Commentary

Why Did The Multichannel Marketer Cross The Road?

by Akin Arikan , January 30, 2009

As organizations cut their budgets and look to justify the ROI of all projects, smart marketers are those who work across channels and coordinate metrics for a complete picture of the marketing program, not just their individual channel. So why aren't there more multichannel marketers out there? While customers are comfortable moving from the Web site to the store, marketers in the online and offline worlds aren't always comfortable crossing the road and coordinating metrics.

Think of it this way: if marketers from the individual disciplines engage customers across all channels, but don't communicate with each other, they're bound to miss key parts of the conversation, namely the parts that happen on another channel. So many companies are stuck measuring in the silos (of direct or television or online) because it's difficult to find multidisciplinary marketers.

Multichannel marketers need to be savvy in more than one marketing discipline. They need to translate between the vocabulary and methods that online, direct, and brand marketers have each developed within their own confines. They need to know the business side and understand enough of IT to bring together data silos. They need to be strategic in their thinking, but analytic when it comes to the hard numbers. With my "Multichannel Metrics" book, I aimed to help jump-start the sharing of methods by outlining and synthesizing the approaches used by online and offline marketers.

Yet, creating multichannel marketers is a chicken or egg problem: many companies don't utilize multichannel metrics because their staff lacks experience. And many business analysts don't understand multichannel metrics because their companies don't use them. There is no better time for marketers to show their value by being the chicken and the egg. Let's cross the road between online and offline and shake hands with the marketers on the other side.

The benefits to coordinating your online and offline metrics are immeasurable. Why would a sports retailer send an email or catalog featuring gym equipment if the customer's Web behavior only included browsing for outdoors sports? Looking at activity on both the individual level and across channels gives you a more complete picture of each customer. Many companies lack this whole picture because their staff and data are segmented.

So why did the multichannel marketer cross the road? To share metrics for deeper customer understanding! Better understanding customer behavior holds the key to going from interruption marketing to relevant, timely communications. But many companies are stuck in "chunnel" vision, or silo-ed, channel-specific tunnel vision. Integrating metrics from both online and offline channels requires marketers to step outside their comfort zones and work across channels. Given that we can hardly go a day without hearing of budget cuts or staff layoffs, marketers can do themselves a favor and be the ones crossing the road and coordinating metrics between online and offline.

metrics

3 comments about "Why Did The Multichannel Marketer Cross The Road?".

Check to receive email when comments are posted.

Peter Schankowitz from Joe Digital, Inc., January 30, 2009 at 1:41 p.m.
EXCELLENT. Love the decription of the traditional approach of "interruptioin marketing" versus effective marketing which is relevant and "timely". That is our mantra at our company Joe Digital, Inc. Deliver your message ON THEIR TERMS---specific, personal, targeted, of value and doing it all Where, How, When they want your message. Hit them at their time of want or need and you win, they win, and you have started the loyal participant relationship. This article puts the business / analytics reporting slice into the pie we should all be eating.
Reply

Allison Kolber from BKV, January 30, 2009 at 2:29 p.m.

Totally agree. The agency I work at, JWT CET in Atlanta, is full service with media in-house. We plan TV, print, interactive and search for our clients and are currently working with various systems to integrate data from all of these sources as well as others in order best measure effectiveness of our marketing efforts.

Mark Kolier from moddern marketing, January 30, 2009 at 3:11 p.m.

Right on Alan. The direct response community has been at the forefront of setting up models to measure the effectiveness of multi-channel efforts. Sometimes customers look at something on line at work and then order the product at home which will offer no metrics on the effectivness of the marketing message in the first place. Effective tracking is the key - unique URL's and/or specific landing pages can help. Like you noted it's about what the customer wants and is doing that is critical.