This is according to our new Cross-Channel Marketing Report produced in association with IBM Marketing Cloud.

Cross-channel engagement is a modern marketing reality. Today, step-by-step approaches are not enough and success depends on every channel integrating with and supporting each other.

For customers, there is only one brand experience. As they move seamlessly across channels, marketers need to be where their customers are.

Our new report explores the extent to which organisations in Australia and New Zealand are equipped for cross-channel marketing. The research is based on a survey of around 300 marketing, digital and ecommerce professionals in Australia and New Zealand, carried out in September and October 2016.

Here are some key takeaways from the research:

1. Ownership and responsibility for cross-channel marketing is not evenly shared across organisations.

In terms of access to customer engagement insights, 71% of respondents agree that this lies with marketing teams. Furthermore, 37% of client-side respondents and 57% of agency respondents say that their, or their clients’, marketing teams are only ‘somewhat integrated’.

This emphasises that siloed behaviours, processes and organisational structures still exist within organisations, preventing cross-channel marketing from becoming a reality.

2. Social is a priority channel.

Social is considered the biggest priority, the greatest opportunity and will receive the greatest investment from marketers over the next year, yet greater efforts need to be made to integrate social channels in the overall cross-channel marketing mix.

Which three marketing channels are the biggest priorities for your organisation over the next year?

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3. Organisations need to focus more on post-campaign elements such as testing, optimisation and evaluation/learning.

When asked to rank the top five areas of a marketing campaign in terms of time spent, 43% of client-side respondents chose strategy and planning as their first choice while 32% chose design and content as their first choice.

While these elements are important, this focus comes at the expense of testing (1%), optimisation (1%) and evaluation/learning (3%). A greater emphasis on these areas is required in order to iterate and improve cross-channel marketing efforts.

4. The potential of mobile within the marketing mix is not fully exploited by marketers in the region.

Mobile channels rank at the bottom of the list in terms of channel usage and the extent to which they are integrated with marketing activities.

It is disconcerting that marketers in Australia and New Zealand are not fully taking advantage of mobile given the pivotal role that the channel plays in the path to purchase.

5. Marketers need to refine their systems, broaden their set of metrics and pay closer attention to measuring cross-channel influence.

In terms of understanding customer interactions across channels, 51% of client-side respondents indicate that they do not have a measurement system in place between differing online channels while 80% of these respondents say that they do not have a measurement system between online and offline channels.

Furthermore, 75% of client-side respondents and 84% of agency respondents say that they, or their clients, rely on sales/revenue as an indicator for cross-channel marketing effectiveness.

To learn more and read the full analysis, download our Cross-Channel Marketing in Australia and New Zealand report.