Remember: the medium is the message

The philosopher Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase, “the medium is the message”, and cross-channel marketing certainly complicates the way in which the message is sent to the consumer.

Lucy Fisher hammers this home but there are further intricacies in getting cross-channel marketing right. Tablets for example are inherently “leisure devices”.

Regardless of what the medium is retailers must tailor their tactics on the preferences of people and the devices they choose to use.

Chris Minas, founder, Nimbletank

As the recent IAB data on mobile optimisation shows that nearly 40% of top 100 brands have a mobile optimised website the question brands should ask is no longer ‘why should I invest in mobile?’ but ‘how should I invest?’

The answer lies in understanding how your customers use mobile: are they browsing, researching or buying? Brands need to do internal testing to find out customers’ needs before they can optimise the mobile site. And optimisation should not stop with mobile. It is estimated that by 2014, 208m tablets will be sold, and 72% of owners make purchases from them weekly.

Tim Burge, pre-sales director, Maxymiser

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