Customers today expect a unified purchase experience.
Whether they are checking your website, looking at your latest post on LinkedIn or talking to a sales representative directly, they are looking for that coherent story that makes your business unique. Any untied leads or conflicting information along the way can lead to a confused and unhappy customer who may instead choose your competitor.
What is Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing tackles precisely that; the continuity of your message across platforms, devices and teams. It means providing a seamless experience to your customers no matter where they are, which device they use or which team they are speaking to.
In a multiplatform, multidevice environment such as ours, users move from one place to another to reassure themselves about their decision before buying or submitting an enquiry. Just think about the way you consume, and the many channels or sources you check before feeling confident about your decision.
Within the B2B industry, it takes on average eight touches to generate a viable sales lead. These eight touches can happen in minutes, or they could span many months. In any case, your company information and content should be consistent across channels and be of relevance to your users every step of the way.
According to HubSpot, more than 80% of companies that prioritise customer experience are reporting an increase in revenue. And this is where inbound marketing comes into play; deliver the right content that brings people to you.
How to take an Omnichannel Approach
So now that the benefits of having an omnichannel marketing strategy are clear, how can you start planning one for your business?
Segment your audience
To get a full insight on what your audience likes and dislikes, start by creating customer identities. These are typically referred to as buyer personas.
These profiles should include information on buying habits, preferences, behaviours and also ways to communicate (like preferred channels, for example).
For the purpose of creating an omnichannel marketing strategy, focus on those touchpoints or what it is the same; your buyer’s journey. Things you would need to consider: where are your customers currently coming from? What is the purchase frequency? How long does it take for an enquiry to convert into a sale?
Once you understand the customer, go through the whole user experience; from the first click to the final payment. Are there any confusing steps? Gather data and improve where you need to.
Make sure you have properly segmented audiences within your CRM. There’s nothing more annoying to a customer than receiving content that has nothing to do with their interests.
Align content with specific buyer journeys
Following on from that point, you will have to think of the different buyer journeys, (based on your personas and segmented audiences). And this is where again, the inbound methodology applies well to what we are about to say: create a plan that designs content and support to match your customer’s habits and needs.
Behaviour-triggered emails are, for example, a good tool to use if you have an eCommerce site or are effectively monitoring actions on your website. These are not only highly effective but personal as the user feels they are receiving personal attention – and what’s better than that?
Select your channels
An important thing to clarify here is that an omnichannel marketing strategy doesn’t need to make use of every single channel or modern way of communication.
It’s important that you identify the channels that work best for you and invest time in planning and improving these. Also, think carefully about which channels you want to be on – if your customers are never on Twitter, why should you be?
Invest in customer support
A successful and tuned customer support experience will go a long way in keeping your clients satisfied. This is an important area to look at when defining your omnichannel marketing strategy. Although this team works separately to marketing, it’s key that they both communicate and send the same message to your audience.
Measure results
And then the true magic weapon: data measurement. Making an effort to implement an omnichannel marketing strategy only makes sense if the data and the results are measured effectively.
A truly effective omnichannel strategy does not need to be overwhelmed by cross-channel data. Instead, everything should be simplified to get clear visibility on all your campaigns and efforts. This information will help you turn customer behaviour and feedback into information you can use for your own benefit.
With a marketing platform such as HubSpot, you can simplify the reporting and the marketing automation of your plan. With the advantage of integrating everything within the same place, you can run highly tailored campaigns that align with the purposes of your omnichannel marketing strategy.
If you are wondering how all this could work for your business, ExtraDigital can help. Specialising in B2B marketing, we can give you the advice you need to turn all your channels into effective touchpoints that contribute to the overall success of your business.
