• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 4, 2024

Multi-channel marketing is growing, as well it might given the number of new channels and tools, judging by Multi-Channel Marketing Trends 2024, a study by Ascend2.

And brands are getting better at it—30% now call themselves best-in-class at using multi-channel marketing to achieve their strategic marketing objectives, up from 17% in last year’s report. And 65% are somewhat good at it. 

Moreover, they expect these trends or technologies to have an impact on their multi-channel marketing efforts over the next two to three years: 

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning—70%
• Chatbots and conversational marketing—45%
• 5G technology and faster internet connectivity—39% 
• Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)—37% 
• Voice search and smart speakers—22%

But multi-channel marketers face challenges, which have shifted. In one of the most dramatic changes, 32% now see ineffective attribution as a hurdle, versus 21% in 2023.  

Data quantity is also more of a problem, going from 21% last year to 27% this time around. And 19% now cite siloed/conflicting data, compared to 11% last year.  

But budget pressures appear to have eased—43% list insufficient resources as an issue, down from 50% in the prior year. 

Email ranks third among effective channels, but it has lost some of its luster—36% now say email has an impact on their multi-channel success, compared with 45% in 2023.  

First-ranked is social media, which jumped from 46% to 55%. And digital advertising went from 25% to 41%. 

In addition, content marketing leaped from 23% to 33% and public relations from 14% to 22%. Account-based marketing increased from 9% to 16% and influencer marketing from 9% to 14%. 

It is no small job to maintain a consistent message across all channels. The respondents do this through: 

• Regular team communication and collaboration—61%
• Centralized marketing management tools—48%
• Brand guidelines and style guides—43%

But not all put great effort into it. They ensure consistent messaging as follows: 

• Minimally—18% 
• Moderately—48%
• Extensively—20%
• Fully personalized for each channel—9%

Individual channels aside, the respondents list these essential attributes of a successful multi-channel strategy:  

• Data quality—52’% 
• Accurate measurement of performance—50% 
• Marketing automation—37%
• Integrated/unified marketing technology—35% 
• Dashboard/visualization of analytics—31% 
• Data accessibility—31% 
• Optimized channel mix—26%

Ascend2 surveyed 365 marketing decision-makers during the week of May 12, 2024. Of these, 22% are in B2B, 47% in B2C and 31% in B2B and B2C equally. As for size, 19% are in firms with more than 500 employees, 31% in companies with 50 to 500 and 50% in entities with fewer than 50.