people about your brand. Cross-channel marketing does more.
It tells people about their own roles in your brand and creates a deeper connection with them. The means by which they receive your materials tells them about how they relate to your business. It tells them about themselves.
And when your company can help people learn something about themselves, people form deeper bonds with it. Those relationships can be monetized for greater revenue the longer the relationship goes on. Cross channel marketing is just a good way to maximize your campaigns.
Cross-Channel Marketing Tells Your Company Story
Your company has a story, no matter when it started or what it does. At the foundation of every company is an idea for what it can accomplish; companies are built off visions for better futures. Your marketing should embody that vision, and share it with people.
That’s your company story: it’s what you envision for your company and what you want it to accomplish. And since that story is about changing the future, everyone is a part of it, since everyone impacts the future.
Cross-channel marketing tells people that they have a role to play in your company, and how it impacts the world. And when people hear that, they’re more loyal to your company. To them, your company becomes a way to impact the world, and that’s the only thing people truly want.
People just want to know that they matter. And your company’s cross-channel marketing campaign can let them know that they matter to your company.
People Don’t Buy Products Anymore — They Want Experiences
Nobody just buys products because they want a specific item, anymore. Most people shop with brands and styles in mind and will gravitate towards brands that speak to them. People don’t just want your products — they want those products to tell a story, too.
They want for making a purchase to be an experience, and cross-channel marketing can lay the groundwork for that. Cross-channel marketing can begin the story of a person’s journey towards making a purchase. Along the way, they can learn about your company through your social media posts, or by the blog on your website.
By the end, your customers may not even care about the product they’re buying. They’ll be invested in the journey, and the concluding purchase may make for the best ending of all.
Cross-Channel Marketing is An Evolution
Cross-channel marketing isn’t just another marketing technique companies can take advantage of. It’s an entirely new perspective on how companies can connect with their audiences. With it, companies can forge stronger bonds with their audience, and as a result, make more money.
The technique just provides the framework with which you can tell a story. It’s up to you to make sure that the story is a good one. And while we may not be able to help with that, we can help you establish an effective cross-channel marketing campaign to tell your story with.
Reach out to us if you’re interested in creating deeper relationships with your customers. We’ll work to make sure your story isn’t just told — we’ll make sure it’s heard too.