A plurality of marketers and agencies believe that a clearly defined strategy is the most important factor enabling effective coordination of cross-channel marketing campaigns, details Econsultancy [download page] in a June 2012 report released in association with Responsys. 28% of company marketers and 36% of agencies tabbed this factor as most important, although beyond that their responses differed. For example, while ownership and accountability was the second most-popular answer among company marketers, at 15%, only 7% of agencies cited this factor. By contrast, agencies were more likely than company marketers to indicate joined-up technology and systems (16% vs. 12%) and a single customer view (15% vs. 8%) as the single critical factor driving cross-channel effectiveness.
Lack of Strategy Biggest Barrier for Marketers
It stands to reason that if a clearly defined strategy is the most oft-cited critical factor, then the lack of such a strategy is the single greatest barrier preventing coordinated cross-channel campaigns. Interestingly, while this is the case for company marketers (25%), the lack of a clearly defined strategy was edged out by lack of knowledge or experience (27%) among agency respondents.
Poor organizational structure was also seen as a key barrier, cited by 23% of company respondents and 15% of agencies. Of note, an IBM survey of CEOs released in June found that the majority see organizational structures as hindering digital marketing’s potential, with 52% of the executives believing their structures are not designed to take advantage of their digital business priorities.
Cross-Channel Effectiveness Just Okay
Data from Econsultancy’s “Cross-Channel Marketing Report 2012” indicates that a plurality of companies (43%) and agencies (42%) describe their organization’s ability to drive marketing campaigns which are coordinated across different channels as just okay. Roughly one-third of company marketers say their ability is good (27%) or excellent (5%), while one-quarter rate their ability as poor (20%) or very poor (5%).
Of note, agencies are more likely to give a poor rating to their organization’s ability than a positive one (30% vs. 27%). In terms of multi-channel digital marketing, agencies appear more confident: survey results from PulsePoint released in May found that agencies were far more likely than marketers to rate their multi-channel digital marketing effectiveness a top-2 box score (57% vs. 15%). Similarly, agencies were far more confident in their cross-channel marketing effectiveness (48% vs. 13%).
Other Findings:
- According to the Econsultancy report, direct mail (59%) is the channel that most company marketers believe is straightforward to integrate with their digital marketing activity, while TV is the channel that most find quite or very difficult (61%). Agencies are in agreement with these choices.
- Roughly one-third of company marketers say that their telemarketing is very integrated with their digital marketing activity. Direct mail (29%) and TV (25%) are next.
- Direct mail and newspapers (both at 53%) are the offline channels that the largest proportion of respondents say they integrate with their digital marketing. Less than one-third integrate outdoor advertising (30%), TV (28%), radio (25%) and telemarketing (23%).
About the Data: The Econsultancy data is based on an online survey conducted in April and May 2012 that received 669 responses: 337 said they were client-side or in-house marketers, while 332 said they were an agency/consultant or vendor. The respondents hail from a variety of global locations, though 55% are based in the UK.
