Are you thinking of Multichannel Marketing Campaigns?

If the answer is yes, then you make up 84% of senior marketers that thinking the same according to a survey conducted by Lewis PR in June last year.

Think, Omnichannel

I’m sure many of you like I understand that the days where you can invest all your digital marketing budget into one channel (and expect great returns) are well and truly past us. However, the same percentage of senior marketers are having trouble executing their big multichannel ideas. According to Lewis PR, 25% respondents don’t have the time or resources, and the same percentage are not getting the support they need from the board. I’d like to take a minute to address these two points; justifying the extra spend, and lack of time/resources.

I’ve been in many situations where I’ve had to explain to the business seniors the necessity of thinking multichannel. And in our business where we sell our time, adding another channel to market on not only doubles our time/cost but also needs more thinking, strategy, account handling and admin. I understand it’s a big ask, trying to justify the work for what may appear a fruitless endeavour. However, there’s one BIG reason why simultaneous marketing on multiple channels is the most effective tactic a business can do to drive sales.

“Multichannel customers spend three to four times more than single-channel customers do” — Nielson, 2015

In short, you need to be where your customers are. And they’re everywhere! With there being so many channels for consumers to get information from, we must ensure we’re reaching every one of them because every consumer is a potential customer. Now multichannel is not just a good idea, but an essential one.

So how about Onmichannel marketing?

If the above is enough to peak the boards interest, then now is the time to slap them in the face with one of the biggest buzzwords in marketing ‘Omnichannel’. To quote Mike Stocker from Marketo,

“Omnichannel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your customer, orchestrating the customer experience across all channels so that it is seamless, integrated, and consistent. Omni-channel anticipates that customers may start in one channel and move to another as they progress to a resolution. Making these complex ‘hand-offs’ between channels must be fluid for the customer. Simply put, omni-channel is multi-channel done right!”.

I can’t say it better than Mike. I have first-hand experience of managing onmichannel marketing campaigns, and they really work hard to achieve huge returns on investment. In fact, I can report that we achieved far more sales, increased customer loyalty and reported better user experience.

Which brings me onto my second point I’d like to address. Use an agency! An agency will act as the extension to your in-house marketing team. A collaboration of teams working together to understand the audience, deliver the message and create the plan. Choose an agency based on reputation and they’ll bring a wealth of experience in multichannel marketing to your brand — always with one thing on their mind, ‘ROI’.

Driven to succeed for the love of brands.