Many brands will say that an omnichannel approach yields the best marketing results. It makes sense. A wide net of channels that include apps, AI chatbots, near field communication (NFC), print, online, in-store experiences, and more work as a team to serve your customer.
What is Omnichannel Anyway?
An omnichannel strategy uses a mix of integrated communication channels to interact with your customers. Whether physical locations, like your storefront, or digital spaces, like your website, the goal is to create consistent branding across all platforms and offer your customers many opportunities to engage with you. Every consumer touchpoint should feel familiar and be recognizable as your brand.
This marketing strategy puts the customer at the forefront, giving them more options to interact with your brand on their terms, leading to a better customer experience.
Keeping it Cohesive
Omnichannel is a consumer-centric view of marketing. It uses an identifiable brand tone and vision, personalized messaging based on your consumer’s interests, and content from your customer’s previous interactions with your company. Your aim is to coordinate all communications to build a positive, consistent user experience no matter which channel your customer uses.
Seamless integration of branding, messaging, and online and offline touchpoints makes your brand feel ‘real.’ Users know what to expect from you and can easily identify your brand and tone, making your company feel more authentic.
Tips on Implementing an Omnichannel Approach
So, what should you know before jumping into an omnichannel strategy?
Every step of implementation is data-driven – your research and data inform EVERYTHING in your omnichannel strategy.
You should have a deep understanding of your target audience and how and where they like to receive communication.
Adopt the mindset of doing what is best for your customer
Create a responsive web design that focuses on your consumer’s interactions
Segment your audience so that you can address each group’s particular communication needs
Research the different patterns of the customer journey and notice the behaviours of your visitors
Prioritize services for your customer and deliver these services in the ways that matter to them (convenient solutions, no sales pitches, avoiding automated messages)
Make payment and collection of goods or services as convenient as possible
Why You Shouldn’t Use One Medium for Advertising or Communications
There are merits to each communication channel, and you’re never going to find everyone in the same place. Some folks like email, some prefer chatting in person, others want to DM over social channels, and plenty of other places where they like to engage.
Meet your customers at the right place at the right time for them — your research will indicate where that will be. That said, the consumer’s journey can be complex, and they may want to interact with your brand on one platform and purchase from another.
And as far as putting all your communications eggs in one basket…don’t. Remember, in March 2019, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp all went down. Could you imagine if all you were using were Facebook Ads? It’s not a great situation. Having other channels for your customers to interact with you enables them to reach out, even if one of the platforms is out of commission.
Measure Your Performance, Then Improve
More platforms give you more data, which is great for measuring your marketing performance. Omnichannel extends your data analytics, so you can track customers’ history and behaviour across multiple channels in real-time, which helps you construct a personalized experience for them.
Tracking your engagement gives you a better understanding of your customer’s journey, when and where customers prefer to engage, and which campaigns create the most value. Use this data! It’s information that helps you build more targeted campaigns and optimize your ad spend.
You need eyeballs on your campaigns, and seeing an ad one time isn’t enough. Have you heard of the marketing rule of 7? It states that it takes an average of seven interactions with your brand before the typical consumer makes a purchase. Using an omnichannel strategy, you can plan these interactions based on your marketing metrics.
Our Approach to Communications
We’ll never expect our clients to do everything and be everywhere, even with an omnichannel strategy. Small and medium-sized businesses should focus on a few communications channels and execute a fantastic omnichannel strategy, rather than spread themselves too thin and try to implement everything.
Good Digital does the homework to find out where your customers hang out and how to get their attention. We take a broad focus and determine which channels are worth your time and budget. From there, it’s all about delivering the right messaging to the right audience.
Want a Good team that does great work? Get in touch, and let’s talk about how we can craft an omnichannel communications strategy just for you.