A Guide to Digital Cohesion in Your Marketing Strategy

Does your current marketing strategy span across various channels and devices? Are you sending your customers emails, SMS messages, and engaging with them via your website? 

Chances are good your answer to both of those questions is yes. Most companies use multiple different digital channels to connect with their customers and keep them up-to-date with everything from upcoming sales and company news. 

But are you making the most out of your digital communications? If you’re simply creating one-off messages to your audiences on each channel, you might not be using them to their fullest potential.

By creating a cohesive marketing strategy, you can build well-throughout digital marketing campaigns that attract, engage, and convert new customers. Determining where to start and how to connect the dots can be a challenging task, but you’re already halfway there by marketing to your customers on multiple channels. 

In this article, we’ll provide you with some tips on what channels you can begin to integrate and then provide you with a list of tools to make building a cohesive experience even easier. 

Here’s a quick look at what we’ll cover:

• What is digital cohesion and how can it benefit your marketing strategy? 
• The digital channels you’ll want to incorporate
• Platforms to Help You Create and Manage Digital Cohesion in Your Marketing Strategy

What is Digital Cohesion, and How Can it Benefit Your Marketing Strategy?

The idea of digital marketing cohesion is to bring all of the channels you communicate with your audiences together into one centralized strategy. 

This means that when you create new marketing messages or campaigns, you need to keep the big picture in mind and consider how your customers are going to receive the content. 

Taking this approach will improve your marketing efforts’ success and provide you with a higher return on investment. In fact, it’s been shown that campaigns with multiple channels and touchpoints are much more likely to convert more customers.

Creating multi-channel marketing campaigns will provide you with higher results and can directly impact revenue. It’s been shown that using multiple channels can increase customer spend, and if you’re already using these channels to reach your audiences, why not leverage the creativity you’ve done for other channels to create a cohesive experience. Image courtesy of ClickZ. 

When you think about all of the different digital channels you are active on, it can quickly become a hodgepodge of different messages hitting your customers at various touchpoints. 

Choosing to make the conscious effort to bring these messages together will allow you to drive the narrative and move customers through their purchasing journey with a direct and personalized approach. This will result in a more positive experience for your customer and higher performing campaigns. 

Beyond improving your customer experience and increasing campaign revenue, here are a few more benefits to building a cohesive marketing strategy: 

• Improve brand consistency and awareness
• Build trust among your audiences 
• Improve efficiency by sharing creativity across multiple channels

While it will take some planning at first, once you start thinking about your digital marketing in a cohesive mindset, it will become easier to identify new cross-channel opportunities. 

The Digital Channels You’ll Want to Incorporate 

The next thing you need to think about when building your digital cohesive marketing strategy is what platforms you’re using. While you might only have a presence on a few digital channels like email, social media, and your website — the possibilities of how you can grow and expand your strategy in the future are really endless. 

Let’s take a look at a few of the most common channels you can integrate into your experience. 

Website Landing Pages

Your website landing pages are one of the most important elements in your digital marketing campaigns. They provide your customers with a location to put it all together and take the action you’re asking them to do. 

In fact, landing pages are often much more likely to convert a visitor than product detail pages. This means you need to put a heavy focus on what you’re putting on these pages and how you’re promoting them. 

Creating customized landing pages for your marketing campaigns can help bring together all of the channels you’re promoting and give the user somewhere to convert. It’s even been shown that landing pages have higher conversion rates than product detail pages. Image courtesy of The Daily Egg.

While every campaign may not require a customized landing page, you’ll definitely want to keep this as part of your digital marketing strategy, by driving your audiences back to your website, they are much more likely to complete a purchase and browse other products that might catch their eye.

Email

Email marketing still reigns as one of the most effective ways to reach your customers, and it’s an easy channel to leverage when it comes to implementing cross-channel marketing efforts. This is one of the many reasons that businesses of all shapes and sizes are investing in email and using it as one of their primary channels.  

When compared to all of the other marketing channels you’re using, emails will provide you with the highest return on your investment. That’s why so many businesses invest in their email marketing efforts year after year. Image courtesy of Einstein Marketer. 

Having the ability to create automated email workflows makes this process even easier and takes some of the heavy lifting off of your marketing teams. It also gives you the flexibility to leverage tools that can track and learn how your audiences are engaging with your content. 

There are many different ways that you can use email to create a cohesive marketing strategy, such as: 

• Driving users to your campaign landing pages 
• Incorporating campaign visuals and copy into email messages
• Share messages based on real-time customer behaviors on your other channels

If you’re just starting out on your journey to reach a cohesive marketing strategy, email is one of the first places you should start. You’re already using the channel and creating campaign visuals why not include this as one of the customer touchpoints along the way? 

Social Media

The second channel you’ll want to look at cross-promoting on is social media. This is because it’s a channel you’re likely already engaging with customers on and it’s one that people continue to use on a daily basis. 

Social media allows you to reach your audiences across various channels from Facebook and Instagram to Youtube and Snapchat — there’s an avenue for your content. And the good news is your customers are already on and using these platforms to find new and engaging content. Image courtesy of Media Street. 

Every company has a little different social media presence, so if you’re only on one or two platforms simply stick to those and integrate your campaigns. By incorporating your campaign creative into your social media channels, you’ll start to build brand awareness and a consistent feel from one channel to the next.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is something you need to consider when first building your marketing campaigns. It’s an essential element to get users to your website and campaign content through organic search and let them find you based on the keywords they’re searching. 

SEO can bring your website to the forefront when someone searches for a specific keyword. This can make a significant impact on your website traffic, especially when you consider nearly all online experiences begin with a search engine. Image courtesy of SEOShark. 

Finding the right keywords for your content and determining if you have the ability to outrank your competition are important steps for your digital marketing efforts. Using consistent terminology across all channels will help build authority and let search engines know what your content is all about. 

Over time, you’ll start to see higher organic traffic, which will result in a growing subscriber list and successful marketing campaign.

Content Marketing 

While this isn’t necessarily specific to one area of your digital marketing efforts, it’s important to consider. By creating an inbound strategy, you can attract audiences who are interested in your content and have provided you with permission to contact and interact with them.

Content marketing is still something that many businesses are on the fence about, but those who have made the transition to inbound marketing have seen positive results. 

Content marketing is a great way to reach your audiences and continue growing your subscriber base. The companies that have made the investment in content marketing have said that it’s well worth their time. Image courtesy of 1827 Marketing. 

Content marketing works by creating content that your audiences want and need throughout their purchasing journey. By having this content readily available when they need it, you can capture their attention much easier. 

There are a variety of content marketing types, including things like: 

• Blogs
• Videos
• Infographics
• Case studies
• eBooks
• Checklists
• How-to Guides

In the world of content marketing, it’s all about having the right content available for your audiences when they need it. That might be as simple as sharing a video or how-to guide on how to maintain a product a user just purchased — or something much more complex. 

Platforms to Help You Create and Manage Digital Cohesion in Your Marketing Strategy

To successfully create a cohesive digital marketing strategy, you need to have the right tools in place to manage it. If you’re trying to build a consistent cross-channel marketing plan on multiple channels and platforms separately, chances are good it won’t turn out to be as successful as you had hoped. 

But, by investing in a platform that can help you manage various channels and build automated workflows in one location, you can start to visualize and define each touchpoint across the entire customer journey. 

Having this ability will allow you to connect the dots and ensure you’re sending your audiences the most relevant content, at the most relevant time, on the right channel for them.

In this section, we’ll take a look at ten different marketing automation platforms that can help you build the comprehensive experience you’re looking for. While each platform provides something a little different, each one will help advance your marketing efforts in the right direction. 

So let’s dive in. 

Listrak

Listrak is an integrated digital marketing platform that can help you manage customer interactions across various channels and devices. With cross-channel orchestration capabilities built in, creating a cohesive digital marketing strategy will be a breeze. 

By having access to all of your marketing channels in one location, you can easily find opportunities to integrate them for a more cohesive experience. Building personalized cross-channel customer journeys has never been easier. Image courtesy of Listrak.

Highlighted Tools: 

• Create personalized customer journeys that engage with users at the right moment based on their real-time interactions, across multiple channels and devices
• Quickly build, send, and manage all of your email marketing needs from welcome messages to intelligent trigger campaigns
• Connect with your audiences directly on their smartphones through SMS and MMS messages 
• Link your customer database to social ad platforms to target site visitors who don’t subscribe and then enroll them in nurturing campaigns once they do

Price: The pricing for the platform is customized based on business needs and will require you to connect with a Listrak representative. 

What makes Listrak stand out? The ability to easily create customer journeys that integrate multiple marketing channels to create a true cross-channel marketing strategy. 

Omnisend

Omnisend is a marketing automation platform that allows you to manage and integrate multiple digital channels. From email and SMS to social media and Google retargeting capabilities, this is a platform you’ll want to consider to improve your marketing strategy’s digital cohesion. 

Increase your sales and revenue by creating a multi-channel abandoned cart strategy. By sending messages via email and SMS, you’re much more likely to reach your audience and convince them to convert. Image courtesy of Omnisend. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Easily create and manage all of your email marketing needs, including templates, drag and drop content editor, dynamic discount codes, and more
• Use pre-built eCommerce workflows to keep your audiences engaged without having to manage each touchpoint manually
• Put your customer data to work and improve marketing efforts with segmentation, campaign analytics, and customer lifecycle insights
• Communicate with your audiences on all of your digital channels including SMS, web push notification, and retargeting through Google and social media

Price: Omnisend has four plan options: the Free plan, the Standard plan that is $16 per month, the Pro plan that is $99 per month, and the Enterprise plan that has custom pricing based on business needs. 

What makes Omnisend stand out? The tools to make digital cohesion simple for any sized team, including the pre-built workflows and templates. 

SharpSpring

SharpSpring is a marketing automation platform that can help you build consistency between your email marketing campaigns and website. While it might not cover a wide range of channels, it may be just the tool you’re looking for if you have a smaller marketing stack. 

Knowing who your site visitors allow you to create more targeted and personalized interactions. Having all of this insight in one platform that feeds your marketing efforts will make creating digital cohesion easy. Image courtesy of SharpSpring. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Manage your email marketing and get detailed analytics on each interaction that occurs to know precisely what a customer needs next
• Collect leads with dynamic forms that integrate directly into your marketing CRM software and then customize your list to better understand the data
• Create automated workflows that use branching logic to engage with your customers at the right time, with the right messages
• Build landing pages that encourage users to convert and create a blog to keep audiences engaged and coming back for more content

Price: The pricing for the platform is customized based on business needs and will require you to connect with a SharpSpring representative. 

What makes SharpSpring stand out? The ability to really understand who your customers are at a personal level and use that data to interact with them across email and web marketing. 

Marketo Engage

Marketo Engage is an enterprise-level marketing automation platform that allows businesses to integrate multiple channels, manage sales insights, and so much more. While this platform might not be for everyone, if you’re looking for a robust platform that provides you with a wide range of solutions — this might just be the right fit for you. 

The more you know about your customers, the better you can target their interactions with your company. Whether you’re sending an email or sharing a social post, it’s important to ensure you’re approaching each interaction with your audiences in mind. Image courtesy of Marketo Engage. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Create and send advanced personalized emails that engage audiences at the right time through triggers and through nurturing campaigns
• Find new and known contacts across paid media to continue reaching new audiences and better understand how and when to target them
• Maintain personalized, one to one interactions across all of your digital marketing channels to provide customers with the best experience
• Track and report on all of your campaigns with detailed analytics that will help you identify future improvement opportunities 

Price: The pricing for the platform is customized based on business needs and will require you to connect with a Marketo Engage representative. 

What makes Marketo Engage stand out?This tool’s wide range of solutions can provide enterprise-level businesses from creating cross-channel marketing strategies to providing detailed sales insights. 

Drip

Drip is a marketing automation platform that is designed to help eCommerce companies better communicate with their customers across multiple channels. Creating a cohesive digital marketing strategy can be easily done with the help of this platform and it’s capabilities. 

Email isn’t the only way to engage with your audiences and bring them back to your site. By creating an integrated cross-channel marketing plan, you can seamlessly move audiences from one channel to the next. Image courtesy of Drip. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Create and send personalized emails that attract and convert your audiences through messages like abandoned cart reminders, unique discount codes, and top-selling products
• Ensure your messages are read by sending your most important messages directly to your customers’ phones with SMS messages 
• Incorporate dynamic content into your communication channels to make messages more relevant to each subscriber
• Use customer data collected by the platform to improve segmentation and create hyper-targeted marketing campaigns

Price: Drip bases the price of your plan on the number of contacts on your list but starts at $19 monthly and has the option to include SMS messaging as a part of the package as an additional add-on.

What makes Drip stand out? The ability to use customer data to understand what content is most relevant to resonate with customers and how they want to receive it.

Hubspot

Hubspot is a marketing automation and CRM platform that can help your business manage everything from multi-channel marketing campaigns to sales and customer service. If you’re just looking to build a cohesive marketing strategy, then the Marketing Hub is the way you’ll want to go.

From email to Facebook, Hubspot is a tool that can help you manage every interaction with your customers from start to finish. See all of your touchpoints in one central dashboard to understand how each campaign is performing. Image courtesy of Hubspot. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Publish content to your website through their blog engine to share content your audiences care about and drive users to your site
• Improve SEO ranking by improving your content strategy and finding new areas to optimize your messages
• Manage all of your social media channels and broadcast your marketing campaigns for a larger reach
• Send and manage your email marketing efforts to keep audiences updated and engaged with your brand

Price: Hubspot has multiple pricing plans available, including the Started plan starting at $45 per month, the Professional plan starting at $800 per month, and the Enterprise plan starting at $3,200 per month. There are also some free tools you can leverage with this platform. 

What makes Hubspot stand out? Hubspot is one of the more well-known marketing automation platforms and can provide you with everything you need to create a cohesive marketing strategy across all of your marketing channels. 

GetResponse

GetResponse is a marketing automation platform that will allow you to manage everything from email marketing to paid advertising and webinars. With this platform, you can better understands the needs of your customers and provide real-time interactions across various channels. 

Ensure you’re sending your audiences the most relevant content possible with the help of GetResponse. By understanding who your customers are and how they’re interacting with your brand you can easily build personalized multi-channel marketing campaigns. Image courtesy of GetResponse. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Make email marketing simple with pre-designed templates, easy design tools, and high deliverability rates
• Create customized landing pages for your marketing campaigns to improve SEO and drive users to your website
• Develop webinars that allow you to share relevant content with your audiences through another outlet
• Manage your paid ads across various channels, including Facebook and Google search ads

Price: GetResponse has four plan options, including the Basic plan starting at $15 per month, the Plus plan starting at $49 per month, and the Professional plan starting at $99 per month. Price plans are based on the number of contacts you have. 

What makes GetResponse stand out? The ability to create customized experiences across channels and develop targeted webinars to keep audiences engaged through another tactic. 

Pardot

Pardot is a marketing automation platform that is designed for B2B businesses. This platform will provide you with everything you need to reach your audiences and turn those interactions into conversions. It also provides B2B businesses with additional capabilities beyond marketing, such as streamlined lead management and sales alignment. 

Build automated workflows that move your audiences through each of your marketing campaigns without manual intervention. Considering multiple channels and interaction points will allow you to visualize and build successful cross-channel marketing plans. Image courtesy of Pardot.  

Highlighted Tools: 

• Integrate Google Adwords into your marketing mix to understand the ROI, SEM, and SEO impact of your campaigns
• Create automated email marketing campaigns that engage audiences across their entire lifecycle and engage them with the right message at the right time
• Share content on your social media channels and track prospect interaction with your campaigns to increase chances of conversion
• Build customized landing pages that provide a centralized location to send users to as part of your marketing campaign

Price: There are four plan options with the Pardot platform, including the Growth plan costing $1,250 per month, the Plus plan costing $2,500 per month, the Advanced plan costing $4,000 per month, and the Premium plan costing $15,000 per month. 

What makes Pardot stand out? That this platform is designed specifically with B2B businesses in mind and creates seamless marketing campaigns and sales follow-up.

ActiveCampaign

Target your audiences across multiple channels, from what they’re browning on your website to how they interact on social media — it can all provide valuable insights. Use this data to continue providing your customers with the most relevant experience, no matter where it occurs. Image courtesy of ActiveCampaign. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Use customer data to send relevant emails that reach your audiences at the precise moment they need it
• Automate your marketing efforts and connect the dots between your website and marketing campaigns 
• Send customers customized content across various channels based on real-time interactions and triggers
• Develop personalized landing pages that provide users with the content they need and include forms to help grow your subscriber list

Price: There are four plan options available, including the Lite plan starting at $9 per month, the Plus plan starting at $49 per month, the Professional plan starting at $129 per month, the Enterprise plan starting at $229 per month. Plan pricing does vary based on the number of contacts you have and by the business type features you need. 

What makes ActiveCampaign stand out? That there are multiple plan options available based on the needs of your business — whether you’re a B2C, B2B, or eCommerce site, you have customized plan options. 

Eloqua

Eloqua is another B2B-focused marketing automation platform that can help businesses elevate their cross-channel marketing efforts to create more digital cohesion. 

Build customized workflows to help move your customers through their purchasing journey and eliminate the need to send each message manually. Adaptive campaigns will learn and adjust based on the interactions with each customer to ensure the most relevant content is sent to them. Image courtesy of Oracle. 

Highlighted Tools: 

• Create marketing campaigns that intelligently adapt each customers experience based on their real-time actions 
• Automate retargeting capabilities for known contacts to remind them about your products
• Build automated workflows that move users through their purchasing journey with triggered messages based on customer behaviors
• Better understand your leads and pinpoint when they’re most likely to convert with lead scoring capabilities 

Price: The pricing for the platform is customized based on business needs and will require you to connect with an Eloqua representative. 

What makes Eloqua stand out? That is a marketing platform that provides B2B businesses with everything they need, from automation capabilities to advanced lead scoring all in one central location.

Get Started Building Digital Cohesion in Your Marketing Strategy

So there you have it. Building digital cohesion into your current marketing strategy doesn’t have to mean a complete overhaul of your marketing efforts. It’s simply the idea of taking what you have and bringing it all together. 

Whether you decide to pull campaign creative across multiple channels, interact with your customers through both email and SMS messaging, or do a full-blown multi-channel marketing campaign — you’re making strides towards a cohesive experience. 

It all starts with determining what channels you’re active on, how they can work together, and finding the right tool to make it all happen. Once you’ve determined these things, the possibilities are endless.