Think of your omnichannel marketing strategy as the 2019 version of integrated marketing.
Nowadays, according to research from Google, 90% of multiple device owners switch between an average of four devices per day to complete a task. Businesses that can help their customers complete those tasks when and where they want stand to gain a piece of the $1.8 trillion that cross-channel sales are predicted to reach this year.
That’s why companies are now guiding their prospects and leads through the customer journey with an omnichannel strategy.
What is an omnichannel marketing strategy?
An omnichannel marketing strategy refers to the concept of providing a seamless user experience across all channels relevant to the buyer’s journey. The term emphasizes a shift in the way people progress through the marketing funnel.
In the US, 213 million adults access the internet with an average of 4 different devices. They’re more connected, and they have more control over the buying process than ever before.
What used to be a one or two-stop shop is now a journey that spans days, times, locations, and channels. And those channels aren’t strictly digital ones. They can be a direct mailer, newspapers or magazines or catalogs in the mail. They can be your storefront, word of mouth, or an outbound ad like a billboard.
For example, a customer can be checking out your company in many ways. They may be browsing your website online from a desktop or mobile device. Or, they may call your office by phone. They may be getting a postcard in the mail or walking into your brick & mortar location. Regardless of how they engage with you, the message and sales experience will be seamless.
When customers can interact with a brand anytime / anywhere, how are you prepared to accommodate them?
This OmniChannel Marketing Checklist covers strategies you should consider for lead generation and customer acquisition.
Improving search marketing:
when a prospect uses Google to search on your company name or product, a paid search ad should pop up and direct them to your website or landing page. Make sure you have an easy-to-click phone icon for prospects to call if they want immediate gratification.
Retargeting:
when a prospect interacts with content on a media site or searches on a specific term, a sequence of follow-up ads, known as retargeting, should show up as they visit other sites. Many people refer to this as “stalking” a prospect. For example, if you’ve ever clicked on an ad for shoes on-line, you know you will see other ads for shoes every time you open up your Facebook. You can even take this a step further and incorporate your open leads in your google remarketing strategy.
Crafting a response strategy:
when a prospect subscribes to an email newsletter or calls into your business to ask about a service, you should have a response strategy in place. This might include using a sequence of email, direct mail and follow up phone calls to start to develop rapport and educate the customer about the brand or product. Bottom line, you are looking to generate a sale and you have to start somewhere. Don’t forget to cue in your receptionist – this is vital when you have a promotion going on. Nothing is worse than wasting valuable resources if you don’t have a system in place to handle the response.
Following up on customer interest:
When a prospect clicks on a link in an email or interacts with content on a site, do you have a way to interact with them? Is there an automated system that triggers email, direct mail or a phone reminder about what they were looking at?
Reducing attrition:
when a shopper abandons their shopping cart, you need to have a combination of communications to win them back in place. For example, someone who was looking online at a particular page and dropped off should get a follow-up email to remind them about the benefits of that product asap, along with a link to easily go back into your site and back to that product page.
Creating frequency rules:
It’s important that messages stay relevant and don’t become intrusive. Nothing gets people angrier than too many emails cluttering up their inboxes. You need to create rules for the maximum number of emails that are sent in a given period (one a month or one a week) and the interval between them (for example, at least 4 days).
Selecting the right channels:
This means using the best channel(s) for the customer, which fits their
preferences and the right channel for your company, which gives you the best combination of cost and response. It means that for some customers you focus on email communications because they interact and respond to them. But other customers may absolutely not respond to email which means direct mail may be the best choice to communicate with them.
Reviewing and improving channel sequence:
How are prospects and customers moving from channel to channel? When prospects progress through the sales funnel, what channels are they going first? You can actually find these things out using your google analytics.
Making the right offer:
Offers will vary in effectiveness according to the target audience and the media channel. A direct mail offer may be way different than an on-line offer. Test different offers that deliver the right message and make someone want to respond. Don’t be cheap. People know the difference between a so-so offer and a valuable one. Limited time offers work best. If an offer is indefinitely valuable, prospects will save it for later and then forget about it.