Cross-Channel Advertising Software & Platforms Compared

Cross-Channel Advertising Software: Our comparison features the best cross-channel advertising tools - you can find more useful information here

Prospective as well as existing customers of all conceivable industries switch between different devices and associated online channels every day. This presents advertisers with various challenges. To serve their target audience optimally with suitable advertising, all relevant channels must be considered and activities there - both their own and those of (potential) customers - must be continuously monitored. It is crucial to quickly submit the right bids for the ideal ads, analyze perfect keywords, manage content and create a thoroughly good customer experience. Cross-channel advertising software helps to fulfill these requirements.

These are popular cross-channel advertising tools:

• Criteo Dynamic Retargeting

• Yieldlab

• MediaMath TerminalOne Marketing OS

• Kenshoo

• Zeta Programmatic (formerly Sizmek)

• AdRoll

• MMT Mercury

• Rubicon Project

• The ADEX

• Active Agent

This is what generally characterizes good cross-channel advertising software:

• It allows the management and placement of ads across three or more of the following digital advertising channels: Search, Display, Mobile, Social, Video.

• It offers functions for uploading or creating online ads.

• Cross-Channel Advertising Software provides workflows for effective management and advertising trading within the respective platforms.

• It includes tools for tracking key performance indicators such as reach, conversions and ROAS.

What are the advantages of cross-channel advertising software?

Some key benefits of cross-channel advertising software have already been mentioned indirectly. At this point, we want to delve a little deeper. Here you will read about what you can specifically achieve for your business with suitable solutions. Small as well as large companies have now integrated cross-channel advertising into their advertising strategy. It should be noted that there is not one cross-channel advertising that fits all. Depending on the business context, it is worthwhile to resort to other channels and approaches. A clear strategy will never be definitively dictated. Those who have found a suitable strategy and the right channels, messages, etc., usually benefit from...

• ... optimized accessibility of their own target group.

• ... an increase in interaction with (potential) customers.

• ... more touchpoints and an increase in reach and therefore brand awareness.

• ... the highly efficient implementation of advertising campaigns.

In the past, it was common to use advertising comparatively punctually and to monitor it. Today, cross-channel advertising and corresponding software offer the opportunity to find a much broader and ultimately deeper presence, yet not be intrusive in the daily life of (potential) customers. Messages in private social networks, for example, are picked up in the morning while drinking coffee and later refreshed by Google Ads during professional research.
In order to organize such comprehensive advertising really purposefully, the use of special cross-channel advertising software is practically indispensable. Furthermore, it is essential to focus on the benefits for (potential) customers. They should acknowledge the advertising as advantageous for themselves and not as disturbing. The latter is, of course, quickly given with a cross-channel approach. Ideally, campaigns in cross-channel advertising are viewed as helpful information sources.

Typical functions of cross-channel advertising software

The following provides an overview of key features of cross-channel advertising software.

• Campaign Management: With cross-channel advertising software, you can create, edit, and monitor campaigns for different channels from one location. It helps advertisers link ad accounts and manage them under one roof. It also provides insights at the ad account level for monitoring and reporting ads.

• Campaign Analysis: Cross-channel advertising software offers a comprehensive insight into the performance of campaigns across multiple channels. Users have the opportunity to optimize campaign performance from a holistic perspective.

• Real-Time Dashboards: Cross-channel advertising software offers real-time dashboards to display expenditure on different channels and in different campaigns. They also support users in quickly capturing key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Advertising Performance: Cross-channel advertising software helps to determine all cross-channel advertising materials, such as campaigns, ad sets, and individual ads, with just one click. This includes tracking ad conversions by campaign and conversion type. It also allows users to compare the performance of different ads and further optimize them to better serve the respective target group.

• Interfaces: Cross-channel advertising software allows the integration of ad networks, publisher ad servers, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and other very helpful technical components or tools.

• Attribution Models: With cross-channel attribution models, users can modify campaigns based on their performance to optimize marketing spending. There is also the opportunity to review the performance indicators of campaigns in detail.

• Reporting and Analysis: With cross-channel advertising software, reports can be created at the ad account, ad set, and campaign level within minutes, scheduled, and shared to make faster decisions with a better overview. The planning and approval of reports can be automated as a daily or weekly report or can be done at any time as a PDF or spreadsheet.

What should you look for when choosing cross-channel advertising software?

Cross-channel advertising softwares offer different ranges of functions. You should, of course, make sure that you receive the features that are suitable for your business context. If an important function is not available, advertising on any channel can hardly reach its full potential. On the other hand, it is not reasonable to just choose software that "does everything". Remember: this impairs user efficiency on the one hand and on the other hand a very comprehensive program, which has many features that you may not need at all, is nothing less than wasted money.

User and beginner friendliness

Those who are just starting their advertising activities are well advised to go for a tool that is suitable for beginners. The more channels and features are integrated, the more complex the use of the cross-channel advertising software becomes. Beginners will not do themselves a favor with such a solution. Beginners as well as experienced advertisers should also pay attention to the basic usability. Ideally, it fits exactly to your own requirements.

Interfaces

It is often beneficial to use cross-channel advertising software with other technologies and tools. The appropriate interfaces should be available for this purpose.

Objective definition

Advertising goals are important in order to ensure efficient delivery. These can be defined automatically or manually. The automated variant is of course particularly advantageous for beginners.

Advertising channels

Cross-channel advertising software combines different search engines, social networks and sometimes other channels. However, there are hardly any programs that offer all channels under one roof. Ideally, the channels that your own target group prefers to use are integrated.

Keyword research

Ads must be linked with the right keywords in order to yield maximum success. Therefore, it is very advantageous if a keyword research tool is integrated in the cross-channel advertising software or can be connected through an interface.

Cross-editing

Cross-channel advertising software always lets you manage various advertising channels from a central location. Therefore, it is good if the program provides the option to make multiple adjustments to ads simultaneously across different campaigns and channels. This saves a lot of time.

A/B tests

Cross-channel advertising software sometimes offers automated A/B testing of different ads. Thus, the best-performing ads are filtered out without effort. In general, testing is extremely important for maximum success. The chosen tool should definitely bring ideal conditions for this.

Monitoring and Reporting

General monitoring is another key premise for successful cross-channel advertising. For it is only with the appropriate tools and their use that it is possible to adequately visualize the success or failure of individual efforts and subsequently initiate corresponding optimizations. Using the data obtained, you can improve your cross-channel advertising more and more. A reporting function helps in processing the diverse information. This quickly provides users with a meaningful overview.

Campaign assistance

Cross-channel advertising softwares sometimes provide assistance in the implementation of new campaigns. For example, there are special design features, templates or step-by-step instructions.

Mobile optimization

Mobile devices are now preferred over desktop computers for browsing in most contexts - or they simply offer the advantage of always being quickly at hand and are therefore used particularly often. Consequently, the cross-channel advertising software of choice should absolutely provide the best conditions for placing mobile-optimized ads.

Price

Good cross-channel advertising software almost always costs money - making the price last, but not least, is of course also relevant for selection. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which as a rule can only allocate a comparatively small budget for cross-channel advertising, have to weigh up here. Fortunately, the various providers often have special packages that are tailored to different requirements and budgets in their portfolio.