Digital advertising is getting pretty hectic nowadays. Spooky even. Behind the mask, though, it’s more relevant and effective than ever before. There are a slew of channels and targeting tactics that we as advertisers use on a daily basis to get the right message to the right prospect. The most widely used channels here at 90octane fall into three main categories: search, social and all other paid media. With a cross-channel marketing strategy, the three can work together harmoniously.

So, what is cross-channel marketing, exactly?

In short, it’s using the multiple marketing channels in your arsenal at once to create a cohesive message and guide customer engagement throughout the customer journey.

Choose Your Channels

Here’s a quick inventory of various cross-channel methods that can work together to communicate impactful messaging:

• Display (Programmatic & site-direct banners, video, native, custom content…etc.)
• Email (Internal, 3rd party bought, Gmail ads)
• Social (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn …)
• Search marketing (Google, Bing…)
• Direct mail
• Mobile (text messaging, apps…)
• Content marketing (webinars, blog, guides, whitepapers…)
• Traditional (TV, radio, press, billboard…)

In a world of possibilities, some businesses are still hesitant to dive into cross-channel marketing, preferring to invest in their “best-performing” channel only. However, the key to continued success is to avoid this silo mentality – your channel campaigns should be integrated together to maximize your ROI, get new customers and build trust.

Strategy in Action

At 90, we love a cross-channel mentality. Here’s a successful full-funnel strategy we’ve implemented for one of our travel clients, and the path one of our users took before deciding to buy a cruise (Please note that the different colors represent a separate channel):

Network TV > Programmatic Prospecting > Site Visit > Programmatic Retargeting > Endemic Review Site Advertorial > Retargeted Facebook Post > Google Search Ad > Site Visit + Lead form completed

Karen is a 60-something empty nester who loves to bake and watch HGTV in her downtime. She sees a commercial about a river cruise line while watching one of her shows. It grabs her attention, but she doesn’t investigate further until she is served a banner from the same river cruise brand while shopping online. She recognizes the brand and decides to check out the site to learn more. While she’s not currently in the market for travel, she begins dreaming of a long-overdue trip with her husband. She continues to see retargeting banners, and two weeks later, she begins looking more into river cruising on a popular cruise review website. There,  she reads an advertorial about the brand she discovered a few weeks prior. A few days pass before, while looking at pictures of her grandchildren, she’s served a Facebook retargeting ad that outlines their newest promotion. What a deal! She opens her browser and searches for the brand, clicks on a Google search ad outlining the same promotion and decides to request a quote.

Every user has a unique path-to-purchase, but the above is a sterling example of how it is important to consider and integrate cross-channel marketing into your campaigns—especially for products with a high price points that require more research and typically have a longer consideration cycle.

Need a hand leading YOUR Karen on the journey to her destination? Reach out to us.