Your customers are using multiple channels and devices to consume information Until recently search marketing was the channel that many companies thought they had “all figured out”. As the online marketing industry evolves many are finding it difficult to move into the next phase, which includes cross-channel optimization . I recently attended a presentation from Steven Yap, Head of Emerging Products and Markets at Google where he covered that very topic. Figuring out how search can help produce wins that really matter, and determining what role search marketing plays in a broader marketing campaign leaves many marketers stumped. In this article I’ve included some helpful tips from Yap as well as some best practices for cross-channel optimization. Today’s Consumer Consumers used to follow a very predictable path to close making it easy for marketers to create a series of touch points based on where the customer was in the buying cycle. Today’s consumer however tend to follow a non-linear, and unpredictable path.