In today’s marketing landscape, reaching consumers where they are is more critical than ever. They want information easily accessible across an increasingly diverse set of channels. The growth of channels, and their increased use, is staggering. Consider these statistics (via HubSpot and Compu-Mail):

• 44 percent of consumers begin online shopping experiences with a search engine (Interconnected World: Shopping and Personal Finance, 2012)
• 46 percent of people read blogs more than once a day (HubSpot Science of Blogging, 2010)
• Approximately 77 percent of responding B2C companies and 43 percent of B2B companies acquired customers from Facebook (State of Inbound Marketing, 2012)
• Email marketing was identified as the most effective digital marketing platform for customer retention in 2014. (eMarketer)
• Direct mail accounts for 43 percent, nearly half, of local retail advertising. (Compu-Mail)
• Despite its reputation for being antiquated, nearly 92 percent of young shoppers say direct mail influences purchasing decisions (Compu-Mail).

According to these statistics, it seems like every single channel is more important than the other. That’s not really the case at all. Identifying which channels to focus on is just the first step in creating an effective, multi-channel marketing campaign that reaches local consumers.

Consider these four questions when creating a multi-channel marketing campaign:

1) Where are your customers?

Before kicking off any multi-channel marketing campaign, it’s imperative you understand where your company’s customers spend their time. Are they on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Are they early adopters of the latest social channels? Do they prefer direct mail or email?

Finding these statistics may be easier than you think. Review campaign reports, analyze MRM custom dashboards and talk with front line sales staff to get a better understanding of who your customer is and where they spend their time. Once armed with this critical information, you can move into the next phase planning an integrated campaign.

2) What does your target audience care about?

It seems like it should go without saying your message should be focused around an issue, idea or problem your consumer is interested in. But, it’s all too easy to fall back on what’s important to the company. In reality, your messaging should bring both of those issues together: Take what’s important to your customers and line it up with business goals. Match a product or service to a common problem target audiences face, or position in a way that will be appealing to your demographic.

3) Does your call to action work across channels?

It goes without saying your campaign needs a clear and strong call to action. Identifying the next specific step you want consumers to take is important in creating a powerful call to action. Equally important is ensuring that message resonates across channels. While the call to action should always generally be the same, i.e. always encouraging web traffic, the wording needs to reflect the channel.

For instance, a “Visit us online today for more information” isn’t strong enough to motivate consumers to cross channels in a direct mail campaign. However, highlighting an exclusive promotion or giveaway on a unique landing page is a strong call to action that encourages consumers to take action.

4) What do your local sales teams need to support the campaign?

One final component of any marketing campaign is ensuring local teams have the resources they need to support the initiative. Spend time training teams on the upcoming campaign, and share materials that will be distributed to the public. Consider supporting campaigns with in-store materials, including signage, flyers, banners and more.

Keep in mind every location has different needs. Work closely with them to identify what materials are needed, or set up a marketing resource management system to make ordering and customizing local marketing kits simple.

The answers to these four questions are a strong starting point for any multi-channel marketing campaign. Creating innovative, compelling and relevant messages that reach local consumers right where they are helps raise your brands awareness and moves the needle on important business goals – from increased web traffic to driving local sales and much more.

What are your tips and insights on multi-channel marketing campaigns? Please share them with us on Twitter, @vya_systems.