Blurred Lines: How to sharpen your focus on cross-channel strategy
– Part 1

As marketers in today’s landscape, we face some difficult challenges when it comes to developing valuable and lasting connections with audiences. The penetration of digital has made media consumption fluid.

Consumers don’t think about engaging with brands through different channels; they just think about engaging. Consumers now move effortlessly between channels, devices, and platforms, blurring the lines of engagement and changing the way brands connect with their audiences.

To survive, marketers needs to create a singular experience regardless of what medium consumers happen to be using at any given moment. Programmatic and mobile are playing a fundamental role in making this achievable.

Michael Burgess, President of HBC Digital, Hudson’s Bay, who operate retail stores throughout the US and Canada including Saks Fifth Avenue, comments that “the majority of consumers are crossing channels and using multiple devices, whether they start by opening something on mobile and then concluding the purchase either on a tablet, desktop or in the store, or just researching online and transacting in the store.”

The total impact of digital is having a hefty and growing impact on business revenue. A recent PwC report indicates that the majority or respondents surveyed purchased online via PC at least every month and 24% of respondents purchase online via mobile monthly. This doesn’t take into account the research consumers do online before transacting in a brick-and-mortar location, but attribution is another story we’ll touch on later in this series.

It’s clear the way consumers discover, engage, purchase and maintain loyalty to brands is shifting, and as marketers, we should be adjusting the way we target consumers across channel.

Mayer Gupter, Global Head Marketing Technology & Innovation at Kimberly-Clark quoted his CMO Clive Sirkin at the recent Ashton Media Programmatic Summit in Sydney: “we don’t believe in digital marketing, but marketing in a digital world” – emphasising the fact that consumers don’t operate in silos.

Consumers want the best product, at the best price, at a time and place that best suits them. How can marketers ensure they are hitting the mark? Join us for part two of this post when we’ll share tips to help you sharpen you focus in a world where the lines are blurred.