Marketers prioritise cross-channel approach, but struggle with execution: Report

Econsultancy’s third annual Cross-Channel Marketing Report has found that two-thirds of responding companies (67%) agree their priority is for “all key marketing activities to be integrated across channels.”

The report, published in partnership with Oracle Marketing Cloud, is based on a survey of 956 marketers and assesses how businesses are progressing with cross-channel strategies.

By Amy Rodgers August 4th 2014 11:38

It found that the majority of companies are prioritising the integration of marketing activities, but many are wrestling with some important constituent components of a truly cross-channel approach.

Cross-channel marketing capabilities (client-side respondents)

Though the majority have prioritised integrating marketing across channels, only 43% of respondents understand their customer journeys to the extent that they can adapt their channel mix.

Other barriers to integration were shown to include organisational structure and financial measurement.

In addition, only 7% of client-side respondents say their organisations are ‘very much set up to deliver effectively orchestrated cross-channel marketing activities’, and just over a third (35%) of companies are ‘not really’ geared up for these activities.

More than 60% of respondents agree that messaging, execution and delivery strategies are fragmented across touch points.

‘Messaging, execution and delivery strategies are fragmented across touch points’ – to what extent do you agree with this statement?

Tellingly, ‘lack of resources’ is the reason most commonly pinpointed to explain why companies can’t deliver orchestrated cross-channel marketing activities.

The research demonstrates that many companies are disproportionately pre-occupied with the planning, design and content of their campaigns at the expense of testing and optimisation.

But despite the reality check around the challenges and barriers faced by many organisations when trying to knit together experiences across so many touch points, it is encouraging to see that many companies are at least grasping the principles around conducting their marketing activities in an orchestrated fashion.

Simon Robinson, EMEA senior marketing and alliances director at Oracle Marketing Cloud commented:

The Econsultancy Cross-Channel Marketing Report 2014 shows that companies understand that the key to delivering an effective campaign lies in achieving a better understanding of the customer journey.

Keeping the customer ‘switched on’ to your brand message is more challenging than ever before and this sentiment is highlighted in the report. Almost a quarter of companies (21%) questioned believe that the customer journey is the singular most important factor for a successful campaign.

Download the report to find out more.