5 steps to implement an effective omnichannel marketing strategy

As more and more business goes online, many retailers and bricks and mortar companies are turning to omnichannel marketing strategies to increase sales. But what does an omnichannel strategy entail and how can it be implemented?

Adopting an omnichannel strategy can require a significant amount of marketing planning to get right, although if done correctly the results can be significant. 

In this article, we look over five important steps small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can take to shape an omnichannel approach so that it works effectively. We also answer essential questions such as:

• What is omnichannel marketing?
• How does an omnichannel strategy compare to other forms of cross channel marketing?
• What are the pros and cons of omnichannel strategies?

What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing strategies can be used to combine online and offline marketing and retail business models to help create a consistent and unified customer journey. With omnichannel marketing, a user should find the same experience and messaging whether they encounter marketing from a select company via email, social media, or in-store.

These methods allow physical retailers to take advantage of an online presence and eCommerce tools to sell items that can either be shipped by courier or collected in-store, depending on the business and its individual capacities. 

Some other key elements of omnichannel marketing include:

• Consistent style and branding across multiple channels
• A customer-focused approach that is the same however they interact with your brand
• Content that is adapted to your target audience’s user journey

Omnichannel marketing vs. multi-channel marketing 

Marketers often talk about omnichannel vs. multi-channel marketing, but what’s the difference between these two approaches?

The key distinctions are briefly summarised below:

Multi-channel marketing: This approach uses multiple channels to reach out to customers. However, one of the benefits of multi-channel marketing is that each channel offers an independent experience, usually tailored to the preferences of the type of user who interacts with it. 

Omnichannel marketing: Omnichannel marketing plans, on the other hand, promote stronger interaction between channels, creating a seamless customer experience. This allows clients to enjoy the same buyer experience no matter which channel they use to interact with a brand.

Integrated marketing vs omnichannel marketing

Both integrated marketing and omnichannel marketing rely on approaches that create a seamless experience for the customer, no matter the commercial channel they use. However, there are some key distinctions between the two of them.

The biggest difference is that integrated marketing prioritises methods that target leads, such as social media and public relations. Omnichannel approaches, on the other hand, focus more on creating a strong user experience between the business and the customer by optimising the buyer’s journey.

5 steps to creating an effective omnichannel marketing strategy

The process of creating an omnichannel marketing strategy for a business can be broken down into five steps to make it more manageable.

Each step provides a building block that helps form the strategy. This allows all channels to be correctly integrated, optimises the customer experience, and ensures the marketing campaign runs smoothly throughout.

Step 1: Gather data on your customers

Implementing an omnichannel strategy first requires gathering crucial data on your customers. This can be done with the help of market research software and other tools such as marketing analytics software.

This is the first and most important step of any omnichannel plan and allows marketers to answer key questions such as what channels their target audience uses or wants to use.

By having the clearest understanding possible of the profile that is being targeted and how customers want to interact with a purchasing journey, companies can effectively respond to these specific desires. 

This will ultimately inform the channels that are chosen and where the investment of time and resources should be made to reach their audience.

Step 2: Plan the purchase journey carefully

The customer journey is the core of an omnichannel strategy and needs to be carefully mapped. This journey must be designed to ensure that the experience is as smooth as possible and is the same no matter which channel the customer chooses to interact with.

Step 1 will have hopefully created a clearer idea of who the customer is. It will also have revealed more about the ideal buyer’s experience, as well as providing data on how users interact most with your brand. This will help you expand on the customer loyalty you already have. 

From this customer data, stakeholders can learn whether social media, email marketing, or other methods such as display advertising will be needed to generate the most awareness of the available services and products.

Step 3: Make your store or service mobile-friendly

An omnichannel strategy has to adapt to a lot of needs. In today’s market, that means being mobile-ready. 

Last year, a study by Statista found that 63% of customers in the UK shop online using their smartphones and another 31% on a tablet. Therefore, not having a responsive, mobile-friendly website could limit the number of customers a company can reach.

There are many ways that a marketing campaign can be made more mobile-friendly for these purposes. These include the following options:

• Mobile native websites so that users can access your website from a smartphone more easily from online ads.
• Mobile optimised web forms so customers can use their phone to sign up to mailing lists and other marketing channels without any headaches.
• QR codes on items being promoted in-store to allow customers to browse and buy at a later date.
• Native mobile apps for smartphone and tablet users that can drive engagement amongst your client base.
• Offers such as mobile gift cards and coupons that users can access from their phones to exchange for discounts online or in-store.

Step 4: Prep staff for a connected buyer experience

An essential part of omnichannel retail is a smooth and unified buyer’s journey. That means all staff touchpoints such as marketing, customer service, and sales have to be ready to manage the process properly.

The plan for staff must be prepared along with the marketing strategy so users who encounter issues or need more information to complete a purchase will be supported properly throughout. This training might extend to both on-site and off-site employees. 

By prepping the workforce across the business carefully, everyone who interacts with customers can follow the same plan and procedures whilst observing the correct brand guidelines so that everything links up perfectly. 

This will also ensure that no matter the stage of the purchasing journey that clients interact with, the company will be able to provide the support and service necessary.

Step 5: Test and Adapt

Omnichannel marketing strategies require a continuous approach to make sure everything runs smoothly. Tools such as sales tracking, customer journey mapping, or marketing planning software can help businesses keep a good view over customer interactions and the sales funnel. 

It’s especially important in the early stages to identify potential pain points for customers and where spending on marketing proves most effective.

This will be important to optimise the entire process. This takes some time and trial and error to get right. Yet, if done properly, businesses can reduce their spending by only targeting the channels that work best for their customers.

However, don’t forget about the post-sales support too. For an omnichannel experience to hold firm, it’s essential that companies ensure that this joined-up approach between different channels extends to every step of the customer journey, that includes the time after they’ve converted too.

What are the benefits of omnichannel marketing strategies?

Generally, there are a lot of benefits to omnichannel strategies. Most notably, in successful cases such as Gartner’s case study above, an increase in sales and revenue, as well as improved customer retention. 

However, there are many other advantages that businesses will be able to enjoy from this type of marketing. 

A quick round-up of the main advantages of omnichannel strategies includes:

• More opportunities to increase sales and revenue
• A seamless, unified customer experience
• Enhanced customer retention as fewer buyers are lost to online retailers
• Improved communication between different departments
• The ability to reach a wider audience through increased exposure
• Better insight into customer data and behaviour

Are there any disadvantages of Omnichannel strategies?

As always, there are some disadvantages that marketers may experience once they launch an omnichannel strategy.

Most of the issues that businesses face in setting up omnichannel marketing revolve around the time and expense it takes to set up the process initially. It also requires commitment from stakeholders to keep on top of its management and optimization. 

In summary, the main pitfalls to be careful with include:

• More exposure to online marketing competition from bigger more established eCommerce sites.
• Potentially weaker margins due to higher labour and operational costs due to factors such as the need to raise online ad spend or staffing headcounts. 
• Possible complications when trying to perfect the initial strategy set-up.
• High levels of time and effort are required when creating the initial omnichannel strategy.

Key takeaways

An omnichannel marketing strategy is a major undertaking but can pay off significantly. This kind of marketing approach can be set up in five steps.

1. Gather audience data
2. Plan the purchase journey carefully
3. Make things mobile friendly
4. Ensure staff across all teams are prepared
5. Test and optimise the buyer journey 

Additionally, these are some of the most important points to remember when approaching an omnichannel strategy:

• Omnichannel marketing allows you to tap into the online market even if you’re a brick and mortar retailer
• The customer experience must be unified between all available channels
• A smooth and positive customer experience is everything in omnichannel marketing