How to Create a Successful Multichannel Marketing Campaign

By: Amanda Smith

Multichannel marketing ensures your brand is present and interacting with customers regardless of where they look for content. Not everyone looks in the same place at the same time, so the best way to ensure your message reaches your target audience is with a campaign across a variety of media.

In the promo products industry, you should advertise and engage with customers across websites, digital ads, social media, direct mail, email and any other media you know your customers are using. Older clients may be more swayed by direct mail, whereas younger age groups prefer email or social media.
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Don’t know where to start? It can seem like a lot, but let’s break it down into pieces. Here are a few key aspects of developing and launching a successful multichannel marketing plan:

Set a realistic goal for each platform.
Each type of marketing serves a different purpose and may even have a different call to action. For example, an ad in a magazine or catalog will create brand awareness and build trust. That’s why it’s recommended to run the same ad for a few months. Repeated visibility will help prospects start to recognize your logo, name and products.

A marketing email contains a direct link to your website or ESP® for an active response. If you want to announce a holiday sale, an email is a great way to do it, but if you have a bigger long-term goal (like awareness), a magazine or catalog ad might work better.

A social media ad is helpful for both brand awareness and immediate action, as long as you know your customer base and prospects are actively using the platform you’re advertising on.

These marketing options each serve a purpose, but they will accomplish different goals. Make sure you develop each ad or marketing piece with your goal in mind.

Keep a consistent message and look.
Always stay true to your brand by making sure your messaging and the look and feel of your ads are consistent. Regardless of the platform, your customers should recognize you and know it’s your business.

For example, if you always call your business “a top drinkware supplier,” don’t refer to yourself as “the biggest mug supplier” or “your wine glass supplier.” With your design, if you always use pink and green, don’t suddenly start using blue and yellow unless you’re changing your brand colors moving forward. With text, select two to three fonts you want to use, and always use them.

These seem like small things, but they will give your brand consistency and make marketing creation easier for you. There’s no need to go back and forth between colors and fonts if you’ve already made decisions on what to use. You’ll save time and operate more efficiently.

Consider adding personalization when possible.
Regardless of how many channels you use, if you can add personalization, do it! It helps you further connect with each individual and build relationships. It also serves as a nice balance against marketing in which personalization isn’t possible.

Email marketing gives you the ability to send to targeted lists or send additional emails to customers who previously interacted with your ads. Retargeting on websites allows you to move customers further down the funnel by reminding them of the products they’re interested in and directing them to buy.

Build your brand.
As you can see, multichannel marketing is essential to getting the most brand awareness, customer engagement and lead generation. Have you thought about starting a marketing campaign but aren’t sure where to begin? ASI® Advertising has a suite of marketing opportunities and dedicated account representatives to help you get started. Let us know how we can help.