Marketing service
Omni-channel marketing
Omni-channel marketing is a method where businesses promote their products and services across all channels, devices, and platforms using unified messaging, cohesive visuals, and consistent collateral. Omni-channel marketing ensures you reach customers where they are with a relevant and on-brand offer. By uniting the strengths of each communication channel, marketing teams can use omni-channel marketing to deliver a more effective brand message.
They can also reach target buyers at the right time, increasing the chances of converting them into a lead. Omni-channel marketing uses the customers’ perspectives and interests to optimize the consistency of the company’s marketing messages. For instance, on Instagram and Facebook, you might only target users with a certain interest and create collateral that appeals to them specifically.
Omni-channel marketing shouldn’t be done on a whim, though. I recommend creating an organized omni-channel marketing strategy to ensure you always deliver the right content to your prospective buyers at just the right time. Below I’ll go over how you can start implementing your own omni-channel experience and highlight examples from brands that are already making moves to offer these experiences.
They can also reach target buyers at the right time, increasing the chances of converting them into a lead. Omni-channel marketing uses the customers’ perspectives and interests to optimize the consistency of the company’s marketing messages. For instance, on Instagram and Facebook, you might only target users with a certain interest and create collateral that appeals to them specifically.
Omni-channel marketing shouldn’t be done on a whim, though. I recommend creating an organized omni-channel marketing strategy to ensure you always deliver the right content to your prospective buyers at just the right time. Below I’ll go over how you can start implementing your own omni-channel experience and highlight examples from brands that are already making moves to offer these experiences.
How to Build an Omni-Channel Marketing Campaign
An omni-channel marketing strategy is consistent messaging, visuals, and positioning statements across all channels, platforms, and devices. It’s a seamless brand experience for customers and ensures that your brand is presented the same way from platform to platform.
Keep in mind that omni-channel marketing campaigns positively impact your sales and service departments, too. You’re showing customers that you’re on all of the channels and platforms they’re on, so they’ll know to expect a similar experience whether they’re shopping or getting support.
Keep in mind that omni-channel marketing campaigns positively impact your sales and service departments, too. You’re showing customers that you’re on all of the channels and platforms they’re on, so they’ll know to expect a similar experience whether they’re shopping or getting support.
Start with the basics: Your website and social media channels.
Creating an omni-channel experience is a slow process. You don’t need to be everywhere all at once; you’ll get there in time. Start with your website and social media channels and nail those down before moving on to other platforms. Ensure that you’re posting consistently and engaging with users who reach out to you via those channels. If you consistently engage with users on Instagram but don’t answer on Facebook, they’ll notice. Focusing on one and neglecting the other will make your brand look inconsistent and unprofessional. A shared inbox can be useful for this; putting your social messages, emails, and chat threads into one place. Some social management tools, like the one in Marketing Hub, will even connect your social campaigns to your CRM, so you can keep track of visits and leads.
Seek to solve for the customer every step of the way.
While I understand that it’s important to diversify your presence, adding new channels to your omni-channel strategy without considering your customers isn’t worth it.
Why? It’s not just for your company to get more visibility or for you to make more sales. Those are tangible benefits to establishing a strategy, yes, but you mainly want to make sure your customers have an easy and issue-free experience. When you add a new channel to your omni-channel strategy, do it to solve for the customer along every step of the way.
Why? It’s not just for your company to get more visibility or for you to make more sales. Those are tangible benefits to establishing a strategy, yes, but you mainly want to make sure your customers have an easy and issue-free experience. When you add a new channel to your omni-channel strategy, do it to solve for the customer along every step of the way.
Use the same messaging across channels, but beware of using boilerplate content.
To create a consistent experience, use the same messaging across channels. For example, if I’m running an ad on multiple social platforms, I can vary the ad format for what performs best on each channel, but my messaging needs to be the same to maintain the overall purpose of my campaign. I want someone to be able to see my product announcement email and understand that it’s the same product campaign they just saw a video for on TikTok.
A slight variation in wording across channels can also be important as you can be penalized by search engines and social media platforms for duplicate, boilerplate content. Instead of always using the same phrases, create a consistent brand voice that allows you to mix it up without looking inconsistent.
A slight variation in wording across channels can also be important as you can be penalized by search engines and social media platforms for duplicate, boilerplate content. Instead of always using the same phrases, create a consistent brand voice that allows you to mix it up without looking inconsistent.
Give customers a device- and platform-appropriate CTA.
Every time you engage with customers on certain channels — whether it’s on an ad, an organic post, a private message, a phone call, or an email — you should end the engagement with a CTA. That CTA should, of course, be device- and platform-appropriate.
For instance, I would have my social media ad lead to my mobile website, not the desktop version. I’d close my email with a link to schedule a meeting, not with a link that triggers an automatic download because my customer might not be using a mobile device to check their email. Ensure that the CTA doesn’t throw off the customer and only extends the seamless experience you’ve already provided.
Pro Tip: If you use HubSpot’s free CMS, you can try out different CTA buttons, pop-ups, and sticky CTAs. You can also A/B test variations, so that you can be sure you’re creating an effective omni-channel experience.
For instance, I would have my social media ad lead to my mobile website, not the desktop version. I’d close my email with a link to schedule a meeting, not with a link that triggers an automatic download because my customer might not be using a mobile device to check their email. Ensure that the CTA doesn’t throw off the customer and only extends the seamless experience you’ve already provided.
Pro Tip: If you use HubSpot’s free CMS, you can try out different CTA buttons, pop-ups, and sticky CTAs. You can also A/B test variations, so that you can be sure you’re creating an effective omni-channel experience.
Start with the basics: Your website and social media channels.
I have to point out that this step may not be relevant to you, depending on your industry and product.
However, mobile apps bring various benefits to customers and businesses, regardless of their size. For example,
- Ease of access – Many people have smartphones, so if you have an app, customers can easily access it from a device they usually don’t let leave their sights.
- Communication opportunities – With an app, you have the opposition to send push notifications to users to notify them of important events, whether that be flash sales or important product information.
