What Cross Channel Marketing and the Latest Hit Songs Have in Common (Playlist Included)

For those not indoctrinated into the ways and means of yours truly, I am a huge proponent of infusing pop culture every chance I get into our world of marketing. I do so because I think pop culture helps connect the two worlds by helping tell the given story. 

For example, way back in 2011 I penned Baby, We Were Born to Market: Springsteen on Social Media Marketing. The following year came What Billy Joel, C-Level Execs & Social Media Have In Common. And for the past few years my yearly end of the year prediction piece for Forbes had a very distinct pop culture theme to it. 

This go round it's all about six Billboard Top 40 songs: titles or lyrics or both and what they have in common with Cross Channel Marketing. You know the old saying "you learn something new every day?" Well, here you go. 

I even threw in a convenient Spotify playlist at the end - no charge. 

1. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers Featuring Daya

Lyric: "So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down."

According to Understanding the Multi-Channel Shopper, Wharton, 2015, two-thirds of all shoppers regularly use more than one channel to make purchases. What this means of course is brands need to be there every step of the cross channel way for if you let them down on one channel it might as well be all of them.

2. One Dance by Drake Featuring WizKid & Kyla

Lyric: "I need a one dance."

Well just as Drake needs one dance, brands need one single customer identity that unites behaviors across all channels into one comprehensive profile. Once you have a single unique identifier, you can really know who your customers are across all channels, and do all sorts of cool things like personalize interactions based on channel preferences and behaviors.

3. Send My Love by Adele

Lyric: "We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts."

How many marketers are "very much set up to effectively orchestrate cross channel marketing activities?" Time's up. A mere five-percent are set up to do this as per EConsultancy's Cross Channel Marketing report. You know those old legacy systems AKA the ghosts you're still using? Yeah, you gotta let 'em go. Now. 

4. My Way by Calvin Harris

Lyric: "You were the one thing in my way."

Remember those ghosts you need to let go of? Yeah well they're in your way, big time from reaching CCM nirvana. The right technology will provide you with the capability to personalize the full customer experience at a higher resolution across messaging, web, mobile, and applications. You need to be able to connect the digital dots and create holistic customer profiles: digital dots such as website behaviors, browsing data, physical location, and demographics. You then need to be able to combine those dots with cross channel unique IDs, customer preferences, behavioral data, and channel preferences. 

5. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth Featuring Selena Gomez

Lyric: "We don't talk anymore."

I admit this could make for a great episode of Dr. Phil but the fact is marketers need to break down internal marketing silos that pass marketing inefficiencies onto the consumers Marketing teams need work together collaboratively and efficiently to orchestrate channel programs with that deliver consistent and personalized experiences for the customer

6. I Hate U I Love U by gnash Featuring Olivia O'Brien

Lyric: "I hate you I love you."

As simple as is gets, kids. Your customers may love you and your brand. But, as this is a big but, if you are consistent in your cross channel marketing endeavors they will, yes... hate you. I realize hate is a strong word but if the experience they receive is vastly different across channels then yes, they may end up hating you. That's precisely why marketers must move from Campaign Coordination to Campaign Orchestration to deliver the consistent brand experiences customers expect.

Here's the Cross Channel Marketing Hits in one handy Spotify playlist. 

Can You Sing the Praises of Cross Channel Marketing Vendors?

As the demand for multichannel campaign management grows, the number of vendors has grown, too. With so many options, how do you assess the capabilities of each one to make the best choice for your company?

I'll tell you how. 

You can read the Gartner Magic Quadrant For Multichannel Campaign Management.