This year's marketing trend isn't just digital marketing -- it's digital marketing across devices.
A new study shows that as much as 33 percent of digital media budgets this year will be devoted to "cross-device campaigns," an increase from 24 percent in 2012. "Consumers are living in a cross-device world," says Kurt Hawks, general manager for mobile ad firm Greystripe, one of the study's sponsors. "They're jumping across PCs, smartphones and tablets to complete an activity, and therefore, marketing efforts need to reflect cross-device consumer behavior."
The study indicates that the average U.S. consumer accesses the Web from more than three devices. One third of digital media time takes place on a smartphone or tablet. A majority (52 percent) of marketers who use cross-device marketing say it optimizes the performance of their media budget, while 50 percent say it is more cost-efficient. But 42 percent say the biggest downside is the complexities of tracking and reporting for cross-device campaigns.
Hawks says the key to such campaigns is "to focus on the consumer, not the device. Devices are behavioral attributes associated with a user. ...the consumer must be at the center of your planning, not just platform or device silos."
When you plan a marketing campaign, consider this new twist. The individual you are trying to reach may want to receive your marketing message on one or all of several different devices. As a result, your marketing needs to acknowledge this reality and be transferable across devices.
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