DOI: 10.2501/JAR-53-4-431-443 December 2013 JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH 431 INTRODUCTION Cross-channel advertising has grown steadily and significantly as a means to reach consumers. Tele- vision, the Internet, and other channels are used together to market products. Search engines have changed the way people look for information. Online advertising is growing rapidly and taking budgets away from traditional channels. The Internet does not exist in isolation, however, and discussion around its expansion should not neglect the roles other channels should play. Coin- cidental with the growth in digital ecosystem, many marketing paradigms are shifting from passive strat- egies in communicating with consumers to more proactive ones with engagement in multiple commu- nication channels (Briggs, Krishnan, and Borin, 2005). Although many marketers are giving more seri- ous thought to online advertising as an option, it has yet to reach its full potential within their marketing mix. As a result, paid listings using search engines often are not the first element of that media mix. Industry reports have shown that main broad- cast channels still garner the greatest share of advertising revenue, but many companies have started to allocate a larger portion to search-engine marketing (ZenithOptimedia, 2013). In September 2013, ZenithOptimedia forecast paid search to grow at an average of 15 percent per year to 2015, “driven by continued innovation from the search engines, including the display of richer product information and images within ads, better localisation of search results, and mobile ad enhancements like click-to- call and geo-targeting.” Meanwhile, growth in the use of search engines by consumers provides an even greater incentive for companies to reconsider their advertising budgets. In March 2009, there were •฀ This฀study฀tracks฀the฀effects฀of฀advertising฀expenditures฀in฀different฀media฀outlets฀on฀ subsequent฀consumer฀online฀search฀behavior฀for฀adver tised฀products. •฀ The฀data฀are฀from฀a฀large฀telecommunications฀company฀compiled฀over฀78฀weeks. •฀ Findings฀suggest฀that฀exposure฀to฀adver tising฀on฀different฀media฀outlets฀increases฀the฀ likelihood฀of฀follow-up฀search฀by฀individuals.฀Radio฀is฀less฀effective฀than฀television฀and฀online฀ impressions฀in฀generating฀follow-up฀search. •฀ For฀advertisers,฀the฀short-term฀effect฀in฀subsequent฀search฀stresses฀the฀need฀to฀synchronize฀ online฀and฀ofline฀adver tising฀effor ts฀to฀achieve฀the฀highest฀impact. Effects of Multi-Channel Marketing on Consumers’ Online Search Behavior The Power of Multiple Points of Connection MICHEL LAROCHE John฀Molson฀School฀of฀ Business,฀Concordia฀ University laroche@ jmsb.concordia.ca ISAR KIANI John฀Molson฀School฀of฀ Business,฀Concordia฀ University i_kiani@ jmsb.concordia.ca NECTARIOS ECONOMAKIS Google฀Montreal neconomakis@gmail.com MARIE-ODILE RICHARD Independent฀researcher odile10@hotmail.com Amid฀the฀plethora฀of฀research฀on฀adver tising฀effectiveness,฀the฀authors฀of฀the฀ current฀study฀believe฀consumers’฀online฀search฀behavior,฀subsequent฀to฀exposure฀to฀ traditional฀adver tising฀messages,฀has฀been฀understudied.฀Using฀data฀from฀a฀major฀ telecommunication฀company,฀this฀study’s฀indings฀suppor t฀the฀inluence฀of฀employing฀ multiple฀channels,฀adver tising฀expenditures,฀and฀television฀and฀online฀adver tising฀on฀ consumers’฀tendency฀to฀follow฀through฀with฀their฀own฀online฀investigations.