Rather than just relying on one channel to target and engage with prospects, campaigns typically have better success when multiple channels are combined together.
Labelled as cross channel marketing, multi channel marketing, omni-channel marketing etc., they all have the same goal. Finding where your prospects are and engaging with them across those channels.
Taking a multi channel approach works. Take Econsultancy’s article for a good example, ‘Six case studies proving the effectiveness of multi channel marketing’.
Why does a multi channel approach work?
There are many reasons why this works so well. Firstly, people differ with the channels they are more receptive to receiving communications from. Finding out the preferred channel for each customer persona is a powerful position to be in. You will see an improvement in responsive rates and an overall boost in your campaign.
Secondly there is the channel medium. Different types of messages have a better success rate on different channels. For short, punchy messages, SMS text messages should be your go to. Longer, thought provoking messages would be better portrayed over email.
Lastly, nowadays our brains are getting really good at deciphering between content that is useful to us and what we need to disregard. Most people ignore marketing messages when seeing it for the first time meaning advertising must be repeated to gain your audience’s attention. Repeating a message over different channels is much more effective than repeating it over one.
Multi channel marketing is great but it does have its challenges. If this is new to you, we would recommend starting off with two channels. And, as if by magic, this article will look how to combine traditional with digital marketing methods, specifically direct mail and social media.
How direct mail can be used to start a conversation on social media
How many times have you been watching your favourite TV show, cup of tea in hand, and a #hashtag appears in the corner of the screen? This is a great way to encourage engagement and for the TV networks to collect and share viewers opinions. By using a single tag, responses can be monitored in real time. This method can be used with your direct mail campaigns. Actively invite people to start a conversation with you on different channels. In your next mail campaign include your social media handles and maybe throw in a hashtag or two.
Using a QR code in direct mail
There has been a lot of debate in the industry over whether QR (otherwise known as quick response) codes are effective anymore. We would argue yes! Whilst not everyone has a QR reader installed on their phone, some people do. Don’t ignore this. Adding a QR code to direct mail isn’t a big task and is an easy way to get people to engage with your business over social media. Why not try creating a Facebook landing page with a special offer? Landing pages are a great way to encourage more conversions as there are less distractions on a page compared to your business profile.
Who doesn’t love a competition?
Competitions are a tried and tested way of capturing prospects’ attention. Come on, who doesn’t love the chance to win something? Why not promote a competition through direct mail, but actually run the competition on social media. For example, you could send out sunflower seeds and instructions, saying whoever grows the highest sun flower wins! To enter people must share photos of their flowers over Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #sunflowercompbirch.
Run a Cross-Channel Event
Events are another great way of combining tradition with digital marketing methods. Why not send out handwritten personal invites for a special event. Encourage engagement over social media by asking people to tweet during the event using a hashtag. Get your hands on a projector and screen, and show people their tweets and interaction with a live Twitter wall. Incentivise people to engage by offering a prize to the best tweet of the night.
Time to get personal…
Personal and targeted campaigns have much better success rates than generalised ones. Direct mail can be uber tailored to the prospects’ interests that are listed on their social media sites. For example, use Facebook, Twitter etc. to really get to know people and what they care about. Then send out mail and promotional items that resonate with them.
Promotion, promotion, promotion
Saving our best idea till last. Drumroll please… use direct mail to send out a sale or promotion but only open it up to those who follow you on a chosen platform. We would recommend choosing a platform that has your least followers and engagement… a great way to bump up some numbers!
Sadly, that brings us to the end of our blog, we hope you have found it useful and you’re now eager to try out some of our ideas! Come on… we dare you!
Whatever term you prefer, multi, cross or omni, give it a try as others have and with great success too, “73% of marketers state that cross channel marketing had a major impact on conversion rates” – Salesforce
If you do decide to give one of our suggestions a try, or have a great idea yourself, promise us that you’ll do one thing… track! Track the success of your campaign, see what works, what doesn’t and areas that need a bit of tweaking!
Until next time… have a great day!
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