Why the Traditional Channel-Based Model Is Losing Relevance
Many brands have traditionally structured their marketing around individual channels with separate teams for social media, email, paid ads, customer service, and in-store operations.
Each channel had its own goals, metrics, and workflows.
This model assumes customers move in a straight line from awareness to purchase. But in reality, today’s customers:
- Use multiple platforms and devices throughout their decision-making process
- Engage across various touchpoints, from ads and social media to in-store and support, in no fixed order
- Expect a unified, consistent experience across all interactions
As a result, a channel-centric approach often leads to disjointed messaging and missed opportunities to build trust and loyalty.
What Are Customer Journeys and Lifecycle Marketing?
A customer journey is the full sequence of interactions a person has with a brand from initial awareness through to consideration, purchase, retention and loyalty. This forms the basis of lifecycle marketing.
A lifecycle-centric approach recognises that:
- Delivering relevant, timely interactions at every stage of the customer’s journey
- Avoiding generic, one-size-fits-all campaigns
- Creating continuity across touchpoints such as email, ads, content, service, and product usage
This approach transforms marketing into an ongoing relationship rather than isolated campaigns.
Why Brands Are Reorganising Around Journey-Centric Models
1. To Deliver Seamless Experiences
Customers expect consistency.
Whether interacting via app, website, in-store or support, the experience should feel coherent.
Aligning efforts around journeys ensures continuity in tone, timing, and message.
2. To Improve Business Outcomes
Brands that embrace journey-led marketing often see better results, including higher conversions, improved retention, lower service costs, and stronger engagement.
Lifecycle marketing also drives greater long-term ROI than channel-specific tactics.
3. To Break Down Internal Silos
Channel-specific teams often lead to siloed strategies.
In contrast, a journey-focused approach encourages cross-functional collaboration, aligning marketing, product, analytics and service teams around customer needs, not just internal metrics.
4. To Reflect Real Customer Behaviour
Modern customer behaviour is anything but linear.
People skip stages, revisit decisions, and engage in unexpected ways.
Lifecycle marketing offers the flexibility to meet them where they are.
How Brands Can Make the Shift: Key Principles
To adopt a journey-centric model, brands should:
- Map the full customer journey, from acquisition to advocacy
- Assign ownership around journeys, not just channels, e.g., with dedicated journey teams or customer experience functions
- Track success using journey-level metrics such as conversion, retention and lifetime value
- Use automation and personalisation to deliver timely, context-aware communications
- Continuously test, learn and improve. Journey strategies require long-term investment and iteration.
For expert support in planning and implementing journey-led strategies, speak to our marketing consultants.
Why Journey-Centric Marketing Is the Future
Today’s customer journeys are complex, multi-platform and fluid. Brands that adapt by shifting from fragmented campaigns to unified lifecycle strategies are better positioned for long-term success.
This change is more than operational – it’s cultural. It requires breaking silos, realigning teams, and embracing continuous optimisation.
The payoff? Stronger relationships, better results, and more sustainable growth.
Talk to our team at ExtraDigital about how customer lifecycle strategies can boost engagement, retention and ROI.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is journey-centric marketing and how does it differ from channel-based marketing?
Journey-centric marketing focuses on the full customer journey rather than individual channels. It reflects how customers move fluidly across platforms and touchpoints, requiring consistent messaging and experiences throughout.
Why is traditional channel-based marketing becoming less effective?
Channel-based marketing assumes a linear path to purchase, but modern customers behave unpredictably across multiple platforms. This often leads to fragmented messaging and disconnected experiences.
What is customer lifecycle marketing?
Customer lifecycle marketing delivers relevant interactions at each stage of the journey, from acquisition to loyalty. ExtraDigital uses this approach to help brands build long-term engagement rather than relying on isolated campaigns.
What are the benefits of organising teams around customer journeys?
A journey-led structure improves consistency, increases conversion and retention, and reduces internal silos. Aligning teams around customer needs instead of channels supports stronger collaboration, an approach reinforced by ExtraDigital.
How can brands move to a journey-centric marketing model?
Brands should map the full customer journey, track journey-level metrics like retention and lifetime value, and use automation and personalisation to deliver timely, relevant communications.
