Understanding the difference between omnichannel and multichannel marketing can help strengthen your overall marketing strategy and provide a better experience for consumers. By the end of this blog post, you should have a strong understanding of both concepts, how they overlap and which one is best for your business.
Sneak peek: the main difference between omnichannel and multichannel marketing is how a customer’s relationship builds with the brand throughout their purchasing experience. But read on to learn more and how to implement them into your business.
What is Multichannel Marketing?
‘Multi’ means more than one. Traditionally, marketing has typically been multichannel. Multichannel marketing is when businesses use two or more tactics to engage with their potential audiences. For example, let’s say you have a storefront, a website, you send out regular emails and post on Facebook. Each of these are a single point of contact for your customer, and is often managed as such. Also, each marketing platform and initiative might have a slightly different tone or message, if not also a different offer. This can create a segmented feel with your customers.
Ask yourself the following: Does your customer have a different experience between touchpoints? Different offers? If someone messages your company on Facebook, will they have the same interaction on email? If they come into your store, will the face-to-face interaction also be the same? Does each interaction build on each other to create an interaction with your audience that keeps them wanting to do business with you?
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
‘Omni’ means ‘all’. Unlike multichannel marketing, you strive for an overlapping and unified experience. You are still using multiple tactics to reach your customers (ie. storefront, website, social, emails) but with omnichannel marketing, you are putting the customer at the core, and understand that a single customer might engage with your brand through each tactic.
There is a strategy behind all communication, and that strategy links everything together so it is all integrated and the customer experience is seamless. For example, start with the big picture and create a quarterly or monthly calendar of messages or topics. From there, segment it into your website (blog or homepage updates), social media promotions or initiatives, email ideas, etc. Ensure that the messages are the same at every touchpoint so if someone goes to your website, reads your blog or gets a Facebook update or promotion, the message (and branding) is the same. You can take this a step further by using an all-in-one marketing tool so that all your customer interactions are in one or two places.
Make a Shift Towards Omnichannel Marketing
If you take one thing away from this blog post, it’s that both are good, but omnichannel is better. The goal is to have everything working together in unison.
Omnichannel marketing enables you to create an integrated approach to the way you do business, and in doing so, you will be able to clearly map the customers’ journey. Everything that you do marketing-wise will be strategic, informed, communicated with purpose and easily scaled or improved upon. When used effectively, omnichannel marketing will make consumers feel like they are communicating with the same brand voice, regardless of the platform. And this will have an impact on your loyalty and sales.
Let’s talk marketing. Contact the team at Sims Advertising today to arrange a Zoom call.
