Editorial Articles

Richard Lees, Chairman of marketing services agency dbg, looks to the future of multichannel marketing.

When I started in marketing over two decades ago, DM and targeted marketing were all the rage. To say things have changed is an understatement - email, web analytics, social commerce, e-commerce, m-commerce, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The pace of multichannel marketing is astounding and marketers have a job to keep up.

To see how well marketers are coping, we commissioned some research asking large companies about their approach to multichannel marketing. It won't surprise anyone to read that most marketers are using multiple channels now. An encouraging 98 per cent of those surveyed are employing more than three channels as part of their marketing strategy and 51 per cent are using over five different channels.

At present, not surprisingly, the relatively new kids on the block - mobile and social media - are the least used channels. But I doubt this will be for long with 49 per cent of people saying mobile, apps and smart phones will be one of the biggest areas for them in the next three years and 45 per cent citing social media. A third of organisations see themselves focusing on experimentation with emerging technologies and feel the integration of these channels into their marketing mix will be a top priority.

It's great to learn marketers are aiming high and racing to use the latest techniques to get ahead of the curve, but how many of us have the right infrastructure in place to do this intelligently? And is it better to do it quickly and badly or to wait until we have the processes in place to do it well?

I firmly believe in getting the basics right before sprinting ahead to the next big challenge. We are all bombarded from all directions by so many clever campaign messages that unless the message reaches your customer through the right channel, at the right time and with the right message, it will inevitably get lost and your ROI dented.

At the heart of getting it right is the integration of channels and solid data in the form of a multichannel single customer view. For example, you need a good collection of mobile data in order to start sending SMS campaigns and you need to know your customers want to engage via social media before investing in it.

French Connection is a great example of a brand with multichannel aspirations and a strategy around the infrastructure. They recently announced the launch of click-to-buy YouTube channels and m-commerce apps and sites aiming to "allow customers to begin shopping on one device and finish on another". They have taken steps to join up the channels and data they collect from customers on these to enhance the purchase experience and meet the demands of today's multichannel, on-the-move consumer.

A carefully designed data collection and storage strategy is the key to successful multichannel marketing. Look at all your data reservoirs, from online shopping and e-marketing, to face-to-face, in-store and offer-led collection avenues, plus list buying and lifestyle data overlays, then make sure you are collecting the right information about your customers from each channel to be stored on one database.

Of course, this is easier said than done. The amount of data available can be totally overwhelming but the trick is to pull out what is practical and useful and then to USE this information. If you know someone is accessing your site via a mobile app, present them with your mobile site which is easier to access. If you know that customer and they do not follow through to purchase, encourage them via other channels such as a basket abandonment email with an incentive or an SMS reminder of the items in their basket.

Multichannel marketing is expanding rapidly and it seems most are working hard to keep up. But before going along with the crowd, perhaps it's best to stop and think about exactly which channels are right for us and whether we have the data in place to use them intelligently.

Richard Lees, Chairman, dbg