‘It shouldn’t be a jarring experience’: how to effectively engage audiences across digital channels

Everyone talks about omnichannel marketing, but does everyone understand it? In its simplest terms, omnichannel marketing encompasses a brand or company’s presence across multiple channels – from websites to apps, social media to email, and offline channels including retail stories and events.

The good news is that a proliferation of content equals more media opportunity for marketers. But in the present media landscape, there are complexities in its orbit. In a webinar for The Drum, industry experts sought to break down the challenges. Here are some of the key takeaways:

Be subtle

When audiences engage with a brand across multiple channels, it’s vital that their content consumption isn’t a jarring experience. Marketing across platforms must be discreet, says Christa Carone, president at connected media buying platform Infillion.

“I don’t think the audience should notice the magic that is happening within the marketer’s toolkit,” she says. “We should be smart enough to present the creative that is relevant for the platform that the consumer is engaging with. I know what I expect to see on TikTok because I'm already in that content experience, and the point is that audiences shouldn't know.”

To streamline ads amid the rapidly changing industry, there’s a hunger to test and learn that is needed – Carone calls it “intellectual curiosity”. By testing different variables alongside being vigilant of new technology, you can continue to optimize what’s working, and be more efficient yet discreet in your marketing efforts.

Adopt a holistic view

A multichannel media strategy requires both generalist and specialist points of view; you need those who innately understand omnichannel marketing just as much as you need those who are immersed in the individual channels. This is the stance of Carl Fremont, chief executive officer at brand-led, performance-driven agency Quigley Simpson.

“Ideally, a generalist can still speak to individual channels like search and social influencer marketing,” he says. “But they have a broader view to put this all together.”

Silos won’t work; marketers must look at the entirety of the customer experience (CX) — across multiple channels, which is all the more reason to embrace integration. The new wave of technology is game-changing, allowing marketers to be more accurate and more in touch than ever with their targeting but, as Carone states, “the abundance of opportunity has also created some chaos”.

In Fremont’s view, to better understand the media landscape as it is today, “everyone from the brand side should spend some time on the technology or media publishing side to get a broad purview”.

KPIs first, vision second

In addition to generalists and specialists, Fremont also emphasizes the need for analysts: “I think too often, we just get right into the tactics without spending enough time on the strategy. That's what we do at Quigley Simpson – and that’s what I would advocate for everybody to do: spend more time on the upfront strategy, on developing the KPIs and understanding how they’re going to be measured.”

Understanding from the beginning, the KPIs of what is going to be evaluated as success – whether sales, brand health, or a combination of the two – needs to be established first-off for the best chance of long-term campaign success. “Thankfully, we’re in a period of time where we can see instantaneous results and performance and be able to take that information and learn and then optimize campaigns going forward,” Fremont adds.

Food for thought

When it comes to the future of the modern media ecosystem, marketers should keep an open mind. The multitude of opportunities and platforms presents untapped potential for brands and marketers, but, as Carone puts it, “it can be a mess”.

We’re reminded that the media through which we consume content is as fickle as the consumers themselves: “Media and marketing professionals need to be really agile. We need to be tolerant and we need to be risk-takers,” says Carone. It comes back down to intellectual curiosity and, while it is indeed a mess, it’s the responsibility of marketers to make the media minefield more cohesive.

For more advice on how marketers can effectively engage audiences across multiple digital channels, tune in to watch the full webinar on-demand here.