August 2016

MAKING MULTICHANNEL
MARKETING WORK: FOUR
TACTICS REQUIRED FOR
OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS
As consumers spend more time across a broader number of devices and
channels, the case for multichannel marketing has never been clearer. But few
companies are capable of integrating the required data sources, technologies
and departments to make omnichannel marketing work. Those in this elite
group are there because they have mastered four core tactics which we’ll
cover in this report.

presented by
Dear eMarketer Reader,

eMarketer is pleased to make this report, Making Multichannel Marketing

Work: Four Tactics Required for Omnichannel Success, available to
our readers.

This report is a great example of eMarketer data and insights that focus on the
current state of multichannel marketing in terms of marketers’ adoption and
perceived difficulties.

We invite you to learn more about eMarketer’s approach to research and

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We thank you for your interest in Making Multichannel Marketing Work:

Four Tactics Required for Omnichannel Success and IBM for making it
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Best Regards,

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11 Times Square, Floor 14 cgurin@emarketer.com
New York, NY 10036
 MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED
FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS
As consumers spend more time across a broader number of devices and channels, the case for multichannel
marketing has never been clearer. But few companies are capable of integrating the required data sources,
technologies and departments to make omnichannel marketing work. Those in this elite group are there because
they have mastered four core tactics:

■■ They take an audience-centric approach, not a Top Priorities for 2016 According to US Marketing
channel-specific one. Doing so allows the customer to Managers
% of respondents
dictate the ideal communication channels, not individual
Customer-centric focus
channel managers.
79%
Strategy/brand management
■■ They overcome channel silos, both at the
70%
organizational and the technological levels. This
Reporting/insight
enables channel integration via improved data sharing 61%
and communication. Marketing technology
56%
■■ They continually work to make their messaging as Omnichannel/cross-channel promotions
50%
relevant and meaningful as possible, regardless of
Culture/leadership
device, channel or content type. Failure to do so results
48%
in poor customer experience. Department integration (e.g., sales, product, merchandising)
38%
■■ And finally, they rely on multichannel attribution to Budget management/control
both measure and improve omnichannel efforts. This 37%

allows them to take a holistic view of their campaigns Talent acquisition/skills development
34%
and evaluate them without bias.
Improving C-suite/boardroom relationships
34%
WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report details the current
state of multichannel marketing in terms of marketers’ Source: Black Ink ROI, "C-Level 2016 Marketing Study," March 2, 2016
adoption and perceived difficulties, and it highlights four 206193 www.eMarketer.com

core objectives companies must meet to make it work.
KEY STAT: Marketers are wising up to multichannel
marketing impediments, such as the lack of a
customer-centric view and technology integration issues.
Fixing such matters was a top priority for US marketing
managers polled in March 2016.

CONTENTS
2 Making Multichannel Marketing Work: Four Tactics
Required for Omnichannel Success
3 Getting Multichannel Right
5 Making Multichannel Marketing Work: Four Areas of Focus
13 eMarketer Interviews

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3
 GETTING MULTICHANNEL RIGHT Top 2 Marketing Strategy and Investment Priorities
According to US Senior Marketers, Sep 2015
% of respondents
Brands know multichannel marketing is critical
Truly integrated marketing (PR, advertising, digital, social,
to reach their audiences, but pulling off a truly mobile, etc.)
integrated effort is no small feat. 63%
14%

Multichannel marketing can be defined simply as using Content marketing

13%
multiple touchpoints to reach audiences. Given the
27%
general nature of the description, it is not uncommon
Big data & analytics
to find it applied in vastly different ways. One marketer 11%
may describe the coordination of digital-only efforts as 16%
multichannel, while another might assume that merely Mobile marketing
maintaining a presence in multiple channels qualifies. 4%
11%
More seasoned marketers understand that multichannel Social media & business
marketing isn’t just about executing in multiple channels 4%
but integrating them. This more holistic, omnichannel 11%
definition that includes online and offline channels is Influencer marketing
now the norm, as are hopes for its implementation. (In 4%
9%
this vein, eMarketer considers this type of multichannel
Real-time marketing (brand newsroom)
marketing analogous to omnichannel marketing and
4%
uses the terms interchangeably throughout this report.)
5%
A September 2015 survey by the PR Council and
Native advertising
Association of National Advertisers (ANA) found that a 4%
truly integrated marketing strategy was far and away the
First priority Second priority
top priority of US senior marketers.
Source: PR Council and Association of National Advertisers (ANA) study as
cited in press release, Oct 22, 2015
199141 www.eMarketer.com

“You need to have an omnichannel digital strategy,” said

Brian Leder, senior vice president and head of North
American Media at digital advertising agency Razorfish.
“It’s no longer good enough to have a mobile strategy, a
programmatic strategy or a fill-in-the-blank strategy. What
brand marketers need to do is they need to be thinking
across all platforms.”

Accomplishing this is proving elusive. A June 2015 survey

of CMOs worldwide conducted by The CMO Club found
just 11% of respondents felt they had a sophisticated
omnichannel strategy, meaning a cross-channel strategy
that included online and offline channels. About a third of
respondents were in the early stages, but the remaining
55% had yet to launch or had no plans to launch such
a strategy.

Though one might expect the portion of marketers

possessing an omnichannel strategy to have risen since
last year, companies are still struggling to keep pace
with expanding media consumption habits, especially
within digital.

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4
In 2016, eMarketer estimates, the average US adult will Average Time Spent per Day on Select Digital
consume almost 6 hours of digital media daily across Activities by US Adults, by Device, 2013-2018
mobile, desktops/laptops and other connected devices, hrs:mins and CAGR
such as an internet protocol TV (IPTV) or over-the-top 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 CAGR
(2013-2018)
(OTT) devices like a Roku.
Digital 4:48 5:09 5:28 5:43 5:53 6:01 4.7%
—Mobile 2:15 2:37 2:53 3:06 3:15 3:23 8.4%
Average Time Spent per Day with Major Media by US ——Smartphone 1:11 1:26 1:39 1:49 1:56 2:03 11.6%
Adults, 2016 ——Tablet 0:57 1:05 1:10 1:14 1:16 1:18 6.4%
hrs:mins —Desktop/laptop* 2:16 2:14 2:12 2:11 2:10 2:08 -1.2%
Other connected devices —Other connected 0:17 0:19 0:23 0:26 0:28 0:30 13.0%
0:26 devices
Print*
Digital video 0:46 0:54 1:02 1:08 1:12 1:15 10.4%
0:28
Other* —Mobile 0:17 0:22 0:26 0:29 0:31 0:34 14.1%
0:22
Radio* ——Smartphone 0:07 0:10 0:13 0:15 0:17 0:19 20.3%
1:27 Mobile ——Tablet 0:10 0:12 0:13 0:14 0:14 0:15 8.8%
Desktop/ (nonvoice)
laptop** 3:06 —Desktop/laptop 0:22 0:23 0:24 0:25 0:25 0:24 2.3%
Digital
5:43 2:11 —Other connected 0:07 0:09 0:12 0:14 0:16 0:17 21.0%
TV* devices
4:05
Digital radio 0:38 0:45 0:50 0:53 0:56 0:57 8.3%
Digital —Mobile 0:32 0:39 0:44 0:47 0:50 0:52 10.3%
—Desktop/laptop 0:06 0:06 0:06 0:06 0:06 0:05 -4.0%
Total per day=
12 hours 5 minutes Social networks 0:35 0:38 0:41 0:43 0:45 0:46 5.9%

Note: ages 18+; time spent with each medium includes all time spent with —Mobile 0:18 0:23 0:26 0:29 0:32 0:34 13.6%
that medium, regardless of multitasking; for example, 1 hour of ——Smartphone 0:11 0:15 0:18 0:21 0:23 0:24 17.0%
multitasking on desktop/laptop while watching TV is counted as 1 hour for
TV and 1 hour for desktop/laptop; *excludes digital; **includes all internet ——Tablet 0:07 0:08 0:09 0:09 0:09 0:09 6.7%
activities on desktop and laptop computers —Desktop/laptop 0:17 0:16 0:15 0:14 0:13 0:13 -5.5%
Source: eMarketer, April 2016
Pandora 0:20 0:24 0:26 0:28 0:29 0:30 7.9%
207864 www.eMarketer.com
—Mobile 0:16 0:20 0:22 0:24 0:25 0:26 10.1%
Mobile, which includes smartphones and tablets, has —Desktop/laptop 0:04 0:04 0:04 0:04 0:03 0:03 -3.4%
brought significant frustrations to marketers in the past Facebook 0:18 0:20 0:21 0:22 0:23 0:23 5.3%
couple of years. With US mobile time spent projected —Mobile 0:10 0:12 0:14 0:16 0:17 0:17 12.9%
to climb over the next several years, eroding time spent —Desktop/laptop 0:08 0:07 0:07 0:06 0:06 0:06 -7.5%

with desktops and laptops and even television, it will only Note: ages 18+ who use each medium at least once per month; average
time spent with each medium includes all time spent with that medium,
continue to disrupt brands’ marketing efforts. regardless of multitasking or device; *includes all internet activities on
desktop and laptop computers
Source: eMarketer, April 2016
Keeping pace with digital consumption habits in a broad 207887 www.eMarketer.com

sense is challenging enough, but racing to cover all the

“The consumer has caused all of this mess,” said Chris
channels and formats proves even harder. As time spent
Paradysz, co-founder and CEO of digital marketing agency
on core digital activities such as digital video, digital radio
PMX Agency (formerly PM Digital). “The marketing tech
and social networking rises, marketers must hone their
and the media and all of that are simply a function of how
efforts to capitalize on these actions across search, email,
the consumer’s role has changed so dramatically. All of
shopping engines, news sites and many other properties
this is driven by consumers’ desire to get what they want,
at any time and on any device.
when they want it, from wherever they want at any time
they want.”

Consumers’ changing attitudes are just as influential

as their behaviors. Now accustomed to moving freely
between touchpoints thanks to greater access via more
device types, consumers expect companies to do the
same—for instance, by knowing that a customer just
browsing its app on a tablet is the same one who has
now moved to its website on a desktop. Expectations
are for more than a mere brand presence, they are for a
cohesive, relevant brand experience.

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5
“Consumers don’t want bombardment, they don’t want
overlapping messages and inappropriate noise,” Paradysz
MAKING MULTICHANNEL
said. “As data experts, we have to continue to solve the MARKETING WORK: FOUR AREAS
world in a way that brings some sanity and interpretation OF FOCUS
and insight to all the data that’s being amassed.”
Before brands commit resources to executing
Paradysz’s classification of marketers as data experts
individual channels, they must first solidify a proper
makes sense in light of what’s required to overcome
these obstacles and achieve a more integrated, omnichannel marketing foundation. That foundation
multichannel effort. Omnichannel marketing success will be data-driven, and it will rest on four pillars.
cannot be obtained without building a solid, data-driven
foundation that accomplishes the following four tasks:
transitioning to an audience-centric view; integrating
channels; crafting meaningful, relevant messaging; and
TRANSITIONING TO AN
implementing proper multichannel attribution. AUDIENCE-CENTRIC VIEW
Whether it’s called an audience-centric view, a
The remainder of this report will assess each of these
customer-centric view or a people-based view, the move
four areas in terms of their importance, challenges and
away from a channel-specific view was a top priority
other considerations for a company transitioning to an
for the majority of US marketers polled by marketing
omnichannel marketing strategy.
software services provider Black Ink ROI in March 2016.

Top Priorities for 2016 According to US Marketing

Managers
% of respondents
Customer-centric focus
79%
Strategy/brand management
70%
Reporting/insight
61%
Marketing technology
56%
Omnichannel/cross-channel promotions
50%
Culture/leadership
48%
Department integration (e.g., sales, product, merchandising)
38%
Budget management/control
37%
Talent acquisition/skills development
34%
Improving C-suite/boardroom relationships
34%

Source: Black Ink ROI, "C-Level 2016 Marketing Study," March 2, 2016
206193 www.eMarketer.com

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 6
“We’re seeing a lot more people talking about
people-based marketing,” said Anneka Gupta, chief
product officer of data onboarding service LiveRamp.
“That’s really important when you’re thinking about
multichannel marketing, because if you think about all
these different channels, they think about people in very
different ways. Some measure a person as a device,
which isn’t true. People have many different devices. Or
they might be looking at one kind of an identifier like an
email or a name or postal address. But for multichannel
marketing to really get to the level that it needs to, you
need to take a people-based approach.”
Switching from a channel-based to a people-based
approach requires marketers to ascribe data collection
and analytics practices to audiences, not channels. Chris
Harrison, chief technology officer of marketing services
firm Epsilon, noted that to do so, companies must look to
build customer profiles that are both “rich” and “ready,”
meaning that marketers have the ability to actually
recognize and reach those individuals.
“The richness is the depth and breadth of the profile
itself, and the readiness is how easily you can actually
use that knowledge that you have. When you get into that
element, a lot of it is about the recognition and the reach,”
Harrison said. “I need to be able to recognize as much
about them and have a deep profile to be able to make
a decision.”
First-party, third-party, behavioral and demographic data
are just some of the inputs brands might consider when
fleshing out audience profiles. However, the depth of
the profile isn’t limited to knowing high-level behaviors,
attitude, actions and attributes—such indicators must also
be discernable regardless of channel or device.
To do this, cross-device audience recognition and
identification capabilities are paramount. A December
2015 poll of US digital media and marketing practitioners
conducted by the Winterberry Group, for example,
found more than two-thirds of respondents cited
cross-device audience recognition as the development
that will command the majority of their attention this year.
MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 7
Cross-device capabilities are still being developed and
refined, which can limit the richness of audience profiles
as well as their readiness. At the micro level, this
process focuses on how audiences are organized or
segmented, whether by similar attributes or stages in
the customer journey. At the macro level, it is about the
activation or deployment of these audiences. Here again,
cross-device capabilities are important, as is the ability
to easily integrate audiences into a variety of marketing
channels and platforms.
However, no single tool is sufficient to activate audiences
across every channel. For example, marketers must still
work directly with emerging platforms like Snapchat,
utilizing their tools and processes until they are eventually
integrated with other media-buying platforms.
These technological limitations pose significant
challenges for marketers transitioning to a more
audience-centric view. A November 2015 survey of
senior-level marketers worldwide from a variety of
industries conducted by Experian Marketing Services
found that marketers that get stuck in transitioning
to a more customer-oriented view tend to run into
technological and organizational challenges.
As such, many marketers are now forced to pursue added
technologies to execute audience-driven campaigns
outside of pure marketing channels. A December
2015 survey of US senior-level agency and marketing
professionals conducted by programmatic ad tech firm
Rocket Fuel found high interest in learning about data
management platforms (DMPs), demand-side platforms
(DSPs) and even programmatic TV.
Technologies US Senior-Level Agency and Marketing
Professionals Are Interested in Learning About in
2016
% of respondents
DMP 91%
Multichannel attribution 81%
DSP 80%
Programmatic TV 80%
Ad viewability measurement 78%
Cross-device tracking & delivery 74%
Note: n=204; "very" or "somewhat interested"
Source: Rocket Fuel, "Marketing Tech Trends: 10 Things Happening in 2016,"
Feb 22, 2016
205711 www.eMarketer.com
Historically, DMPs have been the audience engine for Channels that Are Important to Integrate with Their
programmatic advertising, given their ability to store Data Management Platform (DMP) According to US
and analyze a massive amount of data from a variety of Agency and Marketing Professionals, Aug 2015
% of respondents
sources, channels and inputs and quickly act on it via the
DSP, the main programmatic ad buying platform. Website/mobile app 74.5%

Mobile 72.0%
But lately multichannel marketers and those with large
Search 69.6%
amounts of first-party data are increasingly looking to
CRM 68.7%
use DMPs’ rich audience insights and activations in their
marketing channels. Email 68.2%

Earned social 61.7%

“It’s about having that one point of truth where all the Video 61.4%
activity data is stored so that you can use that for your
Display 60.0%
different marketing campaigns and automate different
Paid social 59.3%
campaigns against that,” said Kipp Bodnar, CMO of
HubSpot, a provider of an inbound marketing platform. Point-of-sale 46.3%
“That’s very different than the data you get just from the TV 43.5%
web analytics and performance side.” SMS/MMS 41.0%

Call center 36.9%

The DMP’s ability to ingest and organize a variety of data
types is one draw for multichannel marketers. Another Note: responses of 8-10 on a scale where 1=not at all important and
10=extremely important
is that many DMPs offer cross-device identity matching Source: Ad Age Content Strategy Studio, "Picking the Right DMP: What
capabilities or can easily partner with vendors for this Marketers Want" sponsored by Neustar and conducted by Advantage
Business Research, Feb 19, 2016
service. This doesn’t just make for more complete 205668 www.eMarketer.com
profiles, it also makes it easier to act on those profiles
across a variety of channels and devices.

Marketers have high expectations for the number of

channels and devices DMP insights can be used with.
An August 2015 poll of US agency and marketing
professionals conducted by Advantage Business
Research found most respondents planned to integrate
major marketing and advertising channels with their DMP.
Though the importance of integrating offline channels
like call centers, SMS and TV was slightly less, eMarketer
anticipates such integrations will grow in importance in
the next 12 months.
INTEGRATING CHANNELS
Channel integration might seem an obvious, basic
requirement for omnichannel marketing, but trying to
account for every possible combination becomes near
impossible when considering dozens of channels across
digital, traditional media, offline experiences (like stores),
direct mail and events and the ever-growing number of
digital devices at consumers’ fingertips.
“The number of touchpoints that brands have with
consumers is continuing to grow, as there are more
channels, more devices, more apps and more websites,”
Gupta said. “We see this continued fragmentation within
the marketing technology ecosystem, but also just in the
way that brands and consumers are interacting. And our
bet is that the fragmentation is just going to continue
to grow.”

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 8
The same technological issues that plague marketers While full-scale integration is the ultimate goal for
when moving to a more audience-centric view also marketers, the ability to integrate marketing-specific
affect channel integration efforts. Here again, multiple efforts is most important today. Experian’s survey of
systems and solutions are required for proper integration. senior-level marketers found the greatest concentration
Econsultancy found just 8% of digital marketers and of cross-channel marketers planned to integrate their
ecommerce professionals it polled worldwide said they website, social efforts, email and mobile apps. Nearly half
had a single platform for managing data across multiple (49%) had plans to integrate digital display advertising
channels in 2015, a portion that remained unchanged from across desktop and mobile, and about a third intended to
2013. The survey showed very limited gains in pursuing bring offline channels such as direct mail and in-store into
a more cohesive integration strategy, again highlighting their omnichannel efforts.
the difficulties—and even the improbabilities—associated
with finding a more unified solution.
Planned Channel Integrations According to Enterprise-
Level Cross-Channel vs. Total Cross-Channel Marketers
Worldwide, Nov 2015
Digital Marketers/Ecommerce Professionals % of respondents
Worldwide Whose Company Has a Single Platform for
Managing Data Across Multiple Channels, 2013 & 2015 Enterprise-level Total cross-channel
cross-channel marketers marketers
% of respondents
Website 53% 62%
Have a single platform that manages data across multiple Social (paid and organic 57% 60%
channels social media)
8%
Email 63% 55%
8%
Mobile—apps 65% 53%
Have a single platform that can manage data from some Display advertising 55% 49%
channels, but not others (desktop and mobile ads)
13%
Mobile—SMS/MMS 44% 40%
12%
In-store 37% 36%
Have separate but connected technologies for different channels Direct mail 38% 35%
27%
Addressable TV 49% 29%
30%
Source: Experian Marketing Services, "The 2016 Digital Marketer: Your
Have separate, nonconnected technologies managing data for Guide to Using Data and Technology to Better Engage Your Customers,"
different channels April 6, 2016
52% 208243 www.eMarketer.com

50%
Though such offline channels are likely longer-term areas
2013 2015 of focus, they are equally important for achieving a unified
Note: 2013 n=413; 2015 n=848 customer view—not just in terms of messaging but in the
Source: Econsultancy, "Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: The data they provide marketers on their audience’s actions
Multichannel Reality" in association with Adobe, Sep 3, 2015
196388 www.eMarketer.com and behaviors.

“[Clients] want our platform to be integrated with all of
their other components in their marketing tech stack,
whether it’s CRM, data warehousing, segmentation or
predictive analytics,” said Beth Adams, vice president of
marketing at Saepio Technologies, a marketing technology
and services provider. “They’re continually asking for
integration with all the different tech stack systems as
well as back-office systems to try and achieve more
closed-loop reporting.”
Gupta said that brands and agencies are increasingly
interested in making these connections, but data
compatibility issues make it difficult to bridge online and
offline channels.
“If you think about the customer experience and the
way that brands are able to recognize consumers, in the
offline world, you may have an email address or a name
and postal address if someone made a purchase,” Gupta
said. “But in the online world, it’s all anonymous. So being
able to connect the known and the anonymous is really
challenging if you have no way to reconcile that person
across those touchpoints.”

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 9
The complexities of integrating channel-specific data and
technology complicate efforts, as do organizational flaws.
A September 2015 survey of US marketing executives
conducted by Forbes Insights showed the top challenge
for respondents looking to develop data-driven marketing
initiatives was breaking down departmental silos. This
was more pressing than issues with data collection,
defining audience segments and figuring out technology.
Leading Challenges of Developing Data-Driven
Marketing Initiatives According to US Marketing
Executives, Sep 2015
% of respondents
Breaking down the silos of data between departments to ensure
the successful flow of information
61%
Gathering and parsing data
56%
Defining audience and customer segments
56%
Focusing on complex technical solutions
54%
Telling the story of your brand and products
51%
Creating a single view of the customer
38%
Source: Forbes Insights, "Data Driven and Customer Centric: Marketers
Turning Insights Into Impact" in association with Turn, Nov 3, 2015
201171 www.eMarketer.com
Most of those interviewed for this report stressed how
crucial proper organizational alignment is for multichannel
marketing success, both in departments’ abilities to
share necessary data and technology and in their ability
to work together freely and fluidly toward a common
campaign goal.
“When advertisers are trying to sort out omnichannel
and integrated solutions, it still ultimately comes down
to the organizational structure of the brand and where
decisions get made and by whom,” Paradysz said. “If
you’re not properly aligned internally to be able to make
those decisions and [are] too siloed, then you really
haven’t solved the problem. Companies are going through
a lot of pain and torture trying to figure out how to align
themselves structurally to be able to handle everything
from the technology to the marketing, the media and
content. And it’s tough because it means realignment of
people and things like resetting titles and compensation
and incentive bonuses. All of those things used to be
pretty well set, but now they are being challenged.”
MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 10
One approach some companies are taking to mitigate
the negative effects of silos and enable more data and
information flow among departments is to create a
separate position or team dedicated to ensuring proper
communication and integration among channels.
Haley Rubin, who focuses on digital shopper media
at Heineken USA, noted that her company is taking
this approach to better align internal teams to reach a
common goal. Rubin acts as the gatekeeper between
media and brand teams and the commercial team that
works with retail accounts. Her role is twofold. First, it
minimizes the legwork required from each team, be it one
that concentrates on grocery outlets vs. liquor stores, to
analyze and interpret the data. Second, it helps to instruct
each team on what it needs to be considering, both in
its own actions and as part of the broader campaign
objectives. “We need to make sure we provide the right
information to those teams that need it,” Rubin said. “And
then they just simply need to embrace it and then apply
the thinking to their activations.”
Even in the absence of such teams, most agreed that
frequent, frank conversations between departments
and teams could also go a long way to improving
data-sharing practices.
“When there are data silos within an organization, there
are also organizational silos,” Gupta said. “So we might
see a brand that has different people running the CRM
vs. the digital piece vs. the TV advertising. There might
be an agency as well. But when we can bring all these
people together and get them talking and thinking about
how they can actually leverage the value of their different
channels, by and large, what we see is that everyone
understands that they can create better experiences for
their customers.”
CRAFTING MEANINGFUL, RELEVANT
MESSAGING
With improved multichannel communications now
a consumer-driven mandate, consistent, relevant
messaging is now even more important to marketers.
Marketing executives in North America don’t just deem
it critical to the customer experience, they also consider
it key to their companies’ bottom line, according to a Q4
2015 poll conducted by the CMO Council.
Campaign Strategies that Are Critical to Realizing
Greater Revenues/Profitability from Customer
Engagement According to Marketing Executives in
North America*, Q4 2015
% of respondents
Personalized engagements that take customer preferences, past
engagements and known preferences into account
49%
Omnichannel communications that are consistent and trusted
41%
Consistent experiences in all channels, including offline
and in-store
36%
Identifying upselling and cross-selling opportunities
34%
Creating personalized offers, deals and savings based on
customer preferences
32%
Closed-loop marketing campaign execution and measurement
25%
Using analytics and intelligence to better develop and
price products
23%
Always-on customer service options across web and
mobile channels
19%
Improving responsiveness of customer communications
18%
Social engagement channels, including click-to-buy and social
service plug-ins
7%
Mobile-first campaign execution to optimize mobile engagement
5%
Other
2%
Note: *84% of respondents were from North America
Source: CMO Council, "Predicting Routes to Revenue: Identifying Real-Time
Decisions for Business-Driving Engagement" conducted in partnership with
Pegasystems, Jan 20, 2016
203641 www.eMarketer.com
Of course, delivering a consistent, highly relevant user
experience across every channel and device is extremely
hard. Not only do marketers need rich audience profiles
to derive relevancy and meaning for their audiences, but
they also need straightforward methods of activating that
data and delivering that message in a seamless manner
across every channel and device.
One obvious delay is the work-in-progress quality of
cross-device targeting and identity functions.
MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11
“If a consumer buys something on their laptop and then
visits your site on their phone and you don’t know it’s
the same person, so you’re still reaching out to them on
their phone even after they’ve bought something, the
consumer is going to think less of you,” said James Green,
CEO of Magnetic, a programmatic ad tech company. “And
there are so many examples of that. Marketers are still
stuck working on channel-specific functions.”
But poor cross-device experiences are only part of
the problem. Even if marketers were able to properly
identify audiences on each respective device, they still
would lack the tools needed to properly tailor creative
and messaging.
“We can find the right audiences, we can reach that
audience, but you have to have something compelling
to say that’s going to grab their attention,” Harrison said.
“Today, that seems out of step with everything else that’s
going on in marketing. We’re speeding up the way we
can make decisions and understand consumers, but the
process hasn’t been applied to that creative emotional
connection quite yet, at least not as effectively as the
other parts.”
According to Gupta, this disconnect stems from two
main issues: data connectivity and content optimization.
“You actually need to be able to know who a person is
and know something about them when you’re interacting
with them,” she said. “But the other piece is showing the
creative that’s relevant and improving that creative. If you
can bring data connectivity into the content optimization
platforms, then we can really help our brands figure out
what messages are working and help them engage with
clients better. But this is still an emerging area where the
technology is growing and where there needs to be more
powerful platforms.”
Gupta said LiveRamp sees clients looking to integrate
their data services with site personalization and
optimization platforms—and even dynamic creative
platforms—across display and video to try and deliver a
more relevant, consistent experience.
Experian’s poll of senior-level marketers offers insight Preference center data is another source of information
into the most common types of data used to personalize useful for understanding the right multichannel
communications. More than half of respondents said strategy for each customer. Brands that collect data on
they personalized messages using basic information like consumers’ preferred messaging channels, frequency of
a customer’s name, birthday or gender. Slightly less than communications and preferred product or content types
half used financial-based demographic info like estimated have valuable customer experience information. Knowing
household income or net worth estimates to tailor a consumer prefers paper coupons vs. in-app promotions
messages. First-party behavioral data gleaned from site or email vs. SMS can take significant guesswork out of
interactions, purchases and email activity was another reaching them and has the potential to greatly improve
common data source, used by 45% of respondents. the customer experience. Conversely, not abiding by
preference data could harm a brand—by wasting channel
efforts and by irritating the consumer.
Types of Data Used to Personalize Communications
According to Senior-Level Marketers Worldwide,
Nov 2015 As more companies look to better personalize their
% of respondents messaging and content experiences for audiences, an
Basic demographic data, like first name, gender or birthday inevitable rise in content and creative generation will
53% follow. Many brands now find themselves swimming in
Financial data, like estimated income, discretionary spend content marketing materials, ad unit creatives, images,
estimates, net worth estimates
calls to action, promotions, audio files, video files
46%
and other creative assets they might use to message
1st-party interaction data, like email clicks, web browser
behavior or past purchases individuals across a bevy of channels and devices.
45%
Loyalty program data This influx of assets being utilized by multiple individuals,
44% teams and departments is making it difficult for many
Attitudinal/lifestyle data, like whether they are price sensitive or companies to keep things organized, consistent and up
impulse buyers
to date.
41%
Geolocation data
41%
“Because everything is so siloed, everyone is working on
3rd-party behavioral data, like how customers interact with
a different version [of creative],” Adams said. “It’s really
other brands hard to get everyone on the same page using the same
38% basic files.”
Preference center data
33% Not surprisingly, Adams noted clients are increasingly
We do not personalize our communications interested in using a digital asset management (DAM)
5%
solution to store and organize such assets. eMarketer
Don't know
predicts that this trend will only increase as brands’
2%
targeting and personalization efforts improve, and they
Source: Experian Marketing Services, "The 2016 Digital Marketer: Your generate more content as a result.
Guide to Using Data and Technology to Better Engage Your Customers,"
April 6, 2016
208241 www.eMarketer.com

Not every data type listed above will be relevant for

every industry, company or audience, but there are many
useful indicators marketers could use to personalize
communications. Geolocation data, for example, might
prove extremely valuable for time- or area-sensitive
marketers hoping to connect with someone near their
storefront or traveling to a new city where their services
might be welcomed.

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 12
IMPLEMENTING MULTICHANNEL
ATTRIBUTION AND ANALYSIS
Attribution, any method of assigning credit to a particular
marketing- or advertising-driven action or other
brand-imposed touchpoint, is critical for each channel’s
relative importance and the combined influence they
wield when used together. At the most basic level,
attribution can provide marketers with insight into how
a particular tactic, like paid search, performed. At a more
departmental level, it can discern whether or not a larger
campaign worked—for example, did a lead generation
campaign that utilized search, display, email and social
pay off? And at the company level, it allows marketers
to determine whether or not their combined advertising
and marketing efforts were successful—the true
multichannel effect.
The case for that type of insight is clear, but marketers
have been slow to adopt multichannel attribution
practices. eMarketer predicts just 39.8% of US
companies will employ a multichannel attribution model
in 2016.
US Companies Using Multichannel Attribution
Models, 2014-2017
2014 2015 2016 2017
% of total companies 22.9% 30.1% 39.8% 50.6%
% of companies that use digital 37.5% 43.0% 51.0% 61.0%
attribution models
Note: companies with 100+ employees that use more than one digital
marketing channel; multichannel attribution models are attribution models
that include more than a first and/or last touch attribution to differentiate
the respective contributions of various marketing channels to a desired
outcome
Source: eMarketer, Oct 2015
198373 www.eMarketer.com
That portion only pertains to those using multichannel
attribution for their digital advertising and marketing
efforts. It does not quantify the portion of companies
tying traditional media into multichannel attribution, and
it does not indicate whether or not such a practice is
deployed for cross-device insights.
“It’s astounding and jaw-dropping how many people are
still measuring performance on last action and by device,”
Green said. “I’d say for the maybe 20% or so of people
who are actually doing some kind of cross-device
attribution and multitouch attribution, they have a
completely unfair advantage.”
MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 13
Frustrations surrounding the complexity of multichannel
attribution models, the cost of building or borrowing one
and deep ties to legacy metrics and measures have all
played a role in delaying marketers’ shift to these more
advanced measurement models. But at last, interest is
reaching critical mass.
A December 2015 survey of US digital marketing and
media practitioners from the Interactive Advertising
Bureau (IAB) Data Center of Excellence and the
Winterberry Group found 57.6% of respondents planned
to focus on multichannel attribution and measurement in
2016, up from just 35.4% a year earlier. And, as the above
eMarketer chart indicates, half of all US companies will
use multichannel attribution by 2017.
To make the move to multichannel attribution, many
companies will likely seek out third-party attribution
vendors, though a smaller set will choose to develop
their own in-house or agency-offered solutions. Like any
decision, there are pros and cons with every option.
Developing an in-house model may require added
headcount and expertise, but companies often find the
ability to create a more custom model offers greater
insight than a standard out-of-the-box solution can
provide. This is especially true of companies hoping to
attribute across traditional and digital channels, which may
include a blending of top-down marketing mix models and
bottom-up digital attribution solutions.
Will Martin-Gill, chief product officer at digital marketing
technology provider Kenshoo, noted another potential
limitation of standard attribution service providers,
explaining that while most offer good high-level insight
on channel performance, many are unable to offer insight
down to a more publisher-specific view, which is what
many brands want.
“When you’re working in a multipublisher world, it’s
not good enough to have that data at a high level,” he
said. “You need a publisher-by-publisher or an
opportunity-by-opportunity assessment of where your
next dollar is best invested for the maximum return.
And that’s where you need some good forecasting
models. You need the ability to take that data and make it
actionable. You need to be able to combine reporting and
actionability in one interface.”
As Martin-Gill points out, those making the move to
multichannel models aren’t just looking to justify channel
efforts but to optimize efforts in a more real-time, almost
case-by-case manner. Harrison noted this has been a
trend among Epsilon’s clients. He said CMOs that have
already subscribed to a multichannel approach are now
shifting budgets among channels quarterly, instead
of annually.

“In the past year, we have seen an increase in

organizational change management at our clients—a
rightsizing or reallocating so that folks have more control
over a broader type of consumer communications,”
Harrison said. “There is still a lot that needs to be done
in terms of combining channels, but I’ve seen a greater
intention among clients to work across those boundaries
and create organizations that force that behavior.”

One organizational change many big brands and agencies

are seeing is the creation of an in-house team or specialist
in charge of all attribution-related data and insights. Much
like the team described earlier that’s focused on channel
integration, this team or specialist would focus on the
overarching analysis of multichannel attribution as well as
the individual applications to each team and channel. In
providing each team and individual with those insights,
organizations are attempting to more quickly optimize and
maximize their cross-channel efforts.

Though such a team could be implemented regardless

of the type of attribution model chosen (third-party
supplied vs. in-house), some believe increased demand
for real-time insight and more custom models will
eventually push companies to invest in their own
in-house models.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the brands

take some of this back into their own hands as more
sophisticated marketers and marketing organizations
emerge,” Gupta said. “There’s a level of trust you’re giving
to a platform, and I think a lot of the brands want to figure
it out themselves and want access to the raw data.”

MAKING MULTICHANNEL MARKETING WORK: FOUR TACTICS REQUIRED FOR OMNICHANNEL SUCCESS ©2016 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 14
A guide for the customer journey
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