5 things you need to know about mastering marketing in a multi-screen world

As consumers’ media habits shift from evening primetime to ‘always-on’ screen time, marketers need to rethink how they interact with their customers. Digital consumers use more than one device at a time for different purposes; they access content on the go; and they depend on different devices in different contexts.

As marketing professionals, our challenge is to weave all these different devices, screens, and channels into a coherent media strategy that leads to authentic engagements with our customers. Here are a few key principles for creating a marketing strategy for a multiscreen world.

Be consistent

One of the first rules of successful multiscreen marketing is to deliver a consistent brand image and message at every point of interaction with the customer. That means the marketing strategy across digital and analogue channels must be put together in a holistic manner. The information and experience must feel on-brand to the customer, whether the interaction is a TV ad or a mobile app.

Be where your audience is

Consumers rely on laptops, mobile phones, tablets, TV, print and more for inspiration, information, communication and entertainment. You need to understand which of these channels your customers favour as well as their behaviour across them so that you can be present with the message and information they need at a given time.

One key element of this is understanding how cross-screen behaviour enables personal and interactive engagement across devices. Is your audience on social media on a smartphone while it watches primetime TV? Do your customers listen to the news headlines on radio while they’re doing some personal research on Google during their lunch hour? Understanding which your channels customers use and how these fit into the customer journey can help you create more successful marketing strategies.

Use the right tool for the job

Each device and channel requires a different approach. Radio is great for punchy calls to action. TV might work well for emotional storytelling and brand building. Mobile advertising is about delivering value-added information in an easy-to-digest manner rather than interrupting customers. Search is great for conversions and social is for engagement and conversation. Learn which channels are the best fit for different purposes and deliver the right content to meet the customers’ needs.

Master content delivery and curation

Producing content is expensive and time-consuming, so one key to success is learning how to rapidly create and package content for different screens and audience segments. Learn how to craft content that you can quickly customise for different purposes to keep production costs down.

Listen to your customers’ needs

My final tip is to listen to your customers’ need by tracking the wealth of data you have access to from digital interactions. You can learn a great deal from how customers interact with your content – if they clicked through on a banner and then dwelled on your website, you did something right. If they bounced within seconds, you did not. By using Web analytics tools to track customer behaviour, you can learn a great deal about the customer journey in a multiscreen world so that you improve ROI and give customers what they want.