Why perform Multichannel Marketing?
In a nutshell, Multichannel Marketing is an effective way how to increase store and product reach in search engines, deliver cost-effectively brand awareness, drive higher average order value and acquire new customers.
Preface
In the field of e-commerce one of the most important concepts to master is product marketing. Without consistent customers purchasing your products and services, your business won’t survive in the present competitive and globalized world. Nowadays, “product marketing” is rather wide term which refers to various concepts, approaches and strategies.
History of Multichannel Markating
The latest concept of modern product marketing on the Internet is Multichannel Marketing. The goal of successful Multichannel Marketing is product availability and traceability in the appropriate product search and price comparison websites (such as Beslist.nl), affiliate networks (such as Daysicon.com), marketplaces (such as Bol.com or Amazon.com), social channels (such as Facebook or Instagram) or direct advertisement platforms (such as Google Ads). Recently, chat bots have become the latest tools for Multichannel Marketing.
Back in the times when the term Multichannel Marketing did not exist yet the first approach to product advertising on multiple channels was the concept of Feed Marketing. The term itself refers to the technical details of the strategy — the use of structured product data files called feeds (XML, CSV), serving the purpose of transferring product data in the direction from the online store to the selling channels. In this period of online marketing, the selling channels were predominantly ‘simple’ product and price comparison websites.
Although the technical concept of integration of e-stores with selling channels through the means of feed files is becoming obsolete with the onset of more advanced techniques such as API, the original idea of Feed Marketing strategy is still pretty much alive as a part of wider Multichannel Marketing strategy.
It improves SEO & Organic Search
Organic search results are listings on the result page of a search engine (Google, Yahoo! etc.) that appear here because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to being actively advertised.
Since Google claims that their users click organic search results more often than ads, it became important within the search engine optimization (SEO) industry to distinguish between the two types of content. Moreover, Google found that 81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks happen when there is no associated organic search result on the first page. In addition, users can prevent ads from being shown in search results, and list only organic search results, by using browser add-ons and plugins.
Multichannel Marketing strategy significantly improves organic search results and SEO rating of your online store and thus increases the chances of acquiring new customers.
It brings you to the customer
Today’s consumer shops for products across a variety of selling channels, comparing product detail, price, availability and speed of delivery. Specifically, the most important are product search and price comparison websites, affiliate networks and marketplaces.
With 40% of all online audiences visiting those selling channels, online retailers without a Multichannel Marketing strategy are missing a big piece of cake.
To put it simply, if you want your online business succeed you must present your products in as much relevant selling channels as possible.
It facilitates going cross-border
Without doubts, our world is getting more and more interconnected and globalized. And so does the virtual world of e-commerce, even so at way more accelerated rate. Catch the opportunities and expand behind the borders of your country. By promoting your products on international selling channels you will be already one step ahead of your competitors.
With the latest tools for Multichannel Marketing it’s getting easier than ever before. Although expanding behind the borders can be highly rewarding it brings surely certain challenges. Not everyone is ready to embark on this adventure, yet the ones who do will gain much more than those who don’t.
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Perhaps you want to learn also about the difference between Multichannel and Omnichannel Marketing!
Stay tuned! In the next article we will talk specifically about channels suitable for Multichannel Marketing! Or you can go ahead and learn about it on the website of Online Store Academy.