As buyers, when we set out to make a purchase, we often use 2, 3 maybe even 10 different sources of information over the course of 20-30 days that span across multiple digital channels and devices. In fact, according to Google, more than 65% of revenue comes from purchases that involve multiple touch points and 47% of revenue comes from purchases that span across several days.
What does all this prove? Well, as online advertisers it’s important to target consumers across channels. Not a ground-breaking statement in itself. However, as we’ve been thinking about a cross-channel strategy in terms of advertising within channels, we’ve been getting it all wrong. As the consumer’s purchase journey has become increasingly fragmented across channels we shouldn’t have been looking to optimize our ad spend across channels, we should have been looking to optimize our ad spend and messaging to individual consumers across these different channels.
To understand what I mean by this, we need to take a look back over the history of online advertising across channels and consider the evolution.
In the beginning there was individual channel optimization
As we look back on online advertising’s evolution, it started out quite simply. In the beginning the consumers path-to-conversion wasn’t so fragmented, as they didn’t have as many options as they do today online. Meanwhile, advertisers were just getting to grips with channels such as search marketing, online display advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing etc. These channels were so new and under optimized that we didn’t think across channels, we just thought how we could squeeze more out of our individual siloed online advertising channels.
Then there was cross-channel attribution
The internet moved on. Consumers had an array of online advertising channels, social networks ballooned enabling more peer-to-peer purchase recommendations. At the same time advertisers were getting to grips with individual channels, and maximizing the potential of their individual siloed channels. This led them to begin looking across channels and optimizing online advertising holistically deciding if they could invest dollars from one channel more effectively in another channel based on a portfolio approach.
Now there is individually tailored advertising across channels
The world has moved on again. A more open and connected digital world has delivered consumers even more devices and channels to the point where an individual consumer path-to-conversion across channels and devices is close to unique. As advertisers we’re also increasingly seeing the application of first- and third-party audience data to online advertising optimization. This helps you identify a consumer and their key demographic info, then apply that knowledge to firstly identify if it’s the right kind of prospect for your brand and then target them across online channels with a more personalized message. In this era of online advertising we as marketers need to think more about targeting the consumer as oppose to the channel with our advertising dollars and messaging, considering how we can apply audience data to our cross-channel online advertising strategies.
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