Many companies are confident that they are doing multichannel marketing – they run advertising campaigns, publish posts, and send newsletters. However, in practice, this often turns out to be mere presence on several platforms without an overarching, cohesive logic.
The purpose of this article is to discuss not terminology, but the approach. About why content marketing is effective only when it turns from a set of tactics into a holistic system subordinate to common business goals.
Multichannel in marketing is more about tools, while integrated marketing is a managed system, a consistent customer journey, and growth in key business metrics. Let's consider how this difference manifests itself in practice and how to link different channels into a single strategy.
Multichannel or omnichannel is the parallel operation of several customer communication channels: for example, email, social media, targeted and contextual advertising.
Multichannel marketing emerged with the growth of consumer touchpoints. There was a time when businesses communicated with their audience through just a couple of channels: a website, offline advertising, postal mailings. With the advent of social networks, search advertising, marketplaces, messengers, and even super apps, companies began to use them all at once to be everywhere.
Today, brands use an average of 5–9 communication channels to interact with customers and partners. Popular channels include social networks, messengers, websites, email newsletters, SMS, video ads, banner ads, telephony, and online maps.
Initially, this seemed progressive: the more channels, the wider the reach and the more leads. Each channel promised growth: SMM – reach, context – quick leads, SEO – stable organic traffic. For small and medium-sized businesses, multichannel seemed like an ideal solution: a little advertising, a little content – and marketing seems to be working. In terms of the set of tools, SMBs have approached corporations in this regard.
However, activity in the channels was not connected either strategically or analytically, and this was the problem: the effect of each channel was insufficient, and no managed growth occurred.
Common mistakes in multichannel marketing include when promotional offers are not published in all channels, and different creative designs are used on different platforms. Furthermore, the effectiveness of each channel is analyzed separately, without considering the influence of other activities. For example, campaigns in social networks are not compared with the dynamics of search queries.
In practice, "multichannel" in many companies today looks like this:
The business has contractors for contextual advertising, SMM, SEO, performance marketing, and sometimes an in-house marketer or content specialist.
Each one completes tasks in their own channel, forming reports based on their own metrics: CTR, reach, positions, leads.
No one is responsible for the overall result: leads are not linked to sales, analytics are fragmented, strategy is nominal.
There is no unified logic for the customer journey: a person might see an ad, then a post, then an email, but the company does not understand how these touchpoints are connected and what actually led to the sale.
If there is no unified customer profile, many duplicates and errors in contacts – the company is stuck in the past. Example: something as basic as a phone number input mask on the website isn't even set up. After all, one client may enter a number starting with 8, and another with +1.
There are other signs of problems with multichannel in a company. For example, many inquiries on social networks and messengers go unanswered, low email open rates, high unsubscribe rates, customers get lost between channels: call → no email → no confirmation.
Multichannel without an overall strategy leads to marketing being active but not manageable. It's like assembling a construction set without instructions. In this case, channels do not reinforce each other but often duplicate or compete. There is no understanding of the return on investment.
Consider a situation where channels are linked by a unified strategy and common reports. In this approach, each direction is part of a system, not a separate project:
Advertising not only brings leads but also warms up the audience, which then reads content and subscribes.
Content adapts to the funnel stage: informs, persuades, addresses objections.
Email and messengers "nurture" those who have shown interest.
CRM and analytics show which channels actually influence sales and retention.
The main principle of integrated marketing is a single goal and an end-to-end logic for the customer journey. The customer smoothly transitions from first touch → to lead → to sale → to repeat purchase. All touchpoints are coordinated and reinforce each other.
Specifically, it looks like this:
SEO and content attract organic traffic to the site.
Remarketing catches up with those who visited the site, offering relevant offers.
Email marketing launches a sequence with useful materials and case studies to further warm up the audience for a purchase.
The sales manager sees all this through the CRM. They can assess which channel the client came from and what they were interested in. As a result, marketing becomes a managed system, not a set of activities.
The key idea of integrated marketing is to focus not on channels, but on the customer and their path to purchase. If multichannel answers the question "where are we present?", then integrated marketing answers "how does the user go from the first touch to the deal and repeat purchase?". The funnel and customer journey become the foundation.
Integrated marketing most often stumbles not on technology, but on human factors. Many companies sincerely think that if they publish content on five social networks, send emails, and run a couple of ad campaigns, they already have a "system." In reality, this is more like a situation where each department lives in its own world and pretends to see the rest of the team through a fog.
First, the logic must be described: how a person learns about the company, what creates interest, helps make a decision, influences return. Channels and tools are selected for this logic: content, advertising, newsletters, CRM communications, promotions, loyalty programs.
Metrics are built end-to-end – not "CTR in advertising" or "reach on social networks," but funnel indicators: conversion rate, cost per acquisition, repeat purchase rate, LTV.
Let's consider the key differences between multichannel and integrated marketing:
| Parameter | Multichannel Marketing | Integrated Marketing |
| Goal | Presence in multiple channels | Managed growth and achieving business goals |
| Channel Connection | Absent: each works separately | There is a unified logic and customer journey strategy |
| Analytics | Fragmented, by individual platforms | End-to-end, at the level of the entire funnel and business processes |
| Content | Tailored to the format of a specific channel | Built according to funnel stages and interaction scenarios |
| Responsibility | Each contractor is responsible only for their area | A single point of management, common goals, and aligned KPIs |
| Result | Unconnected data, difficult to assess channel contribution | A holistic system where each tool influences the overall result |
| Strategy Approach | Reactive: we do what works here and now | Proactive: strategy is built from business goals and the funnel |
| Data and CRM | CRM is often not used or updated manually | Data from all channels is integrated into CRM and analytics |
| Customer Role | The customer is perceived as a source of one-time profit | The customer is considered a partner in a long-term cycle: LTV, retention |
| Flexibility and Scalability | Difficult to scale: no systematicity and interconnections | Can be scaled due to transparent processes and a predictable growth model |
There are at least six reasons for this:
Each contractor is responsible for their channel, but no one – for the overall result. The SEO specialist does SEO, and the contextual advertising manager – contextual ads, and that's normal. Meanwhile, management thinks the marketer manages everything, although they have neither the authority nor the tools to bring it all into a system.
One common problem is contractors or employees placing ads in one channel not knowing about actions in another channel.
Decisions are made based on the principle "we need more leads," "let's launch an ad," and not based on the logic of the customer journey. As a result, the business lives in firefighting mode.
Another common mistake is the lack of a clear strategy and goals. Channels work in different directions, messages are not adapted to the channel, tone of voice and visual style are chosen incorrectly. Brands try to do 360-degree advertising, using all channels from TV to TikTok, and as a result, the effective channel used by the target audience receives the same budget as the channel where they are hardly present.
Each contractor has their own report. No one sees the whole picture: how much a sale really costs, which touchpoints affect conversion, where customers are lost. Without this data, it's impossible to move to systematic management.
One common mistake is trying to "glue" chaos together with a new tool. Connect another CRM, chat, or board and hope that suddenly everything will become transparent. But if people haven't agreed on the rules of the game, no scheme will work.
Another mistake is expecting perfect end-to-end analytics. In reality, many companies don't have clean data, and UTM tags live their own life. We often look at effects more simply: enhanced PR – organic traffic grew, media appearances – branded queries increased, introduced expert content – AIs started quoting more often. Sometimes this analysis is enough to move the strategy forward.
Even if the channels are built, there is no CRM discipline inside the company, lead handover is not set up, funnel stages are not analyzed. Marketing and sales operate separately.
We've been through this. We have editorial, marketing, PR, product – all with their own tasks and burning deadlines. Plus, about 60% of the materials are written by an external author base. If the processes are not brought into a single framework, it becomes a mess: everyone has their own pace, their own understanding of goals and the "perfect text." Therefore, we came to a simple approach: a single framework, a common content plan, strict synchronization rules, and normal human conversation between departments.
As long as leads come in and advertising pays off, a system seems unnecessary. But with growing competition and rising traffic costs, such marketing loses manageability.
Building a system is more difficult than launching another ad. It is necessary to connect strategy, analytics, content, and CRM. Not every company is ready to invest resources in this transformation.
Generally, such a situation is a special case of a deeper problem. If channels work in isolation, most likely, other marketing processes in the company are structured similarly.
To do this, the very logic of growth management must be restructured. Here's how to do it step by step:
The system starts not with channels, but with what the business wants to achieve.
Goals: revenue growth, profit, LTV, market share, entry into a new segment.
KPIs: cost per acquisition, conversion rate by stage, share of repeat sales.
For example, if a company wants to enter a new segment, the goal is to expand the audience and test demand hypotheses. For such a task, it makes sense to look at the cost of the first contact, depth of engagement in the funnel, and the share of leads that match the profile of the new audience.
If the task is to increase profitability on the current base, then the goal is related to increasing the average check and purchase frequency. Here, retention becomes key: repeat purchase rate, repeat conversions, upsell effectiveness, and the margin of each sale.
A key mistake when assembling channels into a single system is to consider only marketing communications, forgetting about operational ones. For example, sending a newsletter with a promotion for products the customer has already bought, but which are still being delivered, or not considering that the customer returned that purchase.
It is necessary to describe how the customer goes from first contact to purchase and retention:
Where do they learn about the brand;
What sparks their interest;
What objections arise;
At what point are they ready for dialogue and what information do they need to move forward;
When sales get involved;
What retains them after the purchase.
These questions provide material for a journey map, where it becomes clear which touchpoints are needed and which are idle.
To collect the real path, you need to go through these stages, look at them through the customer's eyes, and test your assumptions with analytics.
The Customer Journey becomes the framework around which channels and content are then assembled. For example, for a B2B funnel, warming stages – articles, webinars, case studies – are critical. For e-commerce – product pages, review mechanics, email sequences. Therefore, the foundation of integrated marketing will be unique for each business.
Mistakes in multichannel marketing include "blind spots," when a company cannot track the customer's full path from the first touch (e.g., search engine ads) to the sale. Analytics systems like call tracking, specifically the multi-channel sequence report, help to figure this out. By the way, another typical mistake is not taking into account the entire channel chain. For example, many companies conclude that geo-services are the main source of lead traffic, which is often not the case – they are simply the final touchpoint.
Without data, the system does not work; it must be collected in one place: connect CRM, analytics, ad accounts. This will help see the customer's path from the first click to the deal and repeat purchase. And also understand each tool's contribution to profit, not to reach or clicks.
It is important to track the profitability of each communication channel and its conversion. If there is no end-to-end analytics – at least compare CRM data with actual sales.
Most end-to-end analytics collection services integrate with popular CRMs and advertising systems and allow building a unified data loop. The services take on the routine of collecting events, leads, deals, revenues, and attribution.
Without end-to-end analytics, marketing works blindly. For example, it may seem that social networks provide the best traffic, but CRM will show that real deals come from context, and leads from social networks are lost at the qualification stage.
End-to-end analytics allows you to see not only clicks but also each channel's contribution to the company's revenue: where the customer came from, how much the deal cost, what revenue they brought over the entire cycle, where the funnel is weak, and what provides the highest margin.
Implementing end-to-end analytics is long and expensive, not all companies have the resources for it. In this case, it is worth setting up everything that can be set up at the data collection stage.
Google Analytics, free social media analytics services. Use promo codes with bloggers, QR codes with UTM tags on print materials, analyze aggregator accounts. This allows analysis of the top of the sales funnel.
Even better – if call tracking can be connected – you will know where leads come from, down to the search query in contextual advertising and the creative in social networks.
Introduce mandatory customer surveys by phone or in website forms.
The simplest way to assess the effect is to analyze the volume of leads before and after an advertising campaign, while, of course, considering the decision-making time.
If the goal of an advertising campaign is not sales but increasing awareness – the dynamics of online queries will help.
Each tool should reinforce the other. Content is responsible for creating demand and addressing objections. Advertising brings the right segments to the right funnel stage. CRM nurtures and brings back customers who have shown interest.
Example of how such a scheme works: a person reads an article → gets retargeted → receives a lead magnet → enters a sequence of touches → the manager sees activity in the CRM. The strategy should consist of such linkages.
It is important to understand how, when, and with what content you will manage attention and trust.
Content is linked to the customer's journey: informs, persuades, removes barriers.
Communications have a unified tone of voice and common messages across all channels.
Materials are created not in the "need a post" format, but according to the task of the funnel stage.
For example, at the stage of problem awareness and information search, expert materials work best; when choosing a product – case studies and ROI calculations; at the decision-making stage – offers and personal communications.
To keep all this operational, you don't need to turn marketing into a space station. It's enough to organize normal human order: agreed – recorded – synchronized – executing.
And when departments start working in the same rhythm, and marketing turns into a normal, manageable process – not creating the appearance of activity, but actually delivering results.
We have considered multichannel as a set of tools and integrated marketing as a system for managing business growth. When a company builds a funnel, unites data, links content, advertising, and CRM, marketing becomes part of the business process – a predictable, transparent, measurable system that influences sales and can scale.
This is the key difference: the integrated approach allows not just "doing marketing," but managing the company's forward movement.
