Multichannel marketing strategies are known for increasing the chances of your content being seen, reaching customers on platforms they frequent most. This makes your audience more likely to pay attention to your campaign and engage with your posts. Your campaign can run on various platforms, such as email, web, social media or ads.
Younger customers use multiple channels to research a brand before deciding to make a purchase. Businesses need to have a strong presence on multiple channels to meet their audience exactly where they are.
How to Differentiate Between Multichannel and Omni-channel
More often than not, multichannel marketing is easily confused with omni-channel. To make things clear, here are three main differences between the two:
Multichannel marketing is channel-focused.
Multichannel marketing is more channel-focused, compared to omni-channel strategies that are customer-oriented. The idea is to market your products or services through various channels, treating each one as a separate silo that works independently, with no connection to all the others. For example, online marketing strategies will be treated completely differently than offline ads. On the other hand, omni-channel marketing aims to create a holistic customer experience. This involves an integration of all channels to work together seamlessly.
Multichannel marketing is less complex.
We could say that multichannel marking is not as advanced as omni-channel because it is simpler and less expensive to implement. However, this doesn't mean that multichannel strategies are less effective. Depending on your company's goals, each approach can bring fruitful results, if done correctly. While multichannel marketing might not produce a seamless experience, it still is a highly effective way for marketers to increase conversions.
Multichannel marketing has a lower level of interchangeability.
Businesses with multichannel campaigns are indeed present on multiple platforms, increasing your exposure to a greater number of potential customers. On the other hand, the experience customers get is not always consistent. An Infosys study shows that 72% of shoppers find consistency important for physical and online stores. The same research shows that 69% of respondents believe that retailer's consistency across various channels affects their loyalty to a brand.
How to Implement a Multichannel Marketing Strategy
Know your target
The first and most essential step in starting a multichannel campaign is knowing your audience. Companies must understand who they are targeting to choose the optimal channels and content types. Determining a prospect's preferences will provide them with a more personalised experience.
On top of that, it will create a single customer view, making it easier to track users, their communications, and purchases across channels. Because a customer's behaviour changes and grows over time, your business must be responsive and adapt to their new needs and goals. Maintaining a single view of the customer encourages companies to be more aware of their customers and the changes they might go through. Plus, it also helps track customer data faster over time.
Choose the right channels
Once you know who your customers are, you can start tracking their activity to find out when and where they are most active. The data will help you choose the most effective channels to build your campaign. Depending on your target's demographics, choose a few platforms where you can meet your audience's expectations and needs. Once you establish a strategy that works, you can also experiment with similar channels to expand your reach.
Put out consistent messages
Even though multichannel marketing consists of independently run channels, businesses should still strive to produce a consistent experience. Customers experience your brand as a whole, whether their interactions with it are online, over the phone, or in person. A successful multichannel marketing campaign should deliver some form of consistency, be it through the colour scheme or personalised messages.
Measure engagement
Now that your marketing channels are up and running, you can start monitoring how well they work with your target audience. You can opt for CRM (customer relationship management )software to help you track customer interactions with your campaign. You will also learn about your campaigns' engagement by measuring CTA clicks and email opens.
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