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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Omnichannel advertising is an

organizational nightmare

Forrester wrote this headline in its report The 2. Rationalizing ad technology across
Future Of Omnichannel Media Buying Is channels
Programmatic more than 3 years ago, justifying
the statement by explaining that people, Marketers will benefit from managing multiple channels
processes, and technology issues stand in the through a single ad technology — think operational effi-
way of omnichannel advertising. ciency, cross-channel optimization, better measure-
ment — but most importantly, a single platform allows
“People are isolated in channels, processes are imma- for greater control of the brand experience. Using point
ture, and the tech landscape is saturated”, Richard solutions can reduce control of message frequency,
Joyce, the lead author of the report explained, and en- lead to mixed messages based on differences in how a
couraged marketers to opt for programmatic approach- customer is identified, and limit how quickly you can
es to adapt to dynamic customer behavior and external respond to a customer action in another channel.
change from adtech, publishers, and agencies.
3. Adopting unified marketing impact ana-
Highlighting that a customer’s experience is fragmented
and continues to get more fragmented with the pro- lytics (UMIA)
spect of smart refrigerators, virtual reality, and self-
driving cars, marketers’ omnichannel execution will get Marketers that use UMIA mix the best qualities of attrib-
more complicated. Hence, Forrester recommends in its ution and marketing mix to create a deeper understand-
report three steps to help orchestrate omnichannel digi- ing of marketing performance. Within omnichannel digi-
tal media buys by: tal media buying, attribution measurement techniques
quantify the impact that digital touchpoints have on
1. Experimenting with ad sequencing business outcomes, while identifying common custom-
across a few channels er experience paths. Grabbing the attention of the enti-
tled customer will require a deep understanding of how
Ad sequencing in one channel is a thing of the past customers use different media and where you can pro-
since marketers must now experiment with a few chan- vide value at those digital touchpoints
nels to evaluate how connected experiences improve According to Forrester, marketers need to embrace
business outcomes. For example, try synchronizing ad dynamic budget allocation to respond to real-time cus-
delivery — delivering a specific display ad based on a tomer signals, develop deeper partnerships with ad
customer watching a specific video ad to completion — technology providers, and partner with publishers to
then look for lifts in performance against customers that enhance addressable customer identity. The report
were only exposed to one channel. These smaller tests concludes that those marketers who can create these
will prove out the value of the omnichannel buying pro- partnerships can use publisher data to stitch together
cess over time, and prepare you for new digital touch- customer identity for delivering and measuring omni-
points that continue to fragment the customer experi- channel brand experiences. (Source: Forrester) ◊
ence
By Daniela La Marca

6 August 2021: Omnichannel Marketing