Growth by Design: Media, CRM and Loyalty Aligned

By
James Riess
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Growth by Design: Media, CRM and Loyalty Aligned

Today’s growth depends on connection — not just conversion. By breaking down silos and integrating these efforts, businesses can deliver seamless, emotionally resonant experiences that drive loyalty, efficiency, and long-term value.

Today’s consumers expect seamless, personalised experiences across every touchpoint. Yet many brands still plan and execute paid and owned media in silos — leading to fragmented messaging, missed opportunities, and declining trust.

Meanwhile, customer acquisition costs have surged by more than 60% over the past five years. To succeed, brands must focus on driving growth from their existing customer base and move from short-term tactics to strategies that deepen relationships with existing customers and maximise lifetime value.

That shift begins with a more holistic view of the customer. By integrating CRM and loyalty data with media insights, companies can better understand their audiences and deliver relevant, consistent content across both paid and owned channels. The result? More meaningful experiences, stronger connections, and better business outcomes.

Break Down the Silos: Why Integrated Customer Strategy Wins

Integrating media and CRM doesn’t just streamline operations — it creates real value for both brands and customers:

  1. Stronger Engagement and Awareness – Deeper audience insights enable more relevant targeting and creative.
  2. Higher Conversion and Re-Engagement – Consistent messaging across the journey drives better performance.
  3. Greater Customer Intimacy – Personalised interactions foster emotional connection and brand affinity.
  4. More Efficient Media Spend – Eliminating overlap reduces waste and improves ROI.

This shift — from optimising channels to optimising relationships — transforms how brands plan, measure, and grow. It aligns marketing with broader business outcomes and powers what we at Merkle call Human Loyalty®.

ALSO READ: CX Dialogues: Damien Katris, Global Omnichannel and Data Director at TCC Global

The Case for Change: Why Integration Can’t Wait

Despite the clear benefits, many organisations remain stuck in silos. Media, CRM, and loyalty efforts are often managed by separate teams using disconnected platforms — leading to fragmented messaging and impersonal customer experiences. According to Forrester, 78% of U.S. B2C marketers report that their marketing and loyalty technologies are still siloed.

But that’s beginning to change. This year, more brands are moving to integrate media, CRM, and loyalty technologies to deliver the seamless, emotionally resonant experiences customers now expect.

This shift is being driven by advances on multiple fronts. Media is becoming increasingly addressable, fueled by identity-level data and AI-powered optimisation. At the same time, martech has evolved to support real-time personalisation and cross-channel orchestration — making connected experiences not just possible, but essential for competitive growth.

To bring this vision to life, brands must:

  • Align paid and owned strategies under a unified vision
    • Use identity resolution to respond to real-time behaviours
    • Activate first-party data to personalise at scale
    • Connect platforms to orchestrate seamless customer journeys

When these elements come together, brands can transform how they engage across the customer lifecycle — moving from one-off transactions to lasting, human-centered relationships.

ALSO READ: CX Dialogues: Jeofrey Bean, CX Advisor and Author

Turning Personalisation into Performance

True Human Loyalty® is driven by emotional connection — not just transactions. When media, CRM, and loyalty efforts are unified, brands gain a clearer view of their customers and can deliver personalised experiences that are timely, relevant, and consistent.

One national restaurant chain saw this in action. By bringing their media and loyalty strategies together under a single team, they unlocked smarter targeting, improved media efficiency, and reduced acquisition costs — all while building stronger, more enduring customer relationships.

Amplify Impact Through Strategic Partnerships

Strategic partnerships offer another powerful opportunity to enhance customer engagement. By securely sharing data, brands can gain richer insights into behaviour and preferences — enabling more timely, relevant messaging.

Merkle recently helped activate a partnership between a retailer and a QSR, linking their loyalty programs and enabling transactional data sharing. Together, they used these insights to personalise promotions, increase cross-brand engagement, and boost customer spend. When partners align around shared customer value, the impact is exponential.

From Broadcast to Belonging: Personalisation at Scale

In a saturated market, personalisation is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s a competitive edge. By combining advanced analytics with activation tools, brands can create experiences that feel human and tailored, at scale.

One leading healthcare retailer partnered with Merkle to shift from one-size-fits-all outreach to emotionally resonant, audience-based journeys. By activating first-party data within their existing tech stack, they achieved significant improvements in click-through rates, incremental revenue, and cost per acquisition. The result? A transformation from generic marketing to meaningful engagement that fosters long-term connection.

Winning With Connection: Why Integration Is the New Differentiator

In today’s environment, connecting media, CRM, and loyalty strategies isn’t just a best practice — it’s a competitive advantage. Integration drives greater efficiency and enables more meaningful personalisation, ultimately delivering stronger customer relationships and a higher return on relationship.

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