Bear with me for a moment though.

Whatever the term, the need to communicate across channels in a consistent manner is real. Customers (and potential customers!) perceive a company as a single unit and mentally assign all messages received from it to one company.

Making this work in real life is trickier than it might seem and requires a lot of data applied in the right way. Even the big guys have to make do with some obvious anomalies – just think of the last time you actually booked accommodation and kept on receiving booking.com ads for the exact place in perpetuity… after the trip. And this is on a single channel, digital.

Speaking at the 2018 Marketing Summit Hungary I introduced the areas we dig into when working with clients to build better campaign operations. And it’s not only about data.

• Processes: aligned campaign planning processes for acquisition and base management across own and 3rd party communication channels augmented by automated, transparent measurements and diagnostics.
• Targeting: move from product focus to customer journey focus and strive for micro-segmented , contextual messages.
• Tools and system capabilities: rely on fast and efficient tools that not only consume data from various sources but also feed all your relevant channels. Even better, they should be intuitive enough to operate without heavy IT involvement. Strive for a high degree of automation and real time feeds.
• KPIs: run all campaigns with clear conversion KPIs to ensure aligned business objectives and consistent evaluation and attribution across channels.
• Data: make all your demographic, transactional and behavioral data equally accessible for segmentation and targeting.
• Organisation, legal & compliance: this is a bit of a mixed bag with all vital enablers. Make sure you have crystal clear RACIs across the business throughout the campaign management value chain. Finally, leverage the legal framework to deliver the most convenient targeting to customers while maintaining efficiency for the business.

The balance between customer journeys and AI generated triggers is probably where approaches differ most, but either is better than doing nothing and can be the best solution in any given industry and maturity level.

Approach all these topics in parallel and you will eventually deliver better content across channels. Omnichannel? Maybe.