Commentary

Evolving The Cross-Channel Strategy

by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, April 29, 2019

Michael Martyniuk, Manager, Digital Acquisitions, Avis/Budget, second from right, pointed to the brands' cross-channel messaging strategy that switched things up in the first quarter this year with a spring sale for Avis and Budget. "Our offers usually are the same across the board. For purposes of our spring sale, we made sure messaging, aesthetics our banners, and display assets were consistent."

The hypothesis was that the offer was not as important as consistency in messaging. "We saw a nice performance boost for this time period, due to fact that we are reassuring customer this is deal they are looking for." Reservations and the conversation rates rose while there was a drop in the cost of reservation dollars. Following up, Martyniuk said, they looked at responsive search ads, got performance data from Google and applied it back in revising their social and display assets.

Martyniuk then joined a panel discussion, "What's the Plan Now?: Search in the New Performance Plan," to talk about performance media plans going forward. Moderator Monika Doyle, director of digital media for Chacka Marketing, left above, noted that search is moving toward audiences rather than keywords and that there is synergy between or among channels. She invited panelists to speak on best practices for that media plan in the consumer journey.

Kevin Cronin, senior manager, search marketing at Chewy, second from left, said they keep things as simple as possible. "We focus on the customer to identify what segments we can target by gender, age, and parental statuses, then push it out via social and search. In order to differentiate Chewy from competitors, Cronin said the brand's customer care center provides a person giving feedback within three seconds. "We try to use this as a lever for driving up lifetime value."

Avis' Martyniuk pointed to the company's audience segmentation standpoint, and the unique opportunities to speak to audiences differently. They are mainly looking for in-market leisure renters. People likely to purchase ancillaries, and those traveling with larger families. Then they use programmatic for retargeting.

Casey Nielsen, senior paid search strategist at Progrexion (a credit repair company), right, says its customers are looking to buy home, get loan, or rent a house. "Targeting has to be along the line of what they're looking for, and then convince them they need credit repair. Consistency is a huge push. We listen to calls weekly, part of our job, making sure messaging is aligning with what people are seeking."