The difference between multi-channel and combination marketing

Multi-channel marketing is a must for any serious marketing plan.  Focusing on one channel (marketing platform or location) is not as effective as it may have been. Today our prospects have more choices to find information about our products and services.  Marketers also have more methods and opportunities to reach new customers.

The concept of multi-channel marketing is not new, but it has become more popular. The idea is to spread your message over multiple platforms and channels to reach your best prospects and reinforce your message. We use this concept when developing our marketing solar system. 

Likewise, Combination Marketing takes multi-channel marketing a step further. It requires that each of the channels work to reinforce the other channels in the campaign.  In many cases, it’s the old-school method of a phone call following a direct-mail campaign.  Another example is search engine marketing (SEM), which supports your organic search engine optimization (SEO).

Multi-channel marketing contains some elements of combination marketing. However, all combination marketing campaigns are multi-channel, but not all multi-channel campaigns employ combination marketing.  If your goal is branding, well-researched multi-channel marketing is fine (and necessary).  If conversions are an important part of your campaign, using the power of the reinforcing elements of combination marketing is important.