As consumers bounce from device to device throughout the day, marketers are trying to figure out how to track them across platforms. As a result, cross-channel marketing was a top priority for the majority of client-side marketers worldwide queried in a May 2014 study by Econsultancy in association with Oracle Marketing Cloud. More than two-thirds of respondents agreed that integrating all marketing activities across channels was a main goal.
However, a look at the other cross-channel capabilities cited by respondents showed that just because cross-channel was a priority didn’t mean they were actually doing it. For example, 43{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} said that they could understand their consumers’ journeys and change their marketing mix as a result, while 30{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} had implemented teams to work on integrated marketing. Less than one-fifth of respondents could measure the financial impact of cross-channel efforts—a problem, considering that marketing results matter—and the ability to determine customer retention as a result of integrated marketing trailed even further behind.
Just 7{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} of respondents said their organizations were prepared to execute cross-channel marketing, while 35{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} said they were “not really” ready. And fully 62{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} of respondents agreed that their messaging, execution and delivery strategies weren’t aligned across touchpoints, compared with just 10{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} who disagreed with this statement.
Of course, mobile plays a huge role in cross-channel marketing, and this year, more marketers were focused on integrating this channel into their strategy: 76{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9}, vs. 60{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} in 2013. However, respondents still had a long way to go here as well. Just 23{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} had integrated mobile messaging, and only 16{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} said the same about push notifications.
Ascend2 polling in June 2014 found that a large proportion of marketing professionals worldwide didn’t view integration as a barrier to mobile success. Among respondents, 26{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} said cross-channel integration was a leading challenge to mobile marketing success, compared with 38{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} who cited first-place in-house expertise and 36{69ae0a25d93a3bfb4c7a14c6cb5bc2b4db8e6111ae4c35307d8a6dded8443ab9} who called out No. 2 budget limitations.
Read the original post at Emarketer.com