Making Marketing Work with Cross-Media Campaigns

Have you ever seen an ad that ends with “continued at ○○”?

Connecting media to one another like this to guide people towards conversion is called cross-media marketing.

The recent trend is for people to complete their research within a single medium, so you see it less often, but used well it is still an effective approach.

This article explains what cross-media marketing (CMM) is, along with its advantages and examples of how it is used.

1. What cross-media marketing (CMM) is

Cross-media marketing is a strategy that combines several media so that
the marketing synergy between them grows, more customers come to know and understand the product or service, and they are moved towards a purchase.

The media involved are mainly analogue ones such as newspaper and magazine advertising and direct mail, digital ones such as television and radio, and internet ones such as websites, social platforms and email newsletters.

Think of the lines you often see in television commercials, such as “continued on the web” or “check out our website”, and it becomes easy to picture.

How it differs from a media mix

Another marketing approach that uses several media, as cross-media marketing does, is the “media mix”.

A media mix is a marketing approach that uses several media to reach more people.
You need to define the purpose of the campaign clearly, then choose media with an understanding of what each one is like and who uses it.

Using every kind of medium together in a coordinated whole is what is generally meant by “cross-media marketing”, but this article confines itself mainly to digital marketing.

2. How cross-media marketing (CMM) works

Cross-media marketing is not something that is completed within a single medium.

It is a strategy that reaches target users across several media, such as search advertising, Facebook and Instagram advertising and affiliate advertising, moving them between media and on towards a purchase.

For example, you might catch the attention of a trend-conscious younger audience with an ad in their Instagram timeline, bring them to your website and have them buy the product. Creating that kind of flow is what cross-media marketing does.

3. Advantages of cross-media marketing (CMM)

First, four advantages of cross-media marketing.

It is easier to draw out the desire to buy

An ad in your social timeline catches your eye, you click through to look at the product, and before you know it you want it and you have bought it. Most people have had that experience.
People are said to want a product more as they see it more often.
In other words, because cross-media marketing creates a path from “ad delivered” through to “purchase”, the move from awareness to understanding to purchase is smoother, and people are more likely to buy.

You can reach more people

As people see the same product again and again across several media, awareness rises and the chance of a purchase grows.
It is clearly more effective than promoting on a single medium.
And since Instagram suits a younger audience while Facebook suits working professionals,
the age of the people using each medium differs,
so combining several media lets you reach a broader audience.

You can reach the whole world

The advantage of internet media is that you can reach the whole world.
As long as there is a way to get online, the internet can be used from anywhere in the world, not only Japan, so you can tell the world about your product or service.

You can cut costs

Cross-media marketing in web marketing keeps advertising spend far lower than mass media such as newspapers and television.
With cross-media marketing you are free to choose which platforms you use, and you can adjust spend to whatever suits your business.

4. Disadvantages of cross-media marketing (CMM)

Next, the disadvantages of cross-media marketing done through digital marketing.

It lacks credibility and authority

Compared with mass media, it lacks credibility and authority.
And because it is “marketing that works broadly but shallowly”, it is hard to raise name recognition dramatically.

It is hard to advertise to a narrow area

Promoting within a tightly defined area is difficult, and depending on the product or service the results may not be what you hoped for.
Cross-media marketing combined with mass media such as television commercials, for example, lets you reach customers over a wider area.

It is hard to run and manage

Because the people on each platform are different, you have to handle each one in the way that suits it.
The more platforms you add, the more you need to manage and run each of them properly.
In cross-media marketing every platform is linked, so sloppy management does not stop at the failure of one medium but affects the whole. Take care.

5. Points for making cross-media marketing (CMM) work

Run a proper plan-do-check-act cycle on each individual activity

In cross-media marketing it is important to have a firm grasp of what the service or product is like, and of the audience you are making your case to.
Because cross-media marketing uses several media, each one needs solid work behind it so that people do not lose interest and drop off as they move between media.
Understand what the service is like and who it is for, build a smooth path through to conversion, and keep the plan-do-check-act cycle turning.

Link the media from the user’s point of view

To run advertising effectively you have to understand “what state of mind leads someone to buy the product”.
For that, collecting and analysing customer data is essential.
By collecting and analysing data on which media a customer saw and what they did, you learn what they are interested in and how each medium performs, which lets you market more effectively.

Make good content

However many media you line up for cross-media marketing, it means nothing if the content itself is not appealing.
It is vital to make good, persuasive content that earns empathy, gets shared and leads to a purchase.
Say, for example, you want to bring people from social media to your website and on to a purchase.
To avoid being buried in the feed you need a visual that stops the eye and a short, memorable line.
From there you bring them to the website, where you flesh out the product information with answers to their questions, such as how to use it and what support and warranty come with it.
Content that raises interest and leaves people reassured and convinced also leads to purchases.

6. In closing

This article has covered what cross-media marketing is, along with its advantages and examples of success.

The number of media, social platforms among them, has grown year on year, and will no doubt keep changing.
Cross-media marketing will therefore only become more necessary.

Cross-media marketing requires you to choose the best media given what each one is like, then manage and run them. Get a firm grasp of what each medium is like and where it is heading, and keep the plan-do-check-act cycle turning.

It is also important to guide people skilfully so they do not lose interest along the way.
Use cross-media marketing properly and run it so that you get the most out of it.