What does "Omnichannel" mean?
Omnichannel comes from the Latin word "Omni", meaning "all" or "everywhere". Channel is English and means "channel". Omnichannel therefore means: all channels, or that something is a whole rather than individual parts.
TIP: Omnichannel and holistic marketing?
Omnichannel is used interchangeably with the term holistic, which likewise covers the idea of viewing something as a whole rather than separate parts.
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
As the name suggests, omnichannel marketing is where all channels are viewed collectively, where each channel works in conjunction with another rather than operating as separate channels and media. The focus is instead placed on the individual customer and customer experience.
When practising marketing with an omnichannel approach, the goal is for marketing to be structured around the individual customer, ensuring they receive a coherent experience. That is, the channel, medium, message, content, etc. are aligned with where the customer is in their customer journey and what they fundamentally need to know.
In other words, the marketing strategy is customer journey-driven. You can read more about customer journey-driven marketing here.
We will cover what it takes to make this possible, and how to do it in practice.
Why should you have an Omnichannel strategy and approach?
Marketing is fundamentally about being as relevant as possible to each individual customer and where they are in their customer journey.
In other words, delivering the right message to the right person, at the right time, on the right channel, and in the right way. That is marketing at the highest level — and that is precisely the idea behind having an omnichannel strategy.
Here, you do not simply look at individual channels in isolation. Because when a customer is about to make a purchase, they typically have 5–10 digital touchpoints. These typically include: search engines, social media, your website, and more.
If you have an omnichannel strategy and approach to your marketing — binding the channels together and structuring marketing around the individual customer and their journey — you will experience the synergy effect: that 1+1 gives more than 2. And often much more than 2, in our experience.
Omnichannel marketing strategy: How?
So the next question is: how do you create and maintain an omnichannel marketing strategy?
The first step is to understand and begin thinking and viewing your marketing and business holistically and from an omni perspective.
That is: start viewing your marketing activities, channels, etc. from a bird's-eye view and as a whole, rather than as separate parts.
The next step is to define and work with your customers' customer journey. This means that channels, messages, tactics, delivery, timing, etc. are structured according to how the customer moves from being a stranger to becoming a loyal customer. You can read more about that here:
Get started with your customer journey work
Furthermore, if you are not already doing so, you should incorporate data into your marketing and the planning thereof — modelled so that value is attributed across the various digital channels and customer touchpoints. Not just the last touchpoint that "results" in a purchase receiving all the credit.
Last but not least, you naturally need to connect the various departments within your company and create a cross-organisational flow. This means that marketing works with sales, sales with customer service, customer service with marketing, and so on. Because everything works together and affects the individual customer.
Below you will find a few concrete and actionable tips on how to ensure an omnichannel marketing strategy.
5 TIPS: How to achieve an omnichannel marketing strategy:
- Build your strategy based on the customer journey (including choice of channels, tactics, messages, CTAs, etc.)
- Use attribution models that assign value across digital channels and touchpoints.
- Use a shared CRM (possibly also as a marketing platform) across the organisation so that information flows freely.
- Work with lead scoring, customer life cycle, etc. in your marketing automation software.
- Use and measure KPIs that connect the various departments and actually generate value for your business.
How we work with omnichannel marketing
At Searchmind, we have many years of experience with marketing across markets and industries. And one thing that recurs throughout our work is that we view marketing holistically.
In other words, we know it is the interplay and synergy between the individual channels, messages, ads, etc. that drives growth.
We therefore always work with our clients' customer journeys and their digital touchpoints in mind, and by using in-depth analysis and data, we are able to move individual businesses precisely in the areas that deliver results and bottom-line impact.
Would you like advice, a sparring session, or a no-obligation conversation about how to ensure your company's omnichannel marketing strategy and efforts?
Let's start with a no-obligation conversation. Call us on 30 12 42 72.
