Marketing is in the midst of a digital revolution: Traditional advertising continually has to share the stage with newer strategies like omnichannel and fractionalized video content on social media. Determining the strategy that works best for you means reevaluating the demands of your industry and analyzing how your consumers view your media.
With 94 percent of marketers agreeing that an omnichannel approach is important or critical to success, agencies and business leaders must turn to new, holistic digital strategies to get the most from their digital marketing dollars.
How Omnichannel Marketing Does More
While some companies struggle to make siloed marketing efforts work together, smart CEOs are updating their digital marketing strategies to create more effective omnichannel campaigns.
Omnichannel opportunities, including video content, now allow companies to monitor their campaigns’ effectiveness across more channels than ever before. Where before companies would have to compare sales data to campaign timing and wonder what actually had an effect, they can now aggregate live interaction data to determine if potential customers are taking the desired actions. This ever-evolving approach allows leaders to demonstrate measurable results and identify areas of opportunity more quickly and specifically than ever before.
However, omnichannel doesn’t mean forgetting nondigital aspects of your marketing approach. The more channels you can control — including in-person events and other nondigital media — the more areas from which you can collect data and create a better prospect experience.
Building Your Omnichannel Approach
To take advantage of everything omnichannel has to offer, remember that implementing an omnichannel approach is not just the next step in your regular strategy: Rather than transitioning to omnichannel just to keep up with industry trends, you should consider this approach a stepping stone toward your overall marketing objectives. Implementing a successful omnichannel approach requires you to keep the end goal in mind at all times.
In creating that big-picture strategy, there are two things that should be at the top of your must-have list:
1. An open mind: Be agnostic about which channels and creative media work best for you, and allow your marketing team and partners to optimize their approaches in real time. In some cases, that could mean making a hard left from your traditional approach. If the real-time analytics you collect indicate that you’re spending too much effort on channels that don’t return results, rethink your strategy.
If you’re investing in email campaigns but see that mobile efforts are what bring in the attention, for instance, don’t spend too much time (or money) trying to bring email campaigns up to speed — focus on the channel that’s producing strong results. Omnichannel is all about optimizing channels in a way that’s customized to your brand.
2. A focus on analytics: Whatever you do, remember that analytics are the key to your omnichannel success. Prioritize not only data collection, but also data curation. Whether it’s at a live event, through an email campaign, or via a video on a landing page, gather as much data as you can from your intended audience. Keep your data organized and usable so you can generate actionable insights from your live collection and make decisions based on where you see trends flowing. The better your data, the more informed your decisions will be, and the more powerful your omnichannel approach can become.
The digital marketing revolution will continue to expand in new directions. Omnichannel, in particular, is here to help you handle quick pivots while maintaining a consistent message. Identify your goals, analyze your data, and implement an omnichannel strategy with the goal of learning more about your prospects and catering your approach to their preferences.