Gone are the days of blasting advertisements in isolation through every channel – it’s no longer about plastering ads all over and trying to get the word out through all channels possible. It’s more about personalized advertisements, about letting consumers feel the brand familiarity across all channels and about integrating the channels together to align with each consumers’ journey. This is called omnichannel marketing.
For a more official definition, omnichannel is essentially a multichannel sales approach that provides the customer with an integrated shopping experience. For example, the customer can be shopping online from a desktop or mobile device or in a physical shop, and the experience will be seamless.
Here are some statistics for you. Based on Omnisend Marketing Automation Statistic Report in 2019, consumers respond better to omnichannel marketing and have higher engagement with personalized campaign. Businesses experienced 90% higher consumer rentention rate, and 250% higher engagement and purchase rates. Also, customers who engage with an omnichannel experience spend 13% more than those who experience only one channel marketing. Evidently, omnichannel marketing is now increasingly critical for businesses which helps build and retain your consumers.
Now that you are aware of the importance of omnichannel marketing and the advantages it brings, how can one successfully run such campaign?
- Know Your Consumers
One possible way is to map out your consumer’s journey and understand how your customer’s behave at each phase. (You can read more about Your Digital Marketing Strategy: The Customer Value Journey here.) How do they know about your brand? What makes them tick? What do they like and dislike about your brand? Are they surfing on their mobile phones, laptop or both? Once you know your consumers, you can better cater your services to them.
One of the most successful omnichannel marketing example would be by Disney. Recognizing that many of their customers often waste their precious time waiting for rides and missing out on other attractions, Disney came up with ‘My Disney Experience’. Labelled as the ultimate planning tool, it allows consumers to book dining reservations, find out parking hours and waiting time of attractions even before reaching the destination. Many gave high praises to this new initiation and it’s definitely a job well done by the marketers.
- Consumer Segmentation
There are many ways to segment your consumers – based on their demographics, the stage of the consumers’ journey, their interest and more. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and the key here is to experiment and find out what marketing strategy suits your consumers best. However, utilizing past consumers’ data is a great starting point in knowing how your consumers behave which will help in consumer segmentation.
- Personalizing Your Advertising Message
When you start giving a personalized touch to your advertisements, consumers feel more connected to the brand, thereby establishing brand loyalty. According MarketingLand, “Personalized emails deliver six times higher transaction rates.” One of the most iconic example of personalised marketing would be ‘Share a Coke’ campaign by Coca-Cola. Consumers can replace the logo with their name, thereby invoking a sense of individuality in such a common product. From this campaign, Coca Cola saw an increase in sales for the first time over a decade. You can also read more about the Importance of Consumer Engagement here.
Now that you are equipped with these information, you’re ready to start launching your omnichannel marketing!
