Get to know the benefits of cross channel marketing and find the platform for your needs.

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Is your current marketing strategy starting to plateau? Do you see less and less customer engagement and acquisition month after month? Are you looking for new ways to level up your current marketing efforts?

Then cross channel marketing might be just what you need.

Cross channel marketing is an excellent opportunity for businesses to leverage their current tactics in a new and engaging way. The idea of cross channel marketing is to create a seamless experience across a combination of several different channels, all at the same time.

This means you’re not necessarily implementing anything new into your current process in terms of channels, but you’re connecting the dots and creating a more comprehensive experience from one channel to the next.

Once you start to dive into the world of cross channel marketing, you’ll quickly learn that there are many benefits that come with this way of marketing. By putting in a little extra work, you can drastically improve the customer experience and directly impact your engagement and revenue numbers.

In this article, we’ll cover a few of the cross channel marketing benefits, provide a list of platforms that can help manage your efforts, and provide you with a few best practices to start the year off right.

If you’re already a pro and just here for more details on the cross channel marketing platforms, here’s a look at the list we’ll cover:

Listrak
Triblio
HCL Unica
Autopilot
Marin Software
Iterable
Maropost
Mapp Cloud
Kenshoo
Braze

What Are the Benefits of Cross Channel Marketing?

Cross channel marketing is a strategy that can work well for businesses in any industry and of any size. No matter what you sell, who you sell it to, and how you make a sale doesn’t matter — there’s a way that cross channel marketing can benefit you.

There are numerous benefits that come with this marketing strategy. From improving customer engagement to increasing brand awareness — there’s something for everyone.

While we’ll only cover a few of the benefits in detail here, these are a few other examples of how cross channel marketing can benefit you:

Reduce costs by identifying the most relevant channels and paths for your audiences
Gain valuable insights on your customers from multiple different locations
Stay ahead of the competition
Increase reach among your targeted audiences

Increase Customer Engagement by Reaching Them Where They’re Already Active

In the digital world we currently live in, there are tons of different places your customers are actively seeking information from. Some may go straight to Google, while others might seek information on social media or through the emails they subscribe to.

Think about the channels that you’re targeting customers on. Which of those channels are most effective? These might be the areas your customers are most active, but no two customers are the same — so you’ve got to build a rounded strategy to reach everyone. Image courtesy of Databox.

Whatever the case may be, if you’re only utilizing one or two of your marketing channels to promote and target customers, you could be missing a big opportunity, especially when you consider that the average consumer has almost 6 touchpoints before purchasing an item.

This means that while a digital ad alone may not convert a user, seeing secondary content on their social channels or receiving an email in their inbox may be the touchpoint that converts them. Recognizing the content across multiple channels presented in a similar format will keep your product and brand top of mind for that user.

Simply put, interacting with your customers across multiple channels means that you’re more likely to capture their attention and engage with them on the channels they’re most active on.

Reach Customers at Multiple Touchpoints Along the Buyer’s Journey

Speaking of touchpoints, you can improve your reach throughout the entire buyer’s journey by leveraging multiple channels.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of how the buyer’s journey works, it’s essentially the steps someone takes when making a purchasing decision. It starts with the recognition of a need and moves through the research and inquiry stage, and is completed once the consumer has made their purchasing decision.

The typical buyer’s journey looks like this:

Awareness
Consideration
Decision

For marketers, the goal is to provide the right content to the right audiences to move them through their purchasing journey. Knowing where the consumer is at in their journey can help you target them with more relevant and stage-specific content.

When you look at the buyer’s journey, you can quickly see how multiple channels and touchpoints can work together to move a user from one step to the next. From the pre-purchase researching stage to post-purchase and loyalty, you’ll be engaging with your audiences on various platforms — why not make them work together? Image courtesy of Sentisum.

This is where your cross channel marketing efforts come into play. By strategically planning your touchpoints and integrating your different channels, you can easily target and transition customers from one stage to the next.

Here are a few examples of how you can use multiple channels to move someone through their journey:

Send emails to your customers based on their interests and purchasing behaviors to pique the interest of someone in the awareness stage
Place retargeting ads on social media or other websites to remind someone in the consideration stage about your product
Provide a discount or coupon code to entice someone who is just about ready to make their purchasing decision

All of these different channels can work together to get your brand in front of the customer at the most important times in the journey. Each touchpoint will work together to build a more comprehensive experience and meet the needs of your customers based on their real-time data.

Increase Brand Identity and Awareness Through Improved Recognition

For many companies, building brand awareness can be a challenging task, but it’s an important one. You want people to recognize your brand quickly and easily, and you want your company to come to mind when they identify a purchasing need.

Creating a consistent experience across all of your channels and platforms can have a direct impact on your revenue. This doesn’t mean you have to do a full overhaul of your marketing materials, slowly start to leverage similar patterns and content, and it will all fall into place. Image courtesy of Venngage.

Here are a few important stats to consider around the importance of brand awareness:

It generally takes 5 to 7 impressions for people to remember a brand
Brand consistency across all platforms can actually increase revenue by up to 23%
Color improves brand recognition by up to 80%

Sharing content across multiple channels with a consistent feel will help people start to recognize your brand. It’s important to include your key colors, tag lines, logo, and other visual elements that someone can quickly connect with your brand.

Over time, people will start to associate these things with your brand and recognize it right away. While it might not seem like it will have a direct impact on your revenue, building brand awareness is vital in growing your business.

10 Cross Channel Marketing Platforms

When it comes to managing your cross channel marketing efforts, the most effective solution to invest in a dedicated platform. Choosing to make this investment at the beginning will provide you with more capabilities and make your transition into the cross channel marketing world much easier.

Here’s what you can expect out of a cross channel marketing platform:

Creation, deployment, and management capabilities for various channels (i.e. email, social media, digital ads, SMS, mobile push, etc.)
Customer journey and automation workflow capabilities to build out campaigns touchpoints
Reporting and analytical capabilities to track and understand how each channel is performing
Customer data acquisition and the technology to use this real-time data to drive interactions
Personalization and dynamic content capabilities to provide the most relevant experience across channels

There are tons of different platforms available, and each one has its own benefits. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at 10 cross channel marketing platforms you’ll want to consider.

Each platform is a little different and may provide you with varying services, so it’s important that you know what you need when you start your research. Take time to identify exactly what your goals are, what channels you’re currently using, how you may want to expand in the future and anything else that is vital to your business growth.

Once you know what you’re looking for, then it’s time to start making a list and requesting demos! Hopefully, this list will provide you with some guidance and help in the decision making process.

1. Listrak

Listrak is a digital marketing automation platform that helps businesses achieve and exceed their goals. This platform allows you to create and manage all of your digital marketing needs and more to provide your customers with a seamless experience.

The more you know about how your customers are interacting with your brand, the better you can target them. Building customized journeys provide your customers with a more personalized experience and increase your brand awareness and conversion rates. Image courtesy of Listrak.

What the platform can do for you:

Build custom journeys based on real-time customer data that span multiple channels and devices
Develop trigger campaigns that are automatically generated and provide users with timely messages
Utilize one centralized platform to create, manage, and deploy email, text, web tactics, social content, and much more
Improve personalization across all platforms with predictive product and content recommendations

What their customers are saying:

“I’ve been very impressed with the speed of innovation and continual investment in the Listrak platform. The tool itself is powerful, and the people we work with go above and beyond to make us feel supported. Since working with Listrak we’ve seen a 475% improvement in email revenue.” – Listrak Customer Testimonial

2. Triblio

Triblio is a marketing platform that is designed for companies that have an account based marketing business model. This platform can help you to better scale your efforts and make a bigger impact on your bottom line.

Businesses with an account based marketing structure can still take advantage of cross channel marketing capabilities. By understanding who you’re targeting and using the right technology, you can nurture and convert high-intent accounts. Image courtesy of Triblio.

What the platform can do for you:

Identify high-intent accounts and develop multi-channel marketing campaigns based on their needs
Build AI-based trigger messages that enroll accounts into relevant marketing campaigns and sales plays
Develop campaigns to nurture and convert more leads based on their qualifications and purchasing intent
Integrate essential business rules to ensure you’re providing the most relevant content based on the data of each of your different accounts

What their customers are saying:

“Triblio offered exactly what we were looking for in a strategic account-based partner. They show a high desire to solve our deepest business challenges.” – Triblio Customer Testimonial

3. HCL Unica

HCL Unica is a marketing platform that delivers precision marketing at scale. With capabilities to automate campaigns for both inbound and outbound channels, you can create a full-scale cross channel marketing strategy.

Reach your customers across multiple platforms and provide a seamless brand experience in the process. The more touchpoints you have with your customers, the more likely they are to engage and complete a purchase. Image courtesy of HCL Unica.

What the platform can do for you:

Develop targeted cross channel campaigns and utilize segmentation capabilities to ensure the right content goes to the right people
Integrate the platform will all of your customer touchpoints, including your website, call center, digital tactics, and more
Gain valuable insights with reporting and analytics that provide you with the right data to improve your efforts
Optimize campaigns based on the needs of each customer to improve communication and manage contact fatigue

What their customers are saying:

“Our Penn Vet website went from being a simple order entry conduit of our 12K product catalog to a modern, full-service and personalized web experience built on HCL Digital Experience.” – HCL Unica Customer Testimonial

4. Autopilot

Autopilot is a marketing automation platform that helps businesses connect and engage with customers across multiple channels and touchpoints. This platform provides an easy-to-use option that helps to visualize each customer’s journey.

Create customized journeys that span multiple channels and devices to help drive more conversions. Sending the right message, on the right channel, at the right time can make all the difference. Image courtesy of Autopilot.

What the platform can do for you:

Create automated customer journeys to move a customer from awareness to considerations through multiple channels
Manage interactions on various platforms, including email, SMS, Google Adwords, and more
Integrate this platform with your other programs to develop connected campaigns that work together

Set goals and track performance with the reporting data you need to continuously improve your efforts

What their customers are saying:

“I 100% believe that without Autopilot, we wouldn’t have the ability to reach out to so many people simultaneously and in such an effective and personalized way. For me, this is what has made it amazing.” – Autopilot Customer Testimonial

5. Marin Software

Marin Software is a digital advertising platform that helps businesses connect with customers and increase revenue in the process. By leveraging and connecting your various marketing channels and efforts, you can more effectively reach customers and see a higher return on investment.

Integrate your current advertising capabilities to create a cross channel marketing strategy that will result in more sales. From connecting Google ads and Amazon to search and social, manage all of your customer touchpoints. Image courtesy of Marin Software.

What the platform can do for you:

Align your ad campaigns to meet publisher best practices and optimize performance across multiple channels
Integrate your data across platforms to see a full view of your customers and identify new opportunities
Reach customers and provide a seamless experience on channels including Google, Facebook, and Amazon
Get a full view of your advertising ROI with Amazon attribution capabilities

What their customers are saying:

“We’ve saved an enormous amount of time by trusting Marin to do the heavy lifting of dynamic, algorithmic bid assignments for our Shopping campaigns. Sometimes budget fluctuations can make bidding towards a consistent KPI a challenge, but the system handles these changes with ease. Marin bidding has allowed us to focus on strategic optimizations around campaign structure and feed management, ultimately taking our Shopping efforts to the next level.” – Marin Software Customer Testimonial

6. Iterable

Iterable is a cross channel marketing platform that helps businesses build a unified customer experience and engage audiences across the entire customer journey. This platform will help you better understand and target your audiences based on their real-time interactions and data.

Build comprehensive customer journeys that move people through the purchasing process. Link and connect various touchpoints to create a seamless cross channel experience. Image courtesy of Iterable.

What the platform can do for you:

Manage and visualize all of your marketing channels in one central location to ensure a seamless experience
Integrate your marketing efforts for various channels, including email, mobile push, SMS, social, and more
Personalize each interaction with your customers through AI and dynamic content capabilities
Build customized journeys for your customers and hit all the important touchpoints along the way

What their customers are saying:

“When you’re engaging with hundreds of thousands of people at a time, it’s impossible for even the most data-driven marketer to anticipate the optimal send time for their users. With Iterable’s AI solutions, we’re able to optimize our marketing beyond what would ever be possible using our decisioning alone.” – Iterable Customer Testimonial

7. Maropost

Maropost is a marketing automation platform that is designed to enhance your multi-channel customer engagement. From building customer journey workflows to managing various digital channels — this platform can help you achieve your cross channel marketing goals.

Reach your customers where they’re most active, whether that’s through email, mobile push notifications, or social media. By creating a seamless experience from one channel to the next will improve how your customers perceive your brand. Image courtesy of Maropost.

What the platform can do for you:

Build unique customer journeys that include trigger emails, mobile notifications, and SMS messages
Create comprehensive campaigns that span multiple channels to provide customers with a seamless experience from one platform to the next
Expand your contact list by capturing new leads on your website and through advertising capabilities
Add personalization into all of your touchpoints to provide the most relevant content and keep customers engaged

What their customers are saying:

“We really like the automated workflows and automated marketing. Both are things that we know will be very helpful if we can fully leverage them.” – Maropost Customer Testimonial

8. Mapp Cloud

Mapp Cloud is a digital marketing platform that helps businesses automate engagement and uses real-time customer insights to drive results. Reach the right customers at the right time with the platform’s cross channel marketing capabilities.

Easily create cross channel marketing campaigns with a simple editing tool for all your marketing channels. Create personalized messages and build campaigns in less time than ever before. Image courtesy of Mapp Cloud.

What the platform can do for you:

Manage all of your customer insights in one central location to better understand and target your audiences
Create and manage automated workflows that allow you to visualize the full customer journey and identify opportunities
Utilize templates and a drag-and-drop editor to make campaign creation easier than ever
Track and understand how your campaigns are performing with reporting and analytics

What their customers are saying:

“Mapp has become a key partner in our relationship marketing strategy. Mapp Cloud platform allows us to engage regularly with our subscribers and to set up different scenarios according to the customer lifecycle. Simple, fast and efficient…we are totally autonomous in the creation and management of our campaigns.” – Mapp Cloud Customer Testimonial

9. Kenshoo

Kenshoo is a marketing platform that uses your data to connect the dots and create effective cross channel marketing campaigns. From development to deployment and analytics, this platform can help you implement a new cross channel strategy.

Create, launch, and track your cross channel marketing campaigns with the Kenshoo platform. The more information you have, the better you can target your audiences and the higher your conversion rates will be. Image courtesy of Kenshoo.

What the platform can do for you:

Connect and manage channels including social, search, ecomm, apps, and more
Build a strategy using your customer data and identify the optimal media mix for your business needs
Manage your cross channel marketing campaigns and use predictive budget management insights to keep on-budget
Track and analyze campaign performance to identify areas of opportunity for continuous improvement

What their customers are saying:

“Kenshoo’s Amazon Attribution integration completely revolutionizes the potential of our paid search campaigns. Measuring impact across the shopping journey from ad click to purchase allows our team to identify which keywords are most-likely to convert to purchases. This empowers us to A) hone our keyword mix B) inform creative adjustments and C) drive business growth on behalf of our clients.” – Kenshoo Customer Testimonial

10. Braze

Braze is a customer engagement platform that creates memorable experiences between businesses and their customers. This platform can help you grow your business from improving personalization to building a full-scale cross channel marketing campaign.

Make connecting with your audiences easier than ever before. Build out workflows that move customers through the sales funnel and connect with them on the channels they are active on. Image courtesy of Braze.

What the platform can do for you:

Use AI technology to help optimize your campaigns based on real data to evolve the customer journey
Develop action-based lifecycle orchestration campaigns that listen to customer data and deliver the most relevant content
Integrate personalization into your cross channel marketing efforts to increase engagement
Connect your other platforms to see all of your customer data in one location and use that to drive future efforts

What their customers are saying:

“With Braze, we’re able to better serve the global design community quickly, and at scale, the capabilities of the platform enables our flexible and creative messaging strategy, enabling us to evolve with our diverse set of users.” – Braze Customer Testimonial

Start Your Year off Right With These Best Practices

Before sending you off to start developing your own cross channel marketing strategy, we wanted to provide you with some best practices.

There are a few things you can start to work through even before you’ve made the decision to invest in a new platform. Building a solid foundation for your cross channel marketing strategy will help to set your efforts up for success.

Understand Your Customer Data

Data is one of the most important elements of a cross channel marketing strategy. Without having high-quality, accurate data from the start, you’re likely wasting a lot of your time and resources focusing on the wrong things.

Among other things, you need to have a clear understanding of who your audience is, how they are currently engaging with your brand, and what channels they’re most active on.

Understanding how your customers are currently engaging with your brand will help to pave the path for your cross channel strategy. You can spend time on the channels with the highest engagement and stop wasting time and money promoting channels that receive little to no action.

Identify Your Buyer Personas

Once you’ve taken time to understand your customer data, now it’s time to put it into action — by identifying your buyer personas.

Your customers don’t all look the same. In fact, you might have a very wide audience range, and what interests Sally, the soccer mom, most likely doesn’t interest Gerry, the geriatric. Image courtesy of Citrusbits.

To truly understand your customers’ wants and needs, you need to have a good grasp of exactly who they are. Building buyer personas based off of your real customer data will allow you to do just this.

When building your personas, you’ll want to consider things such as:

Age
Location
Language
Spending patterns
Interests
Challenges
Stage of life

Taking all of these factors into consideration should provide you with a pretty good snapshot of who your customers are. Depending on your business or industry, you may need to consider additional insights, but this should give you a good jumping off point.

Understand Why People Aren’t Completing a Purchase

Understanding why people don’t complete a purchase can provide you with very valuable insights. You may find that it’s related to the checkout process or that your customers need to receive extra incentives to encourage them to make a purchase.

Whatever the case may be, understanding why they aren’t following through with a purchase can help you improve your marketing efforts.

Here are a few examples of how you can improve your efforts from this feedback:

Create retargeting and abandonment campaigns to remind site visitors about a product they left behind
Send more discount codes or provide free shipping for those who felt your prices didn’t meet their expectations
Start to focus on a new marketing channel that you might have put less effort into previously

Talking to your customers and receiving their direct feedback is one of the best ways for you to continue to tweak and improve your cross channel efforts.

Are You Ready to Dive Into Cross Channel Marketing?

So what do you think? Does cross channel marketing sound like the piece you’ve been missing to take your efforts to the next level?

The great thing about transitioning to a cross channel mindset is that you already have all the tools you need. It’s just a matter of connecting the dots and bringing them all together to create a seamless experience.

Your customers will appreciate your efforts, you’ll find that the benefits outweigh the cost of the investment, and your competition will be falling behind once you put your plan into action.