What is Omnichannel Marketing? Buzzword Alert!

We’ve seen a lot more mentions of omnichannel marketing lately—not to be confused with multichannel marketing. In fact, it seems like many brands and businesses are expanding their omnichannel marketing to capitalize on social commerce. 

Social commerce, mentioned briefly in other blogs, is an industry expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2025. Many businesses use an omnichannel approach to deepen their customer engagement and boost their brand relevancy, catapulting their brands forward through consumers’ conversations. 

So, if you’re asking yourself, “What is omnichannel marketing?” you’ve come to the right place. Let’s start with the basics. 

What is omnichannel marketing?

In its barest form, this strategy is a consumer-centric tactic that many businesses employ to attract customers through various channels, such as billboards, chatbots, mobile apps, social media, SMS text campaigns, website design and more. Simply put, it’s giving customers a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels. 

However, this strategy doesn’t necessarily mean you should cover more channels. Instead, it’s about weaving both a physical and digital presence into a smooth and personalized transaction. 

How is omnichannel marketing different from multichannel? 

Omnichannel and multichannel marketing are two entirely different kinds of strategies. The experience is personalized with the customer in mind. On the other hand, multichannel marketing centers around the business or organization. 

Additionally, omnichannel marketing interconnects various tools to create a seamless and cohesive brand experience, like a spider’s web. Multichannel is the direct opposite, as it moves outward to channels but does not interconnect together. Lastly, the messaging for multichannel is primarily static, whereas omnichannel adapts to the customer’s behavior. 

Don’t confuse omnichannel with multichannel. Clearly define your goals when you choose a strategy that best suits your organization. 

What are the benefits of an omnichannel approach?

Your brand can benefit significantly from this approach. Many businesses that use this strategy see increased brand awareness and loyalty. As your messaging becomes more cohesive, you’ll see customers who are more willing to purchase, resulting in higher purchase rates.

Omnichannel marketing also culminates your data and turns it into a marketing advantage. Collecting your data and analytics will allow you to deeply understand your customers and how they prefer to engage with your business. This data will then influence your touchpoints that affect conversions, trends, operation efficiency and the overall customer experience. 

Okay, we get it. Omnichannel marketing isn’t exactly the most straightforward strategy to understand, but that’s what we’re here for! If you’re looking to refine your marketing strategy and social channels, and need a little (or a lot!) of help, don’t hesitate to start a conversation with us.