Email Remains the Heart of Cross-Channel Marketing It's nice when customers visit your website but the customer who gives you their email address is the one you need to focus on.
By Tony D’anna Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Every marketer knows the importance of a solid cross-channel marketing strategy. An omnichannel program gives consumers a more fluid experience, and this good user experience translates into better engagement. Integrated data is at the heart of a solid cross-channel strategy, but as you peel back some of the layers, you can see that email is the centerpiece of any good cross-channel program.
There are many advantages to centering your marketing strategy around email. Email is the most direct channel, it boasts a higher ROI than any other channel and it helps build loyalty and relationships on a much deeper level than any other channel. Strategic marketers try to capture email addresses across all channels. Once you have an email address you can track click data, do behavioral targeting on your site, and use these insights to inform your mobile, social media and in-store strategies. For this reason, all of your other channels should be pointing to email marketing. Below are some helpful strategies to orient various marketing channels to point to your email marketing program.
Social media.
Marketers should be thinking about how they can use a presence on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, etc. to get email subscribers because an email address is more valuable than a social like. You can use social promotions to encourage people to sign up for your email list or you can share content that directs to a landing page prominently featuring an email capture box.
Related: 4 Ways to Dramatically Increase Email Subscriptions
Website.
In order to grow your email list, your website should be optimized to capture email addresses. These people are interested in your brand; they are at your site after all. You should encourage email signups on all content pages and consider introducing light boxes over content as a way to sign up. In this scenario, the site visitor is encouraged to sign up for great content before reading the article that they have clicked on.
Related: You Won't Grow Your Business Relying on These 3 Marketing Myths
Mobile apps.
Mobile apps are an excellent way for publishers to distribute content to loyal readers. But the challenge with apps is getting people to return on a regular basis. While you can use push notifications, if you do them every time something is published, it could be unwieldy. Instead, you should encourage app users to sign up for the email list to receive a daily digest of stories. This way, they remember to check in with the app, but their phone isn't buzzing all day long.
Related: 3 Steps to Quickly Start Making Money With an Online Business
Display.
Many marketers have display as part of their digital marketing strategy. While ad blockers may spell the end of display, marketers that are still using this channel should try to capture email addresses from this channel. You might as well give your display ads the chance to do something useful before they die forever.
If you aren't incorporating email into every channel, then you are missing out on the potential to better understand your customers and connect with them around every turn. You should be optimizing your strategy to get more email addresses on your list. Marketers that embrace email at the core of their marketing programs will be better poised to succeed in their cross-channel efforts.
