You’re in the news.
Your brand is being talked about online. It’s trending on Twitter!
Your phone lights up:
A colleague shares an article from TechCrunch.
They’ve picked it up, too.
But as you scroll through the article, you notice an ad.
You are being retargeted, for a product (a white linen shirt, btw) that you purchased last night.
Weird, right?
Why would a marketing team spend ad dollars for a product you have already purchased?
It creates a disjointed experience.
Something as simple as switching from one device to another is ruining the customer experience. But it’s normal.
Roughly 40% of us will start using one device for a task, and then switch to another.
(On average, we alternate between devices (and channels) more than 20 times per hour!).
THAT’s why you are exposed to a product you have already purchased.
This scenario is happening far too often.
As marketers, we know this. We should do better.
We need to create a consistent brand experience for new customers and existing customers, too. On all digital channels, at all times.
This is known as omnichannel marketing.
In this article we’re sharing how to align your organization and include 3 steps to take when creating an omnichannel marketing strategy:
1. Optimizing the customer journey
2. Upgrading your content distribution and
3. Using the right automation tools.
What is omnichannel marketing?
An omnichannel marketing strategy is when customers can seamlessly transition from one channel to another. You have all the content on all the channels, but it’s the movement, the transition from one platform, device, channel, that’s important.
Online stores, offline stores, desktop, mobile devices, e-mail, SMS – it doesn’t matter.
Potential customers are able to jump on just as quickly as they can jump off. Whether it be the content they consume on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn – you name it.
If you’re looking for a blueprint to increase sales, you should know that omnichannel marketing strategies have proven to lead to a 250% increase in purchase rate and engagement rate.
In fact, 90% of retail leaders state that an omnichannel strategy is fundamental for success, and omnichannel buyers have a 30% higher lifetime value than buyers on only one channel.
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There are more benefits, too:
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The engagement rate for brands using multiple channels can shoot up to 18.96%, compared to a 5.4% engagement rate on a single channel
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Customer retention rates are 90% higher for omnichannel versus single channel
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Average order value per customer rose by 13% for customers exposed to multiple channels compared to those who were not.
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An omnichannel strategy shifts the structure of the digital marketing funnel and how people move throughout it.
People are more connected nowadays. Controlling that connection in the most cohesive way is key.
An omnichannel marketing strategy is a vital player when creating an integrated marketing ecosystem.
The difference between omnichannel marketing and multichannel marketing
It’s easy to mistake multichannel marketing for omnichannel marketing or vice versa.
With both strategies, the essence is notably the same:
Deliver the right content across the right channels, if not all.
But with a multichannel strategy, the customer interactions are left in silos for each single channel. And we all know that silos lead to isolated experiences.
With an omnichannel marketing strategy, all interactions are seamless. From device to device, platform to platform, which is the most suitable approach to how things are developing in the marketing universe right now.
How to align your organization for omnichannel success
More than 50% of organizations are not ready, or not planning to go live with their omnichannel marketing strategy.
This is surprising, given that research from the CMO Council and Netsertive found that 94% of marketers believe that providing an omni-channel experience is crucial to business success.
But why do so few companies have an omnichannel marketing strategy?
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Well, it’s due to one (or more) of the following:
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Lack of resources and investments required to succeed
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Lack of analytical and technical resources to make sense of data
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Difficulty integrating data
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Lack of communication between marketing agencies and/or vendors
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Lack of C-suite buy-in to the value of omni-channel
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Siloed organizational structure
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Put simply: there’s a lack of internal alignment.
74% of employees have experienced feeling like they’re not in the loop – both when it comes to company communication and when it comes to decision making.
Miscommunication doesn’t create the best playing field, but especially for changing or improving marketing strategies. It’s key that everyone remains on the same page in order to maintain brand consistency.
They say you’re only as good as your team. In order to construct the most seamless strategy, you need seamless communication. And that should become everyone’s mutual philosophy.
The best way to avoid those avid (and in some cases inevitable) struggles is to break down silos. Make sure your workplace is united – coordinated – and on the fast track to becoming the most integrated and consistent brand there is.
Internal structures reflect on the outside, too.
And when it comes to internal alignment in companies, there is no “one size fits all”. But it’s important to keep in mind that there should be a mutual consensus on which goals your organization has.
Building a strong company culture is fundamental. And this should be everyone’s focus. Everyone, including the CMO, to the social media planner and to the UX designer, should be focused on building a strong foundation.
Without it, omnichannel marketing rarely has the strength to survive.
How to create a great omnichannel marketing strategy
Now you know what omnichannel is, how it differs from multichannel marketing and how you get your organization aligned, let’s take a look at how to get started with your strategy.
Optimize the customer journey
One of the first steps in omnichannel marketing is improving the buyer’s journey. It’s fundamental to marketing success. Genuinely reflect on your customers and their pain points.
“The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered”, the IDC once said.
Marketers should be able to understand what buyers need, and what they’re struggling with. Find out what they’re missing before they even know what they’re looking for. And take action.
More specifically, marketers should look at building strategies both psychologically and analytically. Look at buyer personas, demographics and raw customer data to support this process.
It has never been easier to find out exactly what your customers are interested in. Online search behavior is a few clicks away. Use your CRM software to capture that customer information and build a full 360-degree view.
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Ask the following questions:
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What channels are your customers on?
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Which content do they engage with the most?
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How do they experience the brand itself across all points of interaction?
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What are your biggest customer needs and how do you solve them?
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Think of your customer as the main character. Make them the hero.
This storyline is only possible through better customer engagement.
In return, it leads to higher customer loyalty.
Segmentation and personalization are two things that should be prioritized when optimizing the customer journey. Targeting specific audiences breeds authenticity. It makes people believe you see and hear them.
Technology is key, and automating workflows can ensure that your customer journeys maintain a fast tempo. But speed is nothing without relevance.
Push your content at the right time, to the right people
Better communication starts with the right content.
But the keyword here is context.
Sure, you might have produced a great piece of content that’s high quality.
But if it’s delivered to the wrong audience, you might as well go back to the drawing board.
Sending the right message to the right people is pivotal to marketing success.
And in real-time.
Yes, timing needs to be in focus, too.
It should be clear as day which channels your target audience engages with the most.
Do they spend their evenings scrolling through LinkedIn, or are they reading the latest research report from Gartner?
You know that content is king. But to reach your company goals, you need to understand your buyer/ customer, deliver the right content to them and then do it, consistently.
Time and time again.
That’s what it takes to build customer relationships.
Personalized, and consistent experiences are key the further down you get in the sales funnel.
It can be that crucial green light that makes people convert.
Make the most of your content. Experiment with different formats and techniques. Take videos for example. It can’t be stressed enough how important visuals are when it comes to improving the brand experience.
Prolonging your content lifecycles should be a top priority for marketers. A big chunk of what it means to increase longevity of your content is to push it to the right people at the right time. That way you know it’s digested properly. No waste, no loss.
Use the right technology
So, you’ve optimized the customer journey and worked on pushing the right content.
But these two things are nothing without marketing tools, automation and technology.
That’s why the third and final step to creating an omnichannel marketing strategy is based on leveraging technology and choosing the right platform, namely Digital Asset Management (DAM).
DAM software enables safe content storage, improves the customer experience and makes sure your content and products hits the market faster. At the same time, it integrates all your content lifecycles from one main platform.
So, if you want all touchpoints and interactions with your brand to be seamless and secure, using a DAM is the best way to achieve it.
With a DAM, you no longer work in silos – the right people have the right access to share and organize assets. It’s more structured, and leads to fewer content management challenges.
In content marketing, very few companies struggle with content creation. It’s in content management and distribution where we face challenges. DAM enables you to optimize the entire supply chain of content.
DAM enables you to take your personalized experience one step further, through increased automation, increased integration and increased distribution.
Ultimately, you’re creating a seamless experience.
The power of omnichannel marketing
MCR Safety is a manufacturer of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment).
They’re one of the many companies out there who understand the power of omnichannel marketing.
In 2018, MCR had digital assets stored on various storage drives scattered around the organization. Digital marketing efforts, internal production of digital assets, email marketing and field sales activities weren’t aligned.
Taking a holistic view of their landscape of applications, they realized that what they needed was a way to fix the content supply chain process, from creation, to management and then distribution.
They needed to expand their omnichannel strategy.
That’s when they came across KeyShot.
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Since implementing Digizuite, they achieved the following results:
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Every department in the company has access to the right digital assets and product information directly from the platform.
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Key product information is only a click away, ready to be distributed in all relevant channels – channels that are necessary to provide the best omnichannel experience.
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Conclusion
The goal of an omnichannel strategy is simple:
Deliver a consistent brand experience.
It starts by optimizing the customer journey, understanding their habits, behaviour and interests – and the content they consume.
You then need to create marketing campaigns and content they demand, and deliver it to them in a format, channel and on a device, they prefer.
A DAM platform ties it all together, and gives you the benefits that shared drives (which are commonly used by enterprises today) fail to deliver.
It helps you control all your content from one hub. With everyone having access to that same hub, it’s never been easier for your content to be delivered on all channels. At all times.
Use technology and the functionality that’s available to you; automate marketing processes and take your omnichannel approach to the next level.
It’s good for business, but best of all, it’s good for your customers.
Want to learn more about Digizuite and how we helped companies like MCR Safety deliver a better omnichannel experience to their customers?
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