With attention ever-divided, a consistent message is vital to activating audiences

Currently, the average American household has 22 connected devices.

In any given hour an audience may be watching their connected TV, browsing the internet on their phone, listening to a podcast on their smart speaker, and working from their laptop.

Despite the plethora of devices and channels an average consumer interacts with, they expect and demand a seamless experience across every one of them. That's why brands like Apple, Google and Samsung put so much effort into their ecosystems.

Advertisers should be no different. Brands must provide seamless cross-channel experiences and have the messaging to match.

Considering the fragmented attention mentioned above, brands have less and less time to engage consumers. In particular, Gen Z and millennials are used to short-form video worlds such as Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube-they won't hesitate to skip content or ads that don't engage them right away.

To combat the challenges and complexities, marketers will need to nail the messaging fundamentals. Essentially, this involves sequential and uniform ad copy and CTAs.

Ads that are disjointed or pushy will quickly be disregarded, and that first impression with a prospect could be forever squandered.

To promote brand exposure, awareness messaging and prospecting channels should be leveraged at the forefront. As interested audiences move down the funnel, the message should be aligned with previous ad sets so it feels familiar and seamless.

A multi-channel approach is essential. If someone hears an audio ad or sees a DOOH billboard previously, their next touchpoint, whether video, display or paid social, should build on that previous interaction without being repetitive.

Advertisers should evaluate whether they're utilizing the resources already available to them when it comes to maximizing media performance through proper messaging. It means managing budgets responsibly, analyzing channels, optimizing against the marketing funnel, and, critically, embracing a tailored and thorough approach to media messaging.