Good news, marketers. Today there are more potential customer touch points than ever. Unfortunately, that also presents some significant communication challenges.

For example, which tactics are right for each segment? Will your media maximize your message? And how can you make your point at every touch point?

To find the answers, you need to follow a proven process.

This process to optimize every touch point begins with some vital groundwork. Before you put the process into practice, you must carefully analyze customer segments. This means you must identify the specific needs and wants of each customer segment, what messages must be communicated, and determine the best way to form a meaningful connection with these diverse groups.

At this preliminary phase, it is key to identify the optimal approach to:

• Communicate consistent, yet tailored messaging across multiple customer segments. This requires vehicles with tailoring capabilities.
• Maximize customer touch points in the most efficient manner and 
at key points within the customer experience.
• Achieve your specific business objectives, whether your goal is acquisition, retention, cross-selling or upselling.

Now you are prepared to put the customer touch points process into practice.

Here are the three steps that make up the process, along with some relevant scenarios that demonstrate the roles different mediums perform in driving response.

Establish customer value.

Through customer analysis, the ideal scenario is to establish customer value by segment. The customer value is then utilized to formulate a target level for the return on investment, and establish an associated budget by segment.

The prioritization of customer value will drive the weight of each media within the overall communications plan. It will also help determine the optimal spending against customer segments.