mCordis and Waterfall Form The Connected Marketer Institute Cross-Channel Messaging Council

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 15, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Connected Marketer Institute (TCM Institute) along with Waterfall, the leading cloud mobile marketing platform, announced today the formation of the TCM Institute Cross-Channel Messaging Council.

Matt Silk, Waterfall's Head of Strategy, alongside Rob Crews, former CMO of Ovation Brands and Church's Chicken and currently a consultant to the industry, will chair the council. Inaugural members of the council include: Phoji, providers of a visual marketing communication platform for consumers and brands; Geo Moment, a mobile engagement marketing company; and RIO Mobile Solutions, a provider of full-service mobile marketing support, from strategy and design to campaign planning, execution and analytics.

The TCM Institute Cross-Channel Messaging Council will focus on developing and advancing the value, strategies and execution tactics for cross-channel messaging between marketers and the individuals they serve. The council will accomplish these goals by forming a multi-disciplinary group consisting of marketing leaders from brands, marketing technology providers, media and industry associates. The council will focus on framing the cross-channel messaging landscape and developing educational programming, best practices and recommended standards.

The creation of the TCM Institute Cross-Channel Messaging Council is a long overdue result of the waning effectiveness of traditional siloed marketing approaches in the age of the connected individual. Individuals today demand contextualized experiences across every physical and digital touchpoint when encountering brands. To thrive and serve today's connected individual, marketers in industries including retail, food, hospitality, CPG, finance and travel must consider adopting new approaches, principles, strategies, standards and policies for communicating with and serving the connected individual through cross-channel messaging.

TCM Institute Cross-Channel Messaging Council members will work to explore and refine how brands employ cross-channel messaging, including email, SMS, MMS, wallet, push, beacon and messaging app messaging, within their marketing mix to connect, enable and serve current and prospective customers. As part of this process, council members will help organize the cross-channel messaging conversation, produce educational programing, create frameworks, and produce best practices based on case studies and research. The council will also produce standards based on proven methods and work to formulate policy to support governmental regulation.

"Today's marketing budgets and resources tend to focus on the 'tried and true' methods to engage and influence people, like advertising and email, despite declining effectiveness in both channels," said Silk. "There is clear evidence that connecting with people at the right place, at the right time, with the right content, through the right channel drives improved business results. Though it may sound a bit cliche, the addition of another channel is new and troubling to an already overwhelmed marketer. The Cross-Channel Messaging Council will be the first council dedicated to explaining how critical cross-channel messaging is to a brand's strategy and their ability to move brand engagement from rented to owned media channels."

"I see many companies still treating people as if they are unknown, buying mass media in an attempt to influence behavior of both customers and non-customers alike," said Crews. "This council will explore the ways in which we can more effectively and efficiently use all communications and media channels to engage people as individuals and drive increased profitability. Evolving individual behaviors mandates that companies excel at cross-channel messaging or risk getting left behind."

"The basis of industry competition is changing. Going forward, those companies that learn to serve the connected individual, at scale and on the individual's terms, will win," said Michael Becker, co-founder of mCordis & The Connected Marketer Institute. "We are thankful for Matt and Rob's leadership as they bring decades of experience to help marketers embrace cross-channel messaging as a foundational practice within modern marketing."

The way people shop and communicate with brands is evolving at a rapid pace and marketers must take advantage of the opportunities or risk battling the past. The Cross-Channel Messaging Council serves as a much-needed forum to discuss industry issues and formulate plans to address barriers slowing the adoption of cross-channel messaging. If you'd like to learn more, or get involved, visit The Connected Marketer Institute Councils.

About The Connected Marketer Institute
The Connected Marketer Institute is an mCordis initiative focused on building a community around The Connected Marketer approach to marketing. The Institute looks to ensure brand marketers and marketing technology providers have access to the skills, partners and frameworks, best practices, standards, advisory and educational services needed to succeed in the era of the connected individual. The Institute offers a range of strategic advisory, educational events and publishing services to its members and the industry at large.

Mike Kilroy and
Valerie Christopherson
Global Results Comms (GRC)
+1 949 608 0276
[email protected]

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