Key takeaways:

• Consumer products own social media: Newsfeeds are the place to get new eyes in front of your brand and products.
• Use Pinterest to get audiences on board with inspo-type content, including interior design, home furnishings, and recipes.
• Take advantage of low-cost OTT and CTV programmatic channels to tell your brand’s story and explain your product’s benefits.
• Get your core awareness channels in place, then retarget consumers to push them from “brand aware” to paying customers.
• Don’t forget to put equal effort into an excellent e-commerce experience with great product pages – traffic is only helpful if your website is easy to buy from.

Cross-channel intelligence is the secret to success in retail and e-commerce today, and for good reason. Consumers are all over media channels as a means of discovering new products, learning about them, and making decisions about which things to buy.

You have to understand marketing channels if you want to be successful at marketing your product cross-channel. Those are all the physical and digital places you can be promoting your brand and products – there’s even a new term for it: “phygital” shopping. You’re probably already using more channels than you realize – live chat on your e-commerce website, Google paid ads, and your Instagram account are all marketing channels.

When you use cross-channel marketing, you’re leveraging all the channels you have at your disposal to promote your brand across the customer’s journey – which means you’re noticing where they are in the funnel and customizing your ads and offers to match. For instance, someone who sees your TV ad for the first time probably needs more information before they decide to buy while a consumer who stumbles upon your Pinterest channel could be in the end stages of their research journey and ready to buy.

Marketing successfully is all about being customer-centric, starting from before the customer is even ready to buy. Cross-channel intelligence is knowing when to hit your consumer based on what channel they’re finding you through. Now let’s check out some sweet cross-channel intelligence marketing hacks for retail and e-commerce success.

First, What Is Cross-Channel versus Omnichannel Marketing?

Isn’t cross-channel marketing the same as omnichannel marketing? Not really – you can think of cross-channel marketing as the way a brand connects with consumers across different touchpoints, like Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. On the other hand, omnichannel marketing is the broader framework that integrates your marketing strategy across those different channels.

So, what are some cross-channel intelligence marketing hacks for retail and e-commerce success? Let’s take a look at four.

1. Reel in Your Audience With Inspirational Content on Pinterest

Pinterest is a great example of a marketing channel where many users are far along the buyer’s journey and ready to hit the “buy” button. If you have lifestyle content that’s relevant to your brand and product, Pinterest is the place to share it.

It’s where people go to organize their (overwhelmingly) home improvement, cooking, and lifestyle projects. They’ve put in the work, and once they find you there, they want to know your brand is the solution they’ve been looking for. If it is, then they’re willing to pull the trigger on the sale.

It’s where people go to organize their (overwhelmingly) home improvement, cooking, and lifestyle projects. They’ve put in the work, and once they find you there, they want to know your brand is the solution they’ve been looking for. If it is, then they’re willing to pull the trigger on the sale.

2. Boost Brand Awareness Fast With OTT and CTV Channels

Over-the-top (OTT) and connected television (CTV) channels are fantastic for building awareness around your brand because they get you in front of a lot of eyes fast. The cost is reasonable for OTT and CTV channels and you get the benefit of video advertising to share your brand’s story and truly demonstrate your products in a relatable way.

Would ShamWow have been so wildly successful without the CTV fame it got from being an “As Seen on TV” product? It’s not the first or the last chamois cloth on the market and they all work pretty much the same, but only one is a household name. Never underestimate OTT and CTV as a place to get affordable exposure!

3. Retarget to Stay Top-Of-Mind With Consumers

It’s not enough to just get your content in front of eyes and then leave the consumer to their own devices. Plenty of the consumers you reach aren’t going to be ready to hit the switch yet, so it’s your job to move them along the journey.

Here’s where retargeting comes in. A shocking 97% of first-time visitors who reach your website leave without buying anything!

Retargeting gives you a second chance with these customers by reminding them that you’re there and waiting with your product. Ever linger on a BlendJet ad a little too long, maybe even click on it, then wake up the next day to find two emails and a Facebook ad begging you to start blending? That’s retargeting at its finest.

You can retarget consumers using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, email blasts, and other methods. Not only does retargeting increase sales, but it also boosts brand loyalty by reminding your tribe that you’re here and ready to solve their problem. Considering that it takes sending your message an average of seven times before people make up their minds to buy, retargeting is vital for executing sales.

4. Don’t Let Your Traffic Boost Become Useless Due to a Crappy Website

Don’t assume that you’ve done everything you can possibly do until you’ve assessed your website for user-friendliness and functionality. It’s your job to make sure you offer a seamless buying experience. If you don’t make sure it’s easy for users to click through and buy, then they just won’t.

That could mean:

• Checking for mobile functionality
• Ensuring it’s easy to find and add items to a shopping cart
• Adding multi-channel access to the shopping experience
• Making sure the checkout process is quick and easy

Imagine you’re shopping for a blender. You add it to your cart, start checking out from your phone, but you’re interrupted by a phone call. You try to log on with your tablet to finish the checkout process while still talking on the phone but the item’s not in your cart using that channel. If you’re like most customers, you abandon the checkout process at that point and the website lost your sale.

Roadblocks are your biggest enemy here. Look at your website through the critical eyes of a potential customer. What would turn you off and make you less willing to buy?

Get Cross-Channel Intelligence on Your Side

If that sounds like a lot to take on all at once, it’s because it is – but that’s what we’re here for at Model B. We’re a digital marketing agency model that’s driven by understanding your audience and marketing channels to deliver results like you’ve never seen before.

Our team of ultra-talented marketing experts is here to explode your business’ growth by analyzing your data and developing a cross-channel marketing intelligence strategy built just for you. Plus, you’ve got our one-of-a-kind cross-channel paid media technology, Blueprint, on your side.

Get your business the cross-channel intelligence it needs to succeed – contact Model B today to discover why we’ll be the best marketing partner you’ve ever had!