The report follows up a similar piece of research from 2013 in which only 12% of respondents said their organisations took an integrated approach to all campaigns across all channels. 

Have things improved since then? According to the new report it doesn’t look too promising.  

Integration remains stagnant

At first glance it seems integration has hardly moved on at all since 2013: only 14% of respondents say they take an integrated approach to all campaigns across all channels, just a 2% increase. 

Q: Which of the following best describes how you carry out marketing activities?

multichannel marketing

Comparing both studies, the results are almost identical. But for digital marketers the last two years have largely been devoted to meeting the rising demands of mobile consumers. 

Perhaps the reality then is more complex than these static figures suggest. We have to take into account the fact that multichannel marketing needs to respond to the changes in how consumers use, need and want brand information.

Not everyone keeping up as multichannel marketing evolves

As customer habits evolve, so does multichannel marketing. Mobile devices have come to account for more than half of all time spent with digital media since this study was first conducted two years ago. 

With that in mind, every set of statistics in this new report seems to tell the same story. The world of digital marketing is split into three groups: those keeping up with their customers, those trying to catch up and those being left behind. 

Brands in the first group seem to recognise that customers live in a multichannel world, and those brands have invested in their marketing efforts with that in mind.

What is the biggest challenge?

Achieving a single customer view seems to be the most difficult challenge faced by modern marketers, with only 29% of respondents saying they currently have this capability. 

Q: In the context of integrated marketing, how would you describe your organisation’s capabilities in the following areas?

multichannel marketing

Bringing together information from various data sources and technologies is a complex task for any organisation, but it becomes particularly challenging when the company has a large consumer audience that requires a wide range of marketing channels. 

Access to a single customer view can help significantly with customer journey analysis. Essentially it is the ability to understand how the customer moves from awareness to purchase and being aware of their interactions across every touchpoint along the way. 

Obviously this is a huge challenge, but the fact that marketers are recognising this means they at least understand the need to learn about their customers in order to effectively market to them across multiple channels. 

Want to know more? Download our Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: The Multichannel Reality now and read the full report.