Everything is Omnichannel

One of the new buzzwords is “omnichannel” marketing. In one sense, it’s a way to “future proof” your communications plans by spreading your message over widespread forms of media. Making the customer experience cohesive across platforms is the ultimate goal of omnichannel marketing and a unified strategy can make all the difference in the world.

Think about the last product you purchased. Maybe you saw a TV commercial, or you heard about it on Facebook—you may have seen it in a store or a friend using one—or maybe you were doing a search on Google and it showed up in an online ad. How did you eventually purchase the product? Was it through Amazon or did you go to a bricks and mortar retailer? The “Omni” in omnichannel marketing covers all of the above and translates into having many, many touchpoints available to the consumer in the digital revolution.

Omnichannel marketing covers all of the available bases.We once thought you would use your Smartphone to scan the QR code in the store to find more information about it—but now it’s even easier than that.

As tech tools evolve, consumers’ expectations change. The challenge is it is difficult for companies to change tactics in mid-stream as demographics shift and traditional media falls away or transforms into digital. With the rise of content marketing, not only are brand managers battling the competition, they are trying to stand out in a tsunami of engaging content and messages drown very easily.

Social and mobile are re-defining the concept of customers and clients; internal communication roles are becoming external; Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising disciplines are merging.

Omnichannel is more than just a scattershot approach. In an ideal world, knowing something about your target audience enables you to follow them from traditional marketing channels to the mobile world and back again. To be successful, collaboration across teams and disciplines is more important than ever before, and the marketing pie has many more slices beyond traditional events, advertising, public relations, direct marketing and social media.

When we look at emerging channels like Snapchat, there are no significant metrics to support most investments, but there may also be no better place to reach millennials under 24. We can’t be afraid to take bets. I took a big bet on Second Life several years ago—and fortunately got out before I lost money. In fact, I actually came out ahead slightly, but the reality is that investing in virtual reality helped me stand apart from the crowd and taught important life lessons about how to use the next big platform.

Thoughts, questions, comments? I’d love to hear from you.