The average American now has over 7 social media accounts. They subscribe to about three streaming services and see anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements per day. All this is to say: with so many marketing touchpoints currently available, it’s imperative to develop an effective omnichannel strategy to meet consumers where they surf and shop.
In this guide, you’ll discover the importance of a well-planned marketing channel, and how to implement an effective omnichannel strategy for your next marketing campaign.
Understanding the omnichannel strategy
Before there was omnichannel marketing, there was multichannel marketing: the practice of using various avenues to market to consumers. From email campaigns to physical posters, multichannel marketing made use of the touchpoints of its era.
As social media and other such services became more widespread and diversified, however, it became apparent to many marketers that simply aiming for many channels wasn’t enough. If brands were to succeed in the modern marketing landscape, they would need to foster unique brand experiences that follow consumers across every channel they visit. And, thus, omnichannel marketing was born.
Omnichannel marketing employs any means necessary to meet consumers wherever they are—whether it’s online or in the real world. Such omnichannel approaches are proven marketing methods that:
- Net nearly four times as much engagement as traditional campaigns
- Have come to be expected by 90% of consumers
Benefits of an omnichannel strategy
Aside from increased omnichannel customer engagement, there are many other positives businesses can net from employing an omnichannel marketing approach.
Elevated customer experience
As mentioned, 90% of consumers desire a consistent experience of brands across all the channels they frequent. They‘ve come to expect:
- The same price they see on banner ads in e-commerce stores
- An item still in their cart when they switch between your site and app
- Coupon codes they found on social media to work upon checkout
- Other such intricate details that make for a positive, seamless User Experience (UX)
Omnichannel strategies allow you to track and market to individual users across multiple touchpoints so their experience of your brand is as streamlined as possible.
Enhanced customer loyalty
With elevated customer experience comes increased loyalty. A whopping 94% of consumers say they’re likely to become repeat customers after a positive brand experience.
Efficient use of customer data
Relevant customer data is the essence of omnichannel marketing techniques. With proper tools, such as an efficient customer relationship management (CRM) program, you can effectively share data between your different platforms to get a better sense of users’ identities and preferences.
Increased revenue
Omnichannel marketing can cause customer engagement to skyrocket and, with it, revenue rises as well. Businesses that initiate successful omnichannel marketing campaigns can see a 9.5% annual increase in revenue in comparison to their previous earnings.
Consistent branding
Consumers expect your brand to be on-brand in terms of offers and experience, as well as regarding tone and aesthetics. By offering consistent messaging and imagery across different spaces, omnichannel marketing produces an identifiable persona for your base to latch onto.
Competitive edge
Omnichannel strategies, by design, meet more consumers in more places than other marketing techniques. Picture three businesses:
- One that only advertises by handing out flyers
- One that relies solely on email campaigns
- One that does both
The latter reaches every consumer that the two other businesses do—and likely meets some of them twice. Now, multiply that by the countless contemporary touchpoints available, and it’s clear how omnichannel marketing reaps greater exposure than traditional monochannel and multichannel techniques.
Operational efficiency
From collating data from multiple channels to creating singular ads that suit many platforms, omnichannel techniques can simplify your brand’s marketing tasks. A consolidated brand image can also reduce the need for human input, leading to more efficient operations overall. Advancements in provided many efficiencies.
Components of a marketing channel mix
Your marketing channel mix refers to the collection of platforms and touchpoints you utilize to reach your base. Omnichannel approaches aim to meet consumers everywhere. But with over 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide, countless social media platforms, and copious other touchpoints, some spaces will always be neglected.
One platform that’s not to be missed out on, however, is Nextdoor. Nextdoor Business gives your brand a space to interact with neighbors and develop strong community relations. In fact, 76% of neighbors have discovered a business through Nextdoor, and yours could be next.
Alongside social media platforms like Nextdoor, consider mixing other channels into your approach to reach a wider audience, such as:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Email campaigns
Organic searches are the leading driver of traffic for all sites across the web, and 77% of marketers say email engagement has been on the rise over the last year.
Crafting your channel mix strategy
Every marketing campaign and thus, every channel mix strategy, is unique. Nonetheless, to craft one suited for your brand and goals, follow these steps:
- Identify specific end objectives, such as finding favor with a chosen demographic. Specifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help you reflect on your mix’s effectiveness later.
- Begin with a broad targeting range, then slowly hone in on specific segments of consumers that support your campaign’s objective.
- Decide which channels speak to your targeted groups and focus marketing efforts on them, aiming for a consistent UX across your campaign.
- Allow some time for adjustments and optimizations to stabilize before assessing your results—poor initial performance isn’t always a sign of a poorly targeted campaign.
- Evaluate the outcome of your campaign’s mix, and refocus your efforts if you’re not meeting your KPIs.
Connecting omnichannel and marketing channel mix
Your marketing channel mix plays into your brand’s omnichannel strategy by dictating which platforms and spaces you’ll focus on. To synchronize your channel mix and omnichannel techniques into one cohesive strategy:
- Identify the most prominent channels (i.e. your marketing channel mix) that you intend to focus on in your campaign. Or, discover how AI in marketing can support your business.
- Implement optimizations across these channels and give them time to perform and deliver.
- If they’re not living up to their potential, you may need to reassess your marketing mix and add, subtract, or change channels.
- Alternatively, you may consider reworking how you market across these channels and choose new groups, times, or locations to target.
- Keep refining your marketing channel mix and targeting strategies until you maximize engagement and conversions on as many channels as possible.
Realtors, for instance, may adjust their strategy several times per year. As retirees up north search for southern properties, realtors may focus targeted ads on real estate comparison sites in New York and the surrounding area.
Alternatively, when snowbirds fly back home in the summer, realtors may want to refocus their efforts on a younger, closer demographic with local social media ads.
All businesses should routinely reassess and reevaluate the strategies and channels they utilize in the interest of ongoing optimization.
Kick off your omnichannel campaign by claiming your business on Nextdoor
An omnichannel marketing strategy seeks to meet consumers wherever they are with personalized brand experiences. Optimizing as many relevant channels as possible reaches a wider audience and can increase customer loyalty, omnichannel customer experience, higher revenue, and a competitive edge in your field.
One of the most important channels to focus your optimization efforts on is Nextdoor Business. Nextdoor Business is a convenient space to interact with neighbors where they feel most comfortable. The platform allows real community members to vet local businesses and provide trustworthy recommendations. Plus, with Nextdoor’s new ad performance tools, businesses can quickly and easily keep track of their clickthroughs and conversions.
Claim your small business page, and begin reaching consumers on the channel they trust most.
Sources:
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- Forbes. Nearly 50% Of People Pay For Streaming Services They Don’t Use, According To New Forbes Survey. https://www.forbes.com/
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- Forbes. Modern Customers Expect An Omnichannel Experience, And Marketers Need To Rise To The Occasion. https://www.forbes.com/
- Hubspot. 50 Customer Service Stats to Know in 2023. https://blog.hubspot.com/
- Adobe. Learn about omnichannel marketing — what it is, why it's important, and how to start. https://business.adobe.com/
- Forbes. Grow Or Die The New Reality of eCommerce. https://www.forbes.com/
- SEM Rush. Top 106 SEO Statistics. https://www.semrush.com/
- Hubspot. The Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats for 2023. https://blog.hubspot.com/
