In this article, I want to break down the elements of a multi-channel video marketing campaign. It’s hard to pull apart the different elements that go into planning and executing such complex and interconnected strategies, so I have tried to come at this from the point of view of core principles. It’s worth bearing in mind that each of these elements could warrant a blog article of itself, so this should be taken as more of an overview.
Recognise the changing marketplace
One of the first mistakes brands make when building modern multi-channel campaigns is to underestimate how fundamentally the digital marketplace has changed and continues to change marketing. New platforms and devices have brought with them new connectivity options and this has, in turn, caused dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour and media consumption habits. Marketers may be able to access a huge volume of data but gathering meaningful insights into it is a lot harder without the tools to join up all the dots.
Think about buyer personas
I’ve said it once but I’ll say it again, understanding your audience is absolutely crucial in a multi-channelled digital environment. Try to spend the time not only understanding who your target market is, but what platforms they frequent, how they interact on those platforms and what content they like to consume and share and when. All these facets will help you build up a framework that will become the basis of your content plan and editorial calendar.
Select your channels
Understanding your audience will help you select which channels and platforms to create content for. Multi-channel marketing isn’t just about covering all your bases, it’s about creating a non-linear brand narrative that is consistent across channels. Facebook and Twitter might be ridiculously popular but that doesn’t mean they’re the most effective for your specific set of business objectives (audience engagement and relevance are just as important as big numbers). Every channel has its own advantages and disadvantages, so learning to adapt and play into them can help you appear genuine and engaged with the platform and its idiosyncrasies and social norms.
Consistency and Congruity
Brand image is about far more than company logo or colour palette. It’s something more akin to an approach or a certain way of doing things. Keeping this brand essence consistent across channels is very difficult, not least because, as we’ve just discussed, every channel requires a degree of adaptation. This is the dichotomy at the heart of all non-linear brand narratives. The need to be relevant to the platform and its userbase, whilst creating a congruous feel across all your brand marketing, is a difficult balancing act. Create content that’s too dissimilar or unconnected and you may fail to galvanise your brand image effectively. Create content that’s too similar and it just looks like your recycling the same ideas over and over and people will quickly switch off.
Get Buy in from Colleagues, Partners and Stakeholders
Multi-channel marketing requires a distinctly collaborative approach and this goes for colleagues across departments, as well as partners and stakeholders. I’ve touched on this before when talking about the challenges of synching up help, hub and hero content into one cohesive strategy. It’s crucial to get buy in from stakeholders at every level of the strategy. Effective multi-channel marketing requires social media people talking to branding people and branding people talking to PR. The more open and collaborative these relationships can be, the more scope for joined up thinking at a macro level.
Monitor, Measure and Adapt
With so many elements involved, it’s important that you can monitor it at a channel, as well as a strategic level. Tying disparate datasets together can be hard when it comes to measuring overall success. Developing useful KPIs is crucial to this but first and foremost you really need to understand what your objectives are. Just saying you want to increase brand awareness or drive traffic to your site isn’t enough. Your objectives need to be detailed and your data needs to give you an insight into whether or not you’re achieving them and why. Constantly tweaking and re-calibrating your strategy based on this qualitative, as well as quantitative data, should then form part of your strategic thinking.Sometimes it helps to take inspiration from others, so check out these examples of clever, innovative and successful multi-channel campaigns from some well-known brands.
Evelyn Timson, 27th June 2016.
