You’ve heard that old marketing chestnut about needing to see an ad seven times before it finally sticks in your brain and gets you ready to make a purchasing decision? While the statistic itself is mostly fluff, the overall message it conveys is the real takeaway – you gotta get your message out there, as often and in as many places as possible. In another lifetime, that would’ve amounted to buying up more and more commercial airtime. But in today’s more fractured marketing world, it means going omnichannel with your strategic approach. 

Omnichannel marketing is a coordinated and seamless integration of both branding and messaging touchpoints for your customer, both online and off. It’s meeting your customers where they’re at taken to its logical conclusion, allowing them to interact and engage with your brand no matter where they are in the sales funnel. 

Sometimes, it’s just a simple numbers game. “The more platforms that you use, the higher your ROI (return on investment) actually is,” says Samir ElKamouny, Founder and CEO of Fetch & Funnel, on the latest episode of Elasticity’s Stretching Boundaries podcast. 

Why aren’t Google ads and an Instagram account enough? Because in a traditional multichannel approach, you’re siloed. “You’re thinking of every channel as a separate channel. ‘I’m running some stuff over here on Instagram, running some stuff over here on TikTok.’ But it’s really important to be thinking about it in a way where you are getting your message in front of the right person at the right time,” implores ElKamouny.

More channels means more flexibility, especially when customers utilize different channels for different needs. Being everywhere means being able to handle anything. “Where I am in your funnel is so important to understand,” says ElKamouny. Whether that’s a customer bringing up a dispute, leaving a review or looking for more information to help them make a final decision, having a channel ready to further that conversation can make all the difference.

“That’s always what we’re trying to do – get someone across the finish line.”

Learn more about omnichannel marketing and how both Fetch & Funnel and Elasticity can help you succeed with it by listening to the full episode of the new Stretching Boundaries podcast.

“A lot of people think PR equals ‘press release’ – we put a press release out, we’re gonna put it over the wire and then let the money flow in.”

That’s Jason Michael, Elasticity’s Senior VP of Public Relations talking on the newest episode of the Stretching Boundaries Podcast about the false expectations clients can have when it comes to the PR space. 

“I love Mad Men, but I think it ruined a lot of people’s perception of what this job is.”

He’s right. Mad Men is a show set in a 1960s ad agency. Back then, they were advertising Kodak slide projectors and Western Union telegrams. So it’ll come as no surprise that the advertising industry itself, just like the brands it pushed, has evolved in the last 70 years. You can’t just put out a press release and expect it to be picked up anymore. There’s way more to it these days. 

“A company will see a competitor on the front page of the New York Times, or quoted in CNN, or they’re on Squawk Box, and they wonder how they got on there,” says Michael. “That conversation may have started 18 months ago. They talked to that producer, they gave them a bit of insight, they laid the seeds. And when that story came up, they had a chance to jump on it.”

Relationships have always mattered in the PR space, but as time moves forward and the pace of news speeds up, finding ways to provide unique value is proving to be the real difference maker in getting your client’s name out there. And that means not just being reactive to the current environment, but being proactive as well. 

“People think that all you have to do is know those reporters and know those producers and you’ll be able to jump in – they’ve already made their phone calls, they’ve already reached out and they’ve already got their guests booked. That’s why it’s so important to play that long game.”

So how do you play that game well?

In the latest episode of the Stretching Boundaries with Elasticity podcast, we speak with Colin Wheeler, VP and Global Lead, Corporate Affairs, VF Corp, about how how his company (the parent company of a number of apparel and outdoor brands like Vans and The North Face) about how their company has seen shifts in culture and how leadership is responding to it.

“The priorities have changed,” Wheeler said. “Employee communications, internal communications is a lot more important to us now as a company — making sure the employee base understands the turnaround strategy, understands their role in making that happen and that the organization feels aligned.”

Communication has always been key, but with employees who are more disconnected from the office and its culture than ever, it’s critical for companies to find ways of instilling their core values in this new landscape. There may not be a single silver bullet answer, but there are things you can do.

Welcome back to Episode 3 of Stretching Boundaries with Elasticity. Today we look inside to sage creative and client management expertise from our creative director, none other than Nick Walden. He speaks of the necessity in truly partnering -- agency and client -- on a two-way street. That's where the magic happens. Enjoy!

In the newest episode of Elasticity’s Stretching Boundaries podcast, Denver Zoo President and CEO Bert Vescolani talked about his organization’s dedication to their conservation efforts:

“You don’t parachute in, do conservation and then fly out. It’s a part of the fabric of the community that you’re in – In a responsible, thoughtful and respectful way.”

When the Denver Zoo makes an effort toward conservation, they know it’s not just for a photo op and a PR headline – these are long campaigns that are part of a greater strategy. And we can learn from their tactics when thinking about our own outreach efforts.

We kick off our first episode of Stretching Boundaries with Elasticity speaking with one of the most decorated marketing minds in U.S. business history: Dave Peacock, the former president of Anheuser-Busch INBEV North America and now the CEO of Advantage Solutions.

Advantage Solutions is a Fortune 1000 company and leading provider of outsourced sales and marketing solutions to consumer goods companies and retailers, focusing on connecting manufacturers to retailers and helping brands and retailers get products into the hands of consumers.