Cross-Media Marketing for the Masses

We live in a constantly changing world, and never is this more evident than in the marketing space. The “right” mix of print and digital mediums is constantly shifting and consumer preferences do, and the digital mediums themselves are a moving target, with new platforms rising and falling all the time.

So what is a print shop that wants to offer marketing services supposed to do?

First and foremost, don’t let the mediums dictate the message. Consumers today don’t want to see different branding or messaging on different platforms – they are looking for one voice, no matter where they happen to encounter it.

“It’s important that the messaging in cross-media campaigns be consistent and relevant across all media channels. The ultimate in this mix is delivering a response-based, integrated, and consistent marketing message, regardless of the communication vehicle,” says Teresa Harings, marketing writer, XMPie, A Xerox Company.

She goes on to point out that while the shift, for a while, was toward more digital touch points, today more consumers are getting excited about print and direct mail.

“While customers used to opt to get emails rather than direct mail, these days, it’s often the other way around: there’s excitement in opening the mailbox and finding personalized mail, or in using a smartphone to scan a QR code to a personalized URL. The combination of print and digital media can hit the sweet spot of customer-brand dialogue.”

The key word there is “dialogue” – the most effective campaigns today seek to engage consumers at multiple points along their lifecycle with the product or service. It’s not a “one and done” mentality anymore, and brands that focus and direct their messaging to capture what a consumer is looking for right now will be far more successful.

“Brands today are thinking differently, working to retain their customers to maximize customer lifetime value. Today, there’s much talk around the ‘customer lifecycle’ and establishing long-term customer relationships based on personalized interactions at key moments in the cycle,” notes Harings. “At the heart of it all, marketers are still focused on delivering the right message, to the right recipient, at the right moment, regardless of the medium being used.”

That challenge of figuring out how to effectively craft messages, and to which platforms and when to send them, will continue well into the coming year and beyond. And printers are rather uniquely positioned to become the experts at tackling cross-media campaign messaging. With direct mail and other forms of print once again becoming crucial components of the marketing mix, those shops that bring their expertise in that field, and add in the software and technological expertise to tackle the other mediums will have a leg up on marketing firms that only understand the digital mediums.

Strategies for success

When it comes to successfully designing and deploying a cross-media marketing campaign, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. First and foremost, it’s all about the tracking, and by using multiple mediums, marketers have a great opportunity to adjust the message on the fly when necessary.

“Cross-media campaign reporting, while advancing, is always challenging,” says Annette McCrary, director, strategic marketing, Production Printing Business Group, Ricoh. “Think about an offer for, say, a 25% discount. The marketer can track how many people went to the offer site, and they can track how many people actually completed the offer, but it’s typically after the campaign has ended. They've potentially wasted months, just to find out that the conversion rate was much smaller than expected.

“What if you could offer a campaign that drove to just an offer, and if the 25% wasn't resulting in conversions, the next day, week, month, or any other time period, you could change it to 35%? All without generating a new campaign – just by tweaking the links and messaging?”

Designing campaigns that drive consumers to other mediums opens up endless possibilities. McCrary specifically is excited about Augmented Reality (AR) technologies that allow marketers to design more complex and interconnected campaigns than any one platform could handle alone. It also allows for more complex tracking, being able to pinpoint which stages of the campaign are generating the best responses, and adjusting both the message and the delivery to suit. It makes for powerful, ever-shifting campaigns that show a much higher return on investment than any of them would produce individually. For printers, this means having the ability to go back to the clients with concrete data, and suggestions on what to do differently to get even better responses.

“In short, focus on skills, focus on the markets, and focus on the clients,” agrees Harings. “The technology can be applied across many sectors and markets – so look to deliver compelling ideas and solutions within those markets that you serve.”

Reaping the benefits

Another thing to keep in mind is that waiting – until the technology improves, until the clients are asking for it, until you have the right staff, etc. – can be a bigger mistake than jumping in and dealing with some of the bumps in the road that come with learning a new way to communicate with customers.

“They don't have to start with the most complex system; take baby steps,” says McCrary. “There’s a big fear factor involved in jumping into anything new, but if marketers don't start today, they’ll still be struggling with the same questions a year from now, but by then they’ll be behind the curve and will have ultimately lost out on current or potential business. No matter what size their business is, they can find affordable solutions to get started.”

“The key to success is identifying and understanding your clients’ needs and pain-points, specifically in regards to their clients or customers,” stresses Harings. “By creating profitable long-term value campaigns and understanding – for example, how a 10% increase in retention rates would impact their business – you will truly be considered a ‘partner’ in their eyes.”

Offering cross-media marketing options is just part of doing business in today’s brand landscape. Brands can’t afford to ignore any one platform, which means printers need to be prepared to create content that will reach consumers everywhere they want to engage. Printers who successfully integrate these types of services into their mix will find they move beyond a commodity provider to a trusted partner — and will reap all the benefits that come with it.

One: It Really is the Loneliest Number

In its study “How Advertising Works Today,” the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF, thearf.org) found that, on average, brands see a 19% return on investment increase by using two media platforms instead of one. Increasing that number to five platforms improved ROI by 35 percent. However, 29 percent of campaigns surveyed relied on just a single platform, with 60 percent using two or fewer.

Also of note from the study:

• Using radically different creative across different media tends to have a negative impact. Varied creative strategies may cancel each other out and become less memorable. The best way to go is with a unified cross-media campaign, which were, on average, 57% more effective.
• TV and print have a strong “cross-priming” effect because they both tend to be viewed in a relaxed setting. Likewise mobile and digital outdoor ads often work well together because both are viewed “on the go.”
• Traditional media still has a major impact among millennials. To reach an audience in the 18-34 age range, the ARF recommends allocating 71% on traditional and 29 percent on digital. A budget with 78% spending on traditional media and 22% on digital worked best for audiences across all age groups, the group reports.