Know All About Omnichannel Marketing and its Benefits

Omnichannel Marketing: What is it ? How to build an effective omnichannel marketing strategy? 

Consumers before making a purchase decision go through different phases, and all those phases involve interaction with multiple channels. From browsing a website to checking reviews on social media, to visiting stores to make a purchase and downloading an app to scan for the membership QR code, the modern customer has a more complex journey than ever. Now this is where omnichannel marketing comes into play.

This blog will explore the concept of omnichannel marketing, how it is different from multilevel marketing, what are the benefits of omnichannel marketing and how brands can build an effective marketing strategy around this.

So if you are seasoned marketers or just starting out, this knowledge will surely help you build the strategy for your brand.

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

Omnichannel marketing also spelled as Omni-channel, can be defined as an strategy for the brands to communicate seamlessly to their customer across all channel, be it online, on app, in physical store or through social media, 

The main object of omnichannel marketing is to create a uniform brand experience. 

Example: 

A customer visited the store and found the pair of jeans she was looking for and later she visited the browsers to check if the website had an additional discount. Now after a few days she received an email with discount coupons and finally purchased them through the app. 

But, ever wondered why omnichannel marketing is so crucial for today’s businesses? As per Omnisend reports, brands using 3 or more than three channels for their marketing campaign earned a 494% higher order rate compared to those who only use single-channel campaigns. These strong stats highlight the importance of streamlining connected and consistent communication across all channels. 

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Omnichannel vs Multichannel Marketing

Omnichannel and Multichannel are usually used interchangeably, but this might be wrong on marketing terms. The difference lies within their name: Omni means all Multi means more than one. 

Point of Difference	Omnichannel Marketing	Multichannel marketing
Coverage	All interconnected channel	Independent Channel
Center of Attraction	Customer	Brands
Consistency	Ensure a consistent message across all channel	Messaging can differ across channel
Tools	Integrated technology	Use separate tool for each channel

Benefits of Omnichannel Marketing

1. Consistency: Omnichannel marketing will help brands have consistent communication across all channels, whether it is online communication or offline communication. Consistency helps brands build trust and recognition. 

2. Brand Identity: Omnichannel marketing will help you build unified brand identity across all channels. 

3. Analytics: Omnichannel marketing will help brands understand the analytics in an easier way as it will provide you information about brand users at one place. 

4. Revenue: When customers are satisfied with the kind of experience brands are providing in terms of seamless and personalized communication, it will ultimately drive sales. Customers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer a cohesive experience among all touchpoints. 

How to Build the Omnichannel Marketing Strategy 

1. Understand your Customer Journey

It is important to understand and map the entire customer journey, identify the touchpoints of customer interaction with brands. Understand the needs and preferences of the customer  at each stage of the journey using customer data and feedback.  Tools like customer journey mapping tools, surveys and analytics platforms can help you understand the customer journey before implementing your strategy. 

2. Interconnect Your Marketing Channel

Technology solutions like CRM systems, marketing automation tools and analytics should work together. Also ensure that all marketing channels are interconnected and capable of sharing data. In addition integrating online and offline channels is also important for seamless flow of information and interactions. 

3. Data and Analytics:

“Read between the lines ” is what analytics and data visualisations tools do, which help to understand and interpret the data for informed decision making. Brand can collect the data from all channels and analyse it to gain insights into behaviour and preference of customer. Use these insights to regularly improve your marketing strategy.

4. Common communication across all channels:

Maintain a consistent brand voice across all channels. Ensure that you maintain common brand messages and values. 

5. Invest Test and Optimise

Invest in the right technology which will support omnichannel operations and also investing in a diverse range of technologies will support your strategies effectively. In addition, Regularly testing strategies is also necessary to find what works best for you.

Use different types of methods to improve your results . A/B testing tools and optimization of platforms will help you fine-tune the strategies for best outcomes. 

Challenges and Solutions

1. Data Silos: Data is everywhere so should be available everywhere, integrating unified data platforms to centralise the information.

2. Channel Integration: Seamless communication is very necessary and investing in technology which supports the integration is more important. 

3. Resource Allocation: The right person at Right place for the right thing is very necessary.  Manage your resources in a way that makes a significant impact on customer experience. 

Conclusion: 

Omnichannel has become a must have for brands in order to create unified and seamless customer experience in today’s multichannel worlds. Focus should always be on the customer. Start your journey of omnichannel strategy today to stay ahead of the competition and fulfil the ever changing needs of customers

Also Read- Know All the Basics Of Digital Marketing in 2024