1. OMNICHANNEL
MARKETING
2015
E SS E NTI AL GUIDE
n The Omnichannel Data Opportunity
n Rethinking Marketing’s Org Chart in an Omnichannel World
n The Linchpin Channel of the Omnichannel Marketing Future
Sponsored by
Sponsored by
A supplement
2. 102 | The 2015 Digital Marketer
Email: key benchmarks and trends
Fifty-three percent of total email opens occurred on a mobile device in Q3 2014, a
48 percent increase from the previous quarter in 2014. While 60 percent of opens
occurred on a mobile device for multichannel retailers, consumers continue to
show their omnichannel behavior with an equal number of clicks occurring between
desktop and mobile devices.
Email opens and clicks by platform – Q3 2014
Source: Experian Marketing Services, Q3 2014 Email Benchmark Report, 2014
All desktop
All mobile
Tablet
Percentofclicks
Percentofopens
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Travel
Publishers
Multi-
channel
retailers
Media &entertainment
Consumer
products
& services
Catalogers
Businessproductsand services
All
industry
average
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
14%
39%
47%
19%
47%
41% 36% 45%
69% 54%
79%
35%
44%
50% 40%
23%
32%
18%
14%
14%
15%
8% 14%
9%
30%
61%
92%
61%
60%
30%
50%
82% 64%25%
31%
61%
37%
14%
25%
13%
9%
9%
12%
11%
52 | The 2015 Digital Marketer
This full understanding of the customer is more important than ever as today’s
consumer is becoming more and more empowered. Eighty-four percent of all U.S.
adults (195 million individuals) are digital today, meaning they have a smartphone,
digital tablet or computer. In addition, the vast majority of digital consumers are
conducting digital transactions. In fact, 93 percent of PC owners, 76 percent of
smartphone owners and 96 percent of tablet owners have used those respective
devices to make a purchase.
195 million U.S. adults are now digital: 84%
58%
own a
smartphone
73%own a laptop
76%have used it to
make a purchase
93%have used it to
make a purchase
96%have used it to
make a purchase
33%
own a tablet
Source: Experian Marketing Services
This easy access to information and brand interactions in any channel means
that the omnichannel consumer is evaluating the brand against key demands and
deciding if he or she wants to continue the relationship constantly. If the brand
doesn’t deliver personalized, seamless interactions, he or she won’t think twice
about moving on. To deliver on these demands, marketers really need to craft
messages that specifically resonate with their target segments.
Create intelligent interactions with
your customers. Every time.
An Experian Marketing Services Benchmark and Trend Report
2015The
Digital Marketer
Get it here
3. 6 HOT LIST
The Lexicon of Omnichannel Marketing
It’s time to clear the air. Here’s what separates cross-channel, inte-
grated, multichannel, and omnichannel as marketing concepts.
by Perry Simpson
8 DATA
The Omnichannel Data Opportunity
Today’s jumbled customer journey leaves a trail of data that
marketers can use to inform their strategies across all channels.
by Jason Compton
14 STAFFING
Rethinking Marketing’s Org Chart in an
Omnichannel World
A traditional approach to marketing staffing may no longer be
logical or practical. by Eric Krell
18 TREND ROUNDUP
The Linchpin Channel of the Omnichannel
Marketing Future
Is there one channel that can help ensure the success of an
omnichannel approach to marketing? Twelve experts sound off.
by Ginger Conlon
22 PARTING SHOT
Infographic: Marketers Aren’t Monkeying Around
With Data Sharing
Table of Contents
+DATAENTRY
18%Marketers who say they have a single
view of the customer page 7
37%Companies that self-identify as lag-
gards in omnichannel strategy page 10
45%CIOs who agree that multichannel is
too complex for one platform page 16
82%Digital marketing professionals who
say that first-party data is the most important
data source page 22
Eric Stahl
Salesforce
19
1014
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | TOC
“Email may not
be the flashiest
marketing chan-
nel, but it’s the
connective tissue
of the customer
journey.”
dmnews.com | June 2015 | 3
6
8
03_TOC.indd 4 5/11/15 9:36 AM
6. 6 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
H0T LIST | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
TheLexiconof
OMNICHANNEL
MARKETINGIT’S TIME TO CLEAR THE AIR. HERE’S WHAT SEPARATES CROSS-CHANNEL,
INTEGRATED, MULTICHANNEL, AND OMNICHANNEL AS MARKETING CONCEPTS.
By Perry Simpson
C
ross-channel marketing; integrated marketing; multichannel mar-
keting; omnichannel marketing. Each of these terms rose to promi-
nence as a response to a fundamental shift in consumers’ behavior
and expectations across an ongoing proliferation of marketing channels.
Understandably, the definitions of these terms have become muddled;
the subtle nuances that separate them obfuscated by semantic errors
and the industry’s tendency to politicize its vocabulary. Today, however,
cross-channel, integrated, and multichannel marketing—as terminology
and practices—are falling out of favor for data-driven marketers focused
on customer experience. Omnichannel marketing is the preferred ap-
proach for those marketing pros. Yet all too often marketers today are
talking omnichannel, but in actuality are only delivering cross-channel,
integrated, or multichannel marketing.
Here, we examine each of these marketing terms, and define them in
relation to the coveted Holy Grail of omnichannel.
Omnichannel defined
Omnichannel is a complex but customer-centric approach to marketing.
It’s all about thinking holistically in terms of customer experience, inter-
actions, and messaging; about connecting and using customer data to be
contextually relevant at the customer’s moments of truth. “Omnichannel
is from the perspective of the customer,” says Marina Kalika, director of
product marketing at engagement solutions provider TouchCommerce.
“Terms and channels don’t matter to customers. All they care about is
being served consistently. They want the experience to be appropriate
for what channel they’re in.”
TouchCommerce CMO George Skaff adds, “The idea [of omnichannel] is
that the customer may have different needs or objectives depending on where
they are in their journey, but they’re still fundamentally the same person.”
With omnichannel marketing there’s a connectedness at a deeper level
than cross-channel, integrated, or multichannel marketing. The reason is the
holistic view of customer data on the back end that provides insight into each
customer traversing channels and allows for the cohesive, customer-centric
approach that sets omnichannel marketing apart from its predecessors.
Omnichannel versus multichannel
Many marketers who draw a distinction between multichannel and
omnichannel marketing define the former as simply the use of multiple
channels for a marketing campaign or initiative; there may not, how-
ever, be a consistent or integrated approach in using them.
“A lot of this is jargon. To some people all of these [terms] mean the
same thing, but it’s appropriate to think of omnichannel as an evolution
of multichannel,” says John Faris, VP of cross-channel marketing at digi-
tal agency Red Door Interactive. “Omnichannel is a more comprehen-
sive approach where you prioritize being omnipresent in the consumers’
experience. Multichannel is a more marketer-driven, siloed approach.”
Multichannel may be a more marketer- than customer-centric approach
to marketing, but contemporary patterns of consumer behavior mandated
multichannel strategies in nearly every industry. “Multichannel became
the goal around the time that the Web came into play,” says Jennifer Smith,
marketing director at marketing and sales solutions provider Corporate
Visions. “It was really just a reaction to all these new digital channels.”
This is one area where multichannel and omnichannel marketing are
alike. Both evolved as reactionary in terms of marketers’ response to
customers’ changing buying behaviors and expectations as the number
of channels available to them have increased. But, again, omnichannel
differs in that it uses data to orchestrate the use of multiple marketing
channels from the customers’ perspective of what communications or
interactions will be most beneficial and when.
Omnichannel versus cross-channel
Many marketing pundits view cross-channel marketing as a way to
progress from multichannel to omnichannel practices. “Cross-channel is
about following the customer from one channel to another,” TouchCom-
merce’s Skaff explains. In doing so, marketers begin to understand who
customers are as they move through their buying journey.
On its own, omnichannel can be a daunting prospect, especially for or-
ganizations without the processes and technologies in place to identify and
track customers throughout their journey. Cross-channel marketing can
be a boon to such businesses in that it can function as a lens through which
an organization can bring an omnichannel focus into view. However, like
multichannel marketing, cross-channel is a marketer-centric construct.
“When you think about [cross-channel] you’re thinking from the per-
spective of those doing the marketing. Customers don’t care about what
channel they’re using; they see it all as the same,” TouchCommerce’s
Kalika reiterates. “Omnichannel looks at [marketing] channels as one
06_Hot_List.indd 6 5/11/15 9:29 AM
7. dmnews.com | June 2015 | 7
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | H0T LIST
L THE
NUMBERS
66%Retailers that haven’t
operationalized in-store
pickup, cross-channel
inventory visibility, and
store-based fulfillment
[Accenture]
18%Marketers who say they
have a single view of
the customer
[Teradata]
50%How much more om-
nichannel shoppers spend
with a brand than single-
channel shoppers
[IDC Retail Insights]
2/3Consumers who purchase
online who use the store
beforeorafterthetransaction
[A.T. Kearney]
23%U.S. online adults who
check prices on their
smartphone while in-store;
41% of whom wind up
purchasing elsewhere
[Forrester Research Inc.]
cohesive message because that’s how customers look at it.”
Omnichannel versus
integrated marketing
If cross-channel exists as the link between multichannel and
omnichannel, then integrated marketing is omnichannel’s
doppelganger—at least on the surface. “At the core, integrat-
ed and omnichannel marketing are the closest to synonyms
out of these terms,” Corporate Visions’ Smith says.
The key here is “closest.” Integrated marketing and om-
nichannel marketing are fundamentally not the same. Inte-
grated marketing, simply, “is the integration of traditional
and digital media,” Red Door Interactive’s Faris says.
While integrated marketing seeks to synchronize mar-
keting across channels—to create a campaign or initiative
where the whole is greater than the sum of its part because
the timing and messaging provide cohesion—omnichan-
nel has the added jolt of back-end data connectedness that
makes the communications and interactions not only cohe-
sive, but also targeted and relevant.
“Many marketers view omnichannel as a fully integrat-
ed state of consumer engagement that includes shared
data across channels to achieve a seamless experience for
the consumer,” says Lila Snyder, president at customer
information solutions company Pitney Bowes Document
Messaging Technologies.
So, as close as integrated marketing may be to om-
nichannel, like its cross- and multichannel brethren, its
orchestration is about benefiting the marketers delivering
the campaign. Omnichannel marketing focuses squarely
on the customer.
“At its core, marketing has always been about story and
experience. It’s important to make sure you have that
core foundation and not get caught up in all these terms,”
Smith notes. “We’re still storytellers who want our cus-
tomers to have a great experience with us.” n
06_Hot_List.indd 7 5/11/15 9:30 AM
8. DATA | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
8 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
By Jason Compton
M
arketers can now reach most customers nearly anywhere and
at almost any time. And the interactions that take place across
all those touchpoints leave a trail of data. But what will mar-
keters do with the insight revealed by that data—if anything?
Rather than continuing to operate siloed feedback loops, the time
has come for marketers to embrace an omnichannel mind-set and ap-
ply insights from every interaction to the entire customer relationship.
“Marketing isn’t about an email or a direct mail piece or a retail insert
anymore,” says Andy Bear, executive director of marketing solutions
at Quad/Graphics. “Those all support the same objectives: talking to
the audience and advancing them along the path to purchase.”
JustAnswer is one company applying omnichannel strategies;
specifically, to build loyalty for repeat transactions. The company’s
business is matching consumers with experts who can address a par-
ticular problem or need. First-time customers are typically in a crisis
situation, desperately combing search engines for help. JustAnswer’s
goal is to find the right outreach channel to spur repeat visits. “We’re
trying to show how we can bring value every day, not just in the way
they found us, when their hair was on fire and they needed informa-
tion very quickly,” says Kara Douglas, senior manager of marketing
communications at JustAnswer.
Instead of focusing as heavily on search for acquisition and email
for loyalty as it had in the past, JustAnswer is blending them, as
well as expanding its use of SMS as both a service delivery and loy-
alty channel. The company has also rolled out experimental micro-
conversion landing pages to attract potential email subscribers, even
The
Omnichannel
Data Opportunity
Today’s jumbled customer journey leaves a trail of data that marketers
can use to inform their strategies across all channels.
10. Feature 1 - Omnichannel Data_v2.indd 10 5/11/15 9:32 AM
9. dmnews.com | June 2015 | 9
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | DATA
among those who have never made a transaction through the service.
Marketers at the company will use the data gleaned from customers’
behavior at each touchpoint to inform its other channel strategies.
Like the marketers have done at JustAnswer, it’s possible to build
a marketing organization that can not only communicate more effec-
tively with customers across channels, but also learn valuable lessons
from their customers at each step of the relationship. Here are five ac-
tions marketers can take toward building that team and implement-
ing an omnichannel approach to data collection and sharing:
Start collaborating internally
A coherent omnichannel strategy depends on internal collaboration
and tightly aligned goals. Marketers must think in terms of overall
marketing objectives, not individual, channel-based initiatives. This
applies not only to communication channels, but to conversion touch-
points, as well. Consider the situation when brick-and-mortar stores
aren’t in synch with a retailer’s website. “When e-commerce is siloed,
then the e-commerce general manager has little incentive to drive in-
store sales, because in-store sales don’t hit his P&L,” says Jonathan
Treiber, CEO of RevTrax.
This omnichannel transformation has to be backed by incentives,
policy, and sentiment. “Marketing channels can be very proprietary
in organizations, which is why marketing professionals should be
compensated based on marketing success, not vertical success,” says
Quinn Jalli, senior VP, strategic initiatives group, at Epsilon. “It’s no
longer acceptable to hide or not share insights across channels.”
10. Feature 1 - Omnichannel Data_v2.indd 11 5/11/15 9:32 AM
10. Embrace complexity
When devising omnichannel communication strategies, move past the
artificial restrictions of the past. Many marketing tactics rely on binary
calls-to-action: buy now, or don’t; subscribe to a newsletter, or don’t.
These binary choices may be effective in email campaigns and for A/B
testing purposes, but extending these choices to multiple channels will
help marketers take advantage of omnichannel’s potential.
So, instead of always boiling down an entire relationship to a single
take-it-or-leave-it offer, invite a more open-ended discussion with mul-
tiple options. “You need to give consumers unlimited choice to say
what they like and don’t like,” Jalli says.
Engaging on social media is an excellent way to develop qualitative,
non-binary insights. Using social as a listening channel, for example,
collecting feedback and input about items such as product mailers or
promotional text can help refine communications across the board.
Even as marketers extend to more open-ended discussions, they
need to ensure that there is consistency in their communications,
and that the path to purchase and conversation has clear and coher-
ent next steps despite the mix of channels customers and prospects
may be traversing. “That next-best offer needs to be the same across
the board,” says Mathieu Hannouz, evangelist for Adobe Campaign.
Refine attribution
An omnichannel strategy makes attribution even more important. Not
for compensation and incentive reasons—that channel-specific thinking
is outdated in an omnichannel world. But understanding how total en-
gagements, from search engine impressions to direct mailers to in-app
advertising, affects consumer response is crucial to future optimizations.
Attribution also helps inform how marketers should target and de-
liver future messages. Over time marketers can build a comprehen-
sive picture of the channels their customers and prospects prefer at
each step in the buying journey.
Because attribution can look like a massive, boil-the-ocean project,
it’s best to start with manageable connections and form strong opinions
DATA | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
10 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
82%➜ Marketers who strongly agree
that first-party data is their most
valuable data source
-Adroit Digital/Forrester Consulting
90%➜ Share of consumers who
expect consistent interactions
across all channels
-SDL
37%➜Companies that self-identify as
laggards in omnichannel strategy
-RSR
1.7X➜The increase in likelihood of a
purchase being informed by offline
information than online
-Forrester
10. Feature 1 - Omnichannel Data_v2.indd 12 5/11/15 9:53 AM
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12. about them before attempting to create a
Grand Unified Theory of channel attri-
bution. “Small bites and quick wins are
important in omnichannel attribution,”
says Christopher Matz, VP of retail and
consumer goods analytics at Merkle,
adding that in some cases internal data
isn’t enough to ensure proper attribution.
“[Marketers] may need third-party data
and panels to make a match between
marketing activity and purchases.”
Build context
through location
The skyrocketing growth of mobile marketing and email
means that audiences are no longer in a fixed, predictable
location when hearing from a brand. That puts a premi-
um on understanding location, and how location affects
response and the overall context of the relationship.
Consider beacons and wearable tech, which can re-
veal not only where customers are, but also how long
they’re spending in a location. This, in turn, lets mar-
keters make inferences about what those customers
may be hoping to accomplish. “With beacon data, if
you know a customer is lingering for a long time in the
small appliance section of the store, you can drive an
email or a direct mail piece about small appliances,”
says Jay Henderson, director of strategy at IBM Com-
merce. “It’s about finding these insights and bridging
the gap into action.”
Additionally, location-based campaigns lend them-
selves well to quick wins. “Just knowing a customer
has recently been at a store is a valuable piece of in-
formation that is often overlooked,” Henderson says.
Over the long term, detailed location data can in-
form much more than the choice of digital interaction
channel. “When you have an understanding of a con-
sumer who shops at Target and commutes by train,
you can apply that to TV and email campaigns, but
you can also apply it to retail site selection and product
development,” says Duncan McCall, CEO of PlaceIQ.
“That’s when it gets exciting.”
Retargeting and
remarket everywhere
Retargeting is more than a way to chase customers
around the Internet with entreaties to complete a sus-
pended transaction. Build a picture of all the offers, com-
munications, and inquiries you know customers have
received but not viewed, opened but not acted on, and
seen but not clicked. With those insights you can then
customize a message in a channel with proven relevance
to each consumer that fills in those gaps and ensures that
they understand the value you place on their business.
It may sound complicated, but it can
boil down to the obvious-yet-overlooked
strategy of finding a new approach to
reach people who have simply tuned out
one or more channels. “Start engaging off-
line. Follow up with direct mail if they’re
purchasing your goods and services but
never open an email,” Epsilon’s Jalli says.
Learning when to cut losses and move
on is also an important element of any
omnichannel retargeting or reactiva-
tion strategy. “Retargeting works if it’s
smart, but too many display retargeting
systems don’t know that you’ve made a
purchase on another site and will keep sending ads for
weeks after,” says Meyar Sheik, cofounder and CEO
of Certona. “It’s wasted impressions.”
One way JustAnswer cut its losses—and reduced
IT and email service costs—was by purging long-term
unresponsive customers from its email database. The
move cut the size of the email database in half, and
freed more energy and resources to focus on loy-
alty strategies for more engaged customers. This ap-
proach gave JustAnswer a six-fold improvement in
click-through rates, with open rates up 46%. “ISPs are
starting to look at engagement as a metric to decide
whether to put your email in inboxes,” JustAnswer’s
Douglas says. “With all the competition for inbox
space, we need to find the best use of our time.”
Pay attention in-store
Brands should avail themselves of every opportunity
to integrate on- and offline insights. One approach is to
combine in-store shopping habits with loyalty data and
use that information to ensure that online marketing and
merchandising skews to more relevant product lines.
The direct, low-tech approach is also still valuable.
Outdoor retailer Moosejaw has a host of omnichannel
technologies informing email, merchandising, and offer
strategies. But in-store, associates are trained to be pro-
active when it comes to interacting with omnichannel
customers. When a shopper is seen actively engaged with
a mobile device in-store, “our shop staff proactively ap-
proaches the consumer and addresses questions around
product availability, product performance, and pricing,”
says Dan Pingree, Moosejaw’s VP of marketing. “It drives
demonstrable benefits and a more loyal customer base.”
As Moosejaw learned, using insight and initiative
across channels doesn’t have to be a bank-break-
ing experience. It’s as much a matter of training
and attention as it is about technology. “The costs
of entry have gone down significantly,” Jalli says.
“Omnichannel opportunities exist for those on the
cup-of-coffee budget.” n
ACTION ITEMS
Build. Since virtually
every channel can now
be tracked for delivery,
including mail, build
insights from each touch
into future campaigns.
Expand. Think beyond
binary offers, and use
suitable channels for
feedback and customer
listening.
Blend. Mix up contact
channels, particu-
larly when a customer or
prospect has been quiet
for a long while.
Motivate. Ensure that
marketing stakeholders
are incentivized on big-
picture performance,
not returns on an indi-
vidual silo or campaign.
Unify. Focus on consis-
tency of message and
offer across channels,
even if the path to pur-
chase is wholly unique
for each customer.
“It’s about
finding these
insights and
bridging the gap
into action.”
Jay Henderson
IBM Commerce
DATA | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
12 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
10. Feature 1 - Omnichannel Data_v2.indd 13 5/11/15 9:32 AM
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14. 14 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
STAFFING | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
RETHINKING MARKETING’S
ORG CHART IN AN
OMNICHANNEL WORLD
14. Feature 2 - Omnichannel_v3.indd 14 5/11/15 9:31 AM
15. By Eric Krell
M
arketing organizations have been so busy transforming that
they’ve barely had time to figure out how to arrange them-
selves for the future. This opposing logic crystalizes the fluid
state of marketing team structures today.
On one hand, “many chief marketing officers are tearing up their
org charts,” write Millward Brown Vermeer marketing consultants
Marc de Swaan Arons and Frank van den Driest and Unilever Chief
Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed in their Har-
vard Business Review article “The Ultimate Marketing Machine.” On
the other hand, these coauthors also assert (more than once) that a
simple, widely applicable blueprint for the 21st century marketing
organizational structure does not exist.
So, what’s a CMO to do when it comes to coordinating the troops
to thrive in an increasingly omnichannel environment? Although
the exact answer differs by marketing function, two important ele-
ments of the solution include creativity and the ability for the execu-
tive brain to hold two opposing ideas at the same time.
Let’s get physical—and logical
“To be honest, the big message, and one that we communicate
internally, is that our physical org structure is very different from
our logical org structure,” says Rick Jackson, CMO of Qlik, a
B2B data solutions provider. Both of these organizing principles
deliver benefits.
Qlik marketing department’s physical org chart—what you see on
paper—is based on traditional marketing functions; what it refers to
as centers of excellence: product marketing, solutions marketing,
digital marketing, events marketing, content marketing, etc.
From a practical (i.e., logical) perspective, however, the marketing func-
tion aligns the bulk of its activities around three go-to-market “streams.”
These streams include existing customers, new customers, and enter-
prise prospects with specific functional or industry-based needs that cor-
respond to specific Qlik product offerings and functionality.
The physical, on-paper org structure is essentially marketing or
channel focused. Marketing professionals are assigned to centers of
excellence based on the skills and expertise they possess. The logi-
cal structure is more customer-centric. This structure brings Qlik’s
different marketing experts together to attract and engage prospects
and customers regardless of what channel they’re using.
Qlik’s practical structure is a reflection of the marketing industry’s
recent ongoing transformation that, similarly, is a shift from a mar-
keting-centric perspective to a customer-centric one. Customers and
prospects don’t see channels (a marketing-centric word that 99.9%
of customers probably have never uttered in this context). Instead,
customers see the company or the brand, period. That’s why bank-
ing customers get so dispirited when customer service reps place
them on hold before handing them off to another customer service
rep within a different internal service line (e.g., personal checking,
credit card, business checking). Many, if not most, companies are
structured based on how they view their product and service offer-
ings. Similarly, many marketing teams are organized based on how
dmnews.com | June 2015 | 15
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | STAFFING
A traditional approach
to marketing staffing
may no longer be
logical or practical.
14. Feature 2 - Omnichannel_v3.indd 15 5/11/15 9:31 AM
16. 0➜ Number of “market-
ing directors” at Procter
& Gamble, which last year
replaced that title with
“brand directors” as part of
a marketing restructure
-Procter & Gamble
20%➜ Increase of marketing
function’s influence on com-
pany strategy from 2006
to 2013
-Millward Brown Vermeer
2017➜Year by which marketing
functions will spend more
on technology investments
than IT functions spend
-Gartner
42%➜Portion of CMOs who
agree that “technology is
siloed and too difficult to use”
for cross-channel experiences
-Accenture
45%➜ CIOs who agree that
multichannel is too complex
for one platform
-Accenture
they view the channels through which they interact
with customers.
As the need to maintain a consistent message and in-
timate experience across all channels intensifies, these
channel-centric marketing structures aren’t cutting it.
But there’s a hitch to reorganizing around the customer:
While it’s logical to restructure the marketing function
in response to the new omnichannel reality, some as-
pects of legacy marketing structures still offer highly
practical benefits. “Our physical structure is there for a
few reasons,” Jackson says. “One is for recruiting. You
have specific expertise in each of those [traditional mar-
keting] groups and you always need to bring in more
expertise.” It’s easier to attract digital marketers to a
digital marketing center of excellence than it is to hire them for an
“installed-based, go-to-market stream,” for example.
Restructuring realities
Jackson’s hybrid approach marks just one of several creative new
strategies for aligning resources to deliver consistent messages and
experiences across more than one channel. Before considering other
approaches, it helps to keep the following in mind.
Omnichannel is not yet a reality for everyone: The rise of om-
nichannel marketing, as well as the structures and talent-manage-
ment strategies that some companies have created in response, are
truly transformative, even inspirational. Motorola’s marketing orga-
nization has a marketing SVP who also leads the information tech-
nology function; at Unilever, Weed oversees communications and
sustainability in addition to marketing. Unilever and Diageo have
sent some of their marketing leaders to Facebook for training. De-
spite these impressive examples, omnichannel marketing structures
remain an aspiration for many companies. “Although there has been
a lot written about the difference between multichannel and om-
nichannel, I find that a lot of organizations are just trying to get
their head around how to better optimize multiple channels in a more
integrated fashion,” Qlik’s Jackson says. “To be honest, right now
we’re more focused on integrating across the channels, as opposed to
leveraging channels against each other and creating a more optimal
experience. We’re still fairly early on in that journey.” Despite that
self-assessment, it’s notable that Jackson has seen fit to alter Qlik’s
marketing structure to help it progress on this journey.
No rebuilding effort is an island: Knocking down internal
marketing silos requires external assistance, notes
Glen Hartman, Accenture Interactive’s global manag-
ing director for digital transformation. “As every busi-
ness becomes a digital business, C-suite executives will
need to collaborate to drive successful digital transfor-
mation,” Hartman says. “New, emerging roles such as
chief digital officer, chief customer officer, and chief
experience officer will become integral parts of the
digital lineup.” They will also need to be incorporated
into new marketing structures in ways that the senior
executive team understands and supports.
Restructuring involves a lot more than structure:
Breaking down silos, removing traditional marketing
functions, and creating new organizational strategies
is major work. But restructuring also requires changes to perfor-
mance measures, compensation structures, and traditional training
and leadership development approaches. When asked to identify the
most formidable omnichannel-driven restructuring challenges, In-
sightSquared Director of Marketing Brian Whalley points to skills
development. “Consistently challenging and working on our status
quo will help us find inefficient processes, or places where we’re not
staying on topic,” notes Whalley, whose firm offers business analyt-
ics applications. “The only way to challenge our process is to enable
the team to explore new techniques and technology.”
An incremental approach
Sometimes, the marketing function can notch genuine restructuring
progress with a single hire. Last fall InsightSquared saw a sudden in-
crease in its offer launches and promotions. That was the good news;
the bad news was that the surge in work was difficult to handle. “We
had several content launches in a row that were not executed well,”
Whalley says. During one launch, the marketing team realized it
hadn’t written any social media posts or updates, and scrambled to
complete those on the morning of the launch.
“There’s no reason to be doing that kind of work the morning of,”
Whalley says. “It should have been done thoughtfully and a week in
advance of the launch date.”
As a result, Whalley hired a new Web campaigns manager—not
only to avoid last-minute social media sprints, but also to help the
company adapt to marketing’s expanding sphere of influence. The
new campaigns manager has central responsibility for quality and
consistency of execution. “Because so many people across groups
THE NUMBERS
“The only way
to challenge our
process is to
enable the team
to explore new
techniques and
technology.”
Brian Whalley
InsightSquared
16 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
STAFFING | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
14. Feature 2 - Omnichannel_v3.indd 16 5/11/15 9:30 AM
17. 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | STAFFING
will work together on a launch or activity, we need
to have one person centrally charged with respon-
sibility for it,” Whalley explains. “For each launch,
he has ownership of the release process and making
sure that we have a consistent message, presentation,
and execution.”
A flexible alternative
For a more sweeping approach to restructuring,
Millward Brown Vermeer’s de Swaan Arons and
van den Driest, and Unilever’s Weed put forth
what they describe as an “Orchestrator Model.” In
this structure, marketing professionals (and even
business partners outside the marketing team—and
company) operate on three different short-term task
forces: One group is focused on data analytics (the
“Think” group); the second is focused on customer
engagement (“Feel”); and the third on content and
production (“Do”).
The relative size of each task force flexes up and
down depending on the nature and emphasis of
the task at hand. For a marketing initiative focused
on alleviating customer confusion about bills, one
company pulled together a task force to develop a
personalized video message to explain the bill. In
this case the task force that primarily consisted of
customer engagement (about 60% of the team), with
assistance from content and production (25%), and
a little help from data analytics (15%). A marketing
initiative related to personalization, for example,
likely would require a team with a much greater
data analytics representation.
This flexible task-force approach likely is best suit-
ed for marketing functions on the leading edge of
omnichannel performance. But it should also serve
as a motivating example of what’s possible and neces-
sary. As Forbes marketing columnist Jennifer Rooney
recently wrote, “Marketing organizations that aren’t
restructuring to meet the demands of 2020…will be
left by the wayside.”
The best way to avoid this fate is to get started
restructuring by thinking differently, and meshing
the traditional with the practical. As writer F. Scott
Fitzgerald wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence
is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at
the same time, and still retain the ability to func-
tion.” The same, it seems, holds true for marketing
executives wrestling with restructuring today. ■
STRUCTURAL
UNDERPINNINGS
As more marketing operations
reorganize themselves to man-
age across multiple channels,
they should consider the follow-
ing enablers:
Training: “We invest a lot
in team training, particu-
larly because we hire so many
people without a deep Web
marketing background,” says
InsightSquared Director of
Marketing Brian Whalley, who
actively encourages his people
to share one skill they know
particularly well with the rest
of the marketing team. Whalley
also maintains a professional
development budget, so that
marketers can attend confer-
ences or participate in activities
that help spark new ideas about
ways to operate and organize.
IT collaboration: “Investing in
collaboration with the CIO and
his or her group is a key part of
achieving omnichannel market-
ing,” asserts Glen Hartman,
Accenture Interactive’s global
managing director for digital
transformation. Ideally, the CMO
develops a vision and strategy
for how customers experience
the brand, and the CIO deliv-
ers the tools and technology
to bring those experiences and
campaigns to life. In practice, this
requires marketing and IT to act
as information- and practices-
sharing partners, not as territo-
rial competitors. “CIOs will need
to add marketing skills and CMOs
should do the same by adding
technology proficiency to their
teams,” Hartman adds.
Performance reviews: Beware
of marketing ops reviews that
focus on discreet—and typically
traditional—functions within
marketing. In those reviews, indi-
vidual functions (or “silos”) tend
to achieve strong grades even
when marketing’s overall per-
formance lags. Instead, Qlik CMO
Rick Jackson advises, conduct
departmental-level performance
reviews that center on market-
ing’s overall contributions to the
company’s business objectives.
dmnews.com | June 2015 | 17
14. Feature 2 - Omnichannel_v3.indd 17 5/11/15 9:31 AM
18. By Ginger Conlon
Omnichannel marketing aims to create a cohesive, well-orchestrated customer experience across channels. The
idea is to take a data-driven, customer-centric view of the purchase, engagement, and loyalty journeys and meet
customers where they are for each. But in some cases one channel holds sway over the others, helping marketers
take that more customer-centric approach while still meeting their marketing-centric needs and goals.
Asomnichannelmarketinggrowsinadoptionandpopularityamongmarketers,thequestionthenbecomes:What
channel is—or should be—the linchpin of omnichannel marketing, and why? Twelve marketing experts share their
perspective. Their answers may surprise you.
TRENDS | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
18 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
The Linchpin Channel
Of the Omnichannel
Marketing Future
Is there one channel that can help ensure the success of an omnichannel approach to marketing? Twelve experts sound off.
CHRISTINE KESSLER,
CLIENT SERVICES, SUDDEN
IMPACT MARKETING
As both a consumer and a marketer,
I believe the linchpin of omnichan-
nel marketing is the website. Cool
campaigns can attract attention, but
if the website isn’t up to date with
the latest in-store and online inven-
tory, or if it’s difficult to find what I’m
looking for, you’re not going to make
the sale. My time is valuable, so if I’m
interested in a product, I’m going to
check it out online before ever step-
ping foot into your store. And if I’m not
in a store, your mobile tactics won’t
be nearly as effective.
What are the latest product re-
views? Is it available in my preferred
location? Can I reserve it online? I
should be able to answer all of these
questionsfromtheconvenienceofmy
laptop,iPad,orphone;meaningthesite
also needs to be responsive. If you’re
tracking my activity on the website
accurately, you should have enough
data to ensure that my experience is
a seamless transition from what I was
doing online, and you should be able
to properly target me the next time a
similar product goes on sale.
18_Trends_v2.indd 18 5/11/15 9:34 AM
19. ERIC STAHL, SVP OF PRODUCT MARKETING,
SALESFORCE
While marketers are constantly focused on the latest new platform,
email has long proven itself to be the workhorse of digital marketing.
It delivers the highest ROI, is appropriate for every audience, and plays
well with consumers. In fact, a recent survey from Marketing Sherpa
reveals that 91% of U.S. adults say they like getting promotional emails
from companies they do business with.
Email ties digital marketing efforts together to deliver a seamless
and personalized customer experience; it can be a petri dish for data
testing, combined with predictive marketing to drive transactions, or
used to amplify social media advertising efforts. In a case study of one
major online retailer, email openers were 22% more likely to purchase
when first reached with Facebook ads.
Email may not be the flashiest marketing channel, but it’s the con-
nective tissue of the customer journey.
dmnews.com | June 2015 | 19
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | TRENDS
SOO JIN OH, SVP OF DATA BUSINESS & AD OPERATIONS, MAGNETIC
With consumers constantly switching between devices—including mobile phones, computers, wearables,
tablets, and connected TVs—more and more marketers are implementing omnichannel strategies to reach
consumers as they move across devices and along the purchase funnel. The rise of mobile consumption
has quickly become the foundation for these omnichannel strategies, as the medium provides more ways
to tap into a variety of data points to target consumers and deliver a brand’s message through tactics like
click-to-call, swipe features, and GPS locators. While the increase in mobile consumption offers marketers a
great deal of opportunity, we’re now faced with new challenges like how best to measure the efficacy of our
cross-deviceefforts.It’simperativethatmarketersspendmoretimeanalyzingthedatatheyreceiveandset
definitive goals to ensure their cross-device strategies are as effective as possible.
HOLLY PAVLIKA, SVP, BRAND STRATEGY,
COLLECTIVE BIAS
According to a recent Pew Research Internet study, 74% of adults use
social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This
means that 74% of adults are sharing content with their followers on
the aforementioned social channels. As marketers look to provide a
cohesive customer experience for their consumer audience, social
media should be a major focus of marketing campaigns. Socially con-
nected customers are generating millions of impressions annually, and
casting a wide net of influence over their friends and followers. And,
with the implementations of “Buy” buttons on both Twitter and Pin-
terest, the intermix of social and commerce isn’t something market-
ers should take lightly. For example, we recently launched a study that
examined the impact of Facebook on sales at a major grocer and found
that Facebook fans of the grocer spent 50% more at the store than
non-fans, and bought a total of 35% more product. For marketers, this
is a clear indicator that social channels aren’t just a useful awareness
tool, but a prime driver of sales.
18_Trends_v2.indd 19 5/11/15 9:59 AM
20. TRENDS | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
20 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
JARED BELSKY, PRESIDENT, 360I
Believing there is one channel of more importance in an omnichannel measurement scheme is at direct odds with
the meritocracy that is supposed to be digital marketing. Attribution systems sprung to life in theory to help mar-
keters grow their business, but instead have too often devolved into arbitrating “credit” wars. A peer of mine is
fondofsayingthatthebestomnichannelsystemisthe“onethatmakesyourclientthemostmoney.”Adheringto
this thesis builds trust. The one trump to this thesis is context. If you’re preparing to drive trial to a new line exten-
sionwithashortwindow,thenthechannelsthataredrivingtrial(e.g.,programmatic,search,directmail,FSIs)need
to be weighted beyond those that less directly contribute to that critical goal if time is not on your side.
ALEX LUSTBERG, CMO, LYRIS
Email is clearly the linchpin of any omnichannel engagement strategy.
All the lessons in digital marketing were learned in email and it remains
the heart of every digital relationship. Why? First, it’s the most mature,
accepted, and adopted digital engagement technology. As a result, it
has become both the digital driver’s license, necessary for completing
any online transaction. It remains the only proven way to engage in an
ongoing series of conversations with a captive audience of one.
MAR BRANDT, VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS,
EXPERIAN MARKETING SERVICES
While each marketing channel holds an important place along the customer journey, time and time again, email has been
proven essential. According to a study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Experian Marketing Services, market-
erswhoareseasonedinemailwillleadthetransitiontotheeraofcross-channelmarketing.Inthestudy,Forresterfound
that marketers struggle to integrate data sources and adopt effective data management practices, yet email marketers
demonstrated significantly higher rates of data usage best practices—twice as much as the average respondent.
When executing a cross-channel strategy, marketers must select channels not only based on their target custom-
ers’ habits and preferences, but also those that are best at delivering the message tied to each stage of the customer’s
journey. According to our 2015 Digital Marketer report, email remains the most popular and effective channel to do this
with. Marketers are able to pinpoint and identify what is most relevant and influential in the customer’s path to purchase.
This level of clarity gives marketers the opportunity to then incorporate additional channels based on what’s relevant to
the customer along that path that ties all communications together.
KRISTA LARIVIERE, CEO AND COFOUNDER, GSHIFT
Email.Afterdecadesofinnovationindigitalmarketingandtheintroduction
of new channels and methods to reach audiences, email is the linchpin of
omnichannel marketing. Digital marketers wanting to get in front of their
audience—who have asked (opted in) to be marketed and communicated
to—standthebestchanceofaccomplishingthatthroughawell-thought-
out email marketing campaign. Getting into the target audience’s inbox
alsoallowsthemtoconsumethemessagewhenitisconvenientforthem.
18_Trends_v2.indd 20 5/11/15 9:59 AM
21. dmnews.com | June 2015 | 21
2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing | TRENDS
JAMES ZAYTI, GROUP
DIRECTOR, HYUNDAI
MEDIA, INNOCEAN USA
While it varies by category, we’ve
seen that a brand’s website in the
automotive space holds clout
over other channels. It truly is
the only channel that has no bias
toward how old you are, what
devices you use, or what social
networks you prefer. It not only
has the ability to cater to a seri-
ousintender,butalsotoawindow
shopper, and provides numerous
formsofcontentsuchasimagery,
video, product detail, and price. It
can also serve as a brand’s hub
that users can visit to get all of
the information they could pos-
sibly want to know about and
discover. When you mix it with
search, a brand’s website can be
prettyremarkable.
GREG HEAD, CMO, INFUSIONSOFT
Omnichannel isn’t easy for any business, but for marketers at a small business
being truly omnichannel can be especially challenging given their limited time
andbudgets.It’shardenoughtokeepupwithafewchannelsandkeeptherev-
enue flow going. This makes it even more critical for small business marketers
to continue to hone their messages and narrow the target audience to make
sure their message hits home and converts. Ironically, most small businesses
struggle to specialize and focus beyond one level of “dentist in Scottsdale” or
“marketing consultant.” They need to be even more focused to get their mes-
sage across to the right audience. There are a number of steps to nurturing
prospects and this requires multiple touchpoints, but it starts with a triggered
action, such as an email, and then testing to understand which channel drives
greatest word of mouth, and this is different for every business.
STELLA GOULET, CMO,
AVANADE
Effective omnichannel integration
is critical to successful marketing
programs. But, increasingly, we
view Twitter as the linchpin that
sitsatthecenter.
We’re not alone. The Con-
tent Marketing Institute found
that 88% of B2B marketers use
Twitter to distribute content,
compared with 55% in 2010.
And confidence in Twitter as an
effective platform has gone up
five percentage points in the
past year.
Twitter has two key factors
going for it: 1. it’s highly interac-
tive—driving discussions, sur-
veys, and more; 2. it’s fast and
flexible, enabling us to convey
key messages quickly and post
a variety of content. Companies
can also host tweetchats to dive
deeper into a particular topic and
expand their audience, some-
thing we’ve done successfully
on several occasions.
Of course, our ultimate ob-
jective with Twitter (and all
social channels) is to drive
clients to our people and web-
site, where we can provide a
deeper, richer experience.
DIAZ NESAMONEY, CEO, JIVOX
The marketing landscape is shifting, namely, to an on-the-go
consumer landscape where marketers need to have a mobile
mind-set. Marketers now have a new approach to multichannel
marketing, through the use of data, to communicate the right
message at the right time to the right person. We now have more
access to real-time data than ever before and we can serve mes-
sages that are personalized depending on the weather, location,
time, as well as their own preferences no matter what channel
users are viewing it on. Combing dynamic content with precise
message targeting is essential for the modern day marketer, and
with smart use of technology this year will be the year that cre-
ativity and relevancy come together.
18_Trends_v2.indd 21 5/11/15 9:34 AM
22. Data is the King Kong of marketing. And every year, it seems to get bigger and more powerful. Indeed, marketers
can't seem to get enough of the stuff. According to a new study by Adroit Digital and Forrester Consulting, 96% of
digital marketers and customer insights professionals consider first-party customer data important or mildly impor-
tant; 97% feel the same way about planning, budget, and forecasting data. And, 88% hold their business partners'
customer data in the high regard.
22 | June 2015 | dmnews.com
PARTING SHOT | 2015 Essential Guide to Omnichannel Marketing
Marketers Aren't Monkeying Around
With Data Sharing
97%
96%
88%
Consider the
following important or mildly
important totheir organization’s
overall marketing strategy
Planning, budgeting,
and forecasting data
First-party
customer data
Data about custom-
ers from business
partners
92%
91%
Consider the
following challenging
or moderately challenging
when using a data co-op
Privacy
concerns
Security
controls
Sources: Adroit Digital, Forrester Consulting
Digital marketing and customer insights professionals who…
Access tovaluable
data that was not
used before
Deeper insights from
existing data
Moreholistic views
of customers
across channels
54%
49%
46%
46%
Better customer
experiences
54%
82%
65%
52%
Agree or
strongly agree that
First-partydata is
their most important
data source
Second-party data is a
critical source for their
marketing team
is a
22_Parting_Shot.indd 22 5/11/15 9:35 AM
