What is cross media marketing?
Crossmedia Marketing offers great potential, especially for small regional companies. We explain the basics of marketing across multiple channels.
1. What is cross media marketing?
Cross-media marketing – also: cross-channel marketing – refers to the networking of several online and offline channels . The communication medium that transports the message to the customer is referred to as the channel. The interlinking of channels, from classic to digital, is important in cross-media. One also speaks of a networked communication strategy – this is the difference to multi-channel marketing.
- Abbreviationfinder: Find definitions of English word – Arts. Commonly used abbreviations related to word are also included.
2. Cross-media vs. multi-channel – what’s the difference?
Multi-channel marketing means that the same message is delivered through several channels . An offer can therefore be communicated via radio, newspaper and digital banner advertising at the same time.
Not so with cross-media marketing : here it is important to connect the content across the individual channels . Your customers are reached and accompanied in several situations – and the story is told or added to each time. The choice of channels is yours. However, you should definitely use at least 3 different channels. Decide on the channels through which your target group can best be reached.
3. Why you should rely on cross-media marketing
Imagine getting up in the morning and reading the newspaper. While leafing through, you come across the advertisement of a mail order company who advertises online discounts. On the way to work you will hear a spot on the radio from the same provider that indicates a social media campaign: by liking and sharing a post, you can win a free product in the online shop. At the weekend you will see a spot in the cinema that guarantees you a 10% discount on a product of your choice in the retailer’s online shop by uploading your cinema ticket. Do you feel addressed?
Connect social media within your cross-media strategy with other marketing channels n
The example shows: A goal – increasing online shop visitors – is communicated and networked across several channels . Daily newspapers, radio, social media and cinema are the channels that are frequently used by the online retailer’s target group.
With cross channel marketing you accompany your customers on their way. The address should be complementary – not oppressive. It is important to know your customers. If your customers are in the car for a long time on their way to work in rural regions, a radio spot is worthwhile in the morning and in the evening. If your target group uses public transport in a large city , you are more likely to reach them via stickers or passenger TV in the tram.
A precise coordination and selection of the channels is therefore essential for a successful cross-media campaign.
4. Cross-media marketing for regional small businesses
Cross-channel marketing is a real success factor, especially for regional branding . Local providers, such as the Augsburger radio station rt1 or the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung , can be perfectly linked. Through regional media, you also automatically reach the target group that is also interesting for your company.
Another advantage: target groups for cross-media campaigns can be better restricted regionally. Regional companies can usually define customer behavior more easily than national or even international corporations. Small companies are also usually characterized by their closeness to the customer. If you know your customers personally , you can often draw conclusions about the behavior and habits of the rest of the target group.
This helps you to select the right channels and instruments for your target group . Time and day of the week are also decisive: when can your customers best be reached through which medium? In the end, an intelligent mix makes the cross-channel campaign perfect.
5. What you can achieve with cross media marketing
For small B2B companies in particular , customer loyalty and trust are important factors for sales. This is exactly what you can achieve with cross-channel technology: by appearing regularly, you bring your brand to the mind of the customer over and over again. This creates brand awareness – and customers trust brands they are familiar with more.
In addition to increasing your brand awareness, crossmedia offers you the opportunity to link online and offline advertising. Even if advertising is labeled as a dying species by many marketers, print is still important, despite everything. Clearly, the focus is now on the digital brand presence. However, the use of brochures and the like is still an important means of communication, especially for small regional companies.
There are still target groups who are not only online. However, digitization in rural regions is largely lagging behind that in cities. If you want to reach these target groups with your digital offer, a campaign linked with print ads can make sense.
Crossmedia enables you to optimally coordinate communication with the customer. This allows you to advertise as target-group-specifically as possible – without paying for campaigns that to a large extent also reach people outside of your target group. In technical jargon, one speaks here of so-called scattering losses.
