Why Your Cross-Channel Promotion Is Failing (And How to Fix It)

Guest post by Aljaz Fajmut, Nightwatch CEO

5 Reasons Why Your Cross-Channel Promotion is Failing

Cross-channel promotion has become pretty important. It’s totally changed the game when it comes to finding and reaching new customers, and it lets us strengthen our presence and engage with multiple communities.

The problem is that implementing an effective cross-channel promotional campaign isn’t easy. The good news is that, once you know what mistakes you’re making, rectifying them and getting back on track is easy.

Let’s take a look at why your cross-channel promotion is failing — and what you need to do fix it.

You're not focused on the customer.

When companies first implement a cross-channel promotion campaign, many get a bit excited by the platform — and forget all about the customer they're trying to reach.

The aim of cross-channel promotion shouldn't be to build your presence as fast as you can, and neither should it be a focus on the most cost-effective platforms so that your ROI is bigger.

Instead, you should be focused on what channels your customers are using, and what they expect to see on these platforms.

For example, if you're laser-focused on the channel and not the customer, you might send them an awkward text about a deal while they're at work. It won't hit the spot in the same way that an email sent out to them at a more comfortable time would.

​It's all about learning where your customers are and why they are there. What conversations do they want to have on social media, text, email and so on? Once you have this information, you can discard your 'one size fits all solution' and instead create a flexible campaign that communicates your message in the right way on each platform.

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Your campaign isn't mobile-ready.

Mobile usage overtook desktop for the first time two years ago. Everywhere you look you'll see someone with their head buried in their mobile device. Go to an airport, a coffee shop and so on, and there'll be a plethora of people doing something with their device.
Despite this, many content marketers still haven't optimized their content for mobile.

The thing is, though, that desktop users and mobile users have different habits. According to research, mobile users are often looking for specific info and save any activities that could drain their time for when they're back on their desktops.
What this immediately tells you is that each time you cross-promote on mobile, you need to truncate your message so that it's easier to digest.

Moreover, mobile users are impatient which means your content needs to be a snappy and to the point.
Essentially, to ensure that your cross-promotion campaign isn't failing, you need to better understand mobile users.

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You haven't partnered with another brand.

Is partnering with a brand essential when it comes to cross-promotion? It all depends on what your ultimate goals are. But if you're so far struggling to get your cross-promotion campaign going, you might want to look into partnering up.

When looking for a brand partner, don't look for one that's competing directly with you. Instead, find one that can complement you, and who can share your posts with their followers. Likewise, you'll do the same for them.

​This benefits both of you and raises more awareness of your brand.

When choosing a partner, it's a good idea to look for influencers who already have a fairly strong audience online. If possible, and if relevant, look for local businesses, too.

You might even want to think outside the box and work with a company that's outside your niche. For example, American department store Macy's partners with Special Books by Special Kids, a nonprofit organization.

Whoever you partner with, all you need to do is create content on behalf of each other (or you could even co-create something) and post it across your channels.  

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You haven't integrated social media with email. 

If you haven't done this yet, you're actually guilty of making a pretty big rookie mistake. But it's okay — there's still time to rectify it.

Email and social media serve two similar purposes. Social media strengthens your relationship with your customers, and email does the same thing. So why not get the two to work together?

Each time you post something new to social media, all you need to do is promote it via email. This could be included in your newsletter, or it could be a standalone email.

For example, let's say that you're running a contest on social media. Why wouldn't you raise awareness of it by alerting your email subscribers?

In a similar way, you can promote your awesome email list via social media.

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Your message isn't consistent.

Lastly, if the messages you're sending out to people are inconsistent and erratic, people will stop listening.

This is true for 84% of non profit organizations, who say that most of their messages are "difficult to remember."

What all this comes down to is a lack of focus and knowledge of what your values and message are.

To get good at creating compelling and engaging and consistent stories that hook people, you need to understand your own values and your own message — and you also need to understand your customer’s persona.

Once you understand this, you can then start to create cross-promotion content that's consistent, focused and effective.

These are 5 common cross-promotion mistakes. As you can see, they're simple enough to fix. And once they're all fixed up, you should start seeing better results.

Share this article with your fellow marketers and let us know your thoughts!

Guest Post by Aljaz Fajmut, Nightwatch CEO

Aljaz Fajmut is a digital marketer, internet entrepreneur, and the founder of and Nightwatch-- a search visibility tool of the next generation. Check out Nightwatch blog and follow him on Twitter: @aljazfajmut

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Editor's note: JKM is not an affiliate of Nightwatch and has not received compensation for publishing this guest post. ​