Building An Omnichannel Marketing Strategy

What Is An Omnichannel Revenue System

Omnichannel marketing is a strategy that uses various channels to create a seamless and consistent customer experience across all touchpoints. The goal is to ensure that buyers receive a unified experience regardless of the channel they're on.

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Traditional Marketing vs Omnichannel Marketing

Traditional marketing can mean a lot of things depending on who you are talking to. It could mean TV, print, and billboards for some, but in today's world, I like to think of traditional marketing moreas an approach, where the primary goal is to reach a broad audience and build brand awareness through repeated exposure.

Key Differences Between Traditional And Omnichannel

• Customer-Centric Approach: omnichannel puts the customer at the center, adapting to their journey across touchpoints. Traditional marketing tends to be more brand or product-centric
• Flexibility: omnichannel allows customers to seamlessly move between channels during their journey. Traditional marketing often treats each channel independently
• Measurement: omnichannel provides more comprehensive tracking of the customer journey across touchpoints. Traditional marketing measurement is typically siloed by channel

Multichannel Marketing vs Omnichannel Marketing

Multichannel marketing can be confused with Omnichannel Marketing as they are very similar. Where Traditional Marketing tends to rely on a few selected channels that are used with unfailing repetition, Multichannel Marketing is about being anywhere your buyers are both physically and digitally.

Key Differences Between Multichannel And Omnichannel

• Customer Focus: multichannel marketing engages customers across various independent channels, often resulting in a disjointed experience. In contrast, omnichannel marketing centers on the customer, creating a seamless experience across all channels and ensuring consistency in messaging
• Integration Of Channels: in multichannel marketing, channels operate in silos, lacking coordination, meaning customer interactions on one channel do not inform others. Conversely, omnichannel marketing integrates channels, allowing for personalized interactions based on customer behavior across all platforms
• Goals & Metrics: multichannel strategies aim to maximize visibility and engagement per channel, focusing on metrics like reach and engagement rates. Omnichannel strategies prioritize enhancing the overall customer experience, measuring success through customer satisfaction and retention

What Is Omnichannel Marketing

To make omnichannel marketing easy to understand, let's go back in time and imagine you have a favorite toy store where you can play with toys, see pictures of them in a book, watch videos of them on TV, and even see them on your tablet.

Omnichannel marketing is like that toy store making sure you have fun and can engage with your toys no matter where you are!

How Omnichannel Marketing Works

• Many Ways To Play just like you can play with toys in the store, look at them in a book, or watch them on TV, omnichannel marketing means a store can talk to you in lots of different ways
• All Together: once you find your favorite toy, you'll see the toy in the store, later you see it in a book, on your phone, or in your favorite video game, regardless, it's the same toy! The store wants to make sure everything looks the same and feels the same, so you know they're still talking about your favorite toy
• Helping You Find What You Love: if you tell the store you love dinosaurs, they might show you dinosaur toys in the store, send you pictures of them in a book, and show you videos of them on your phone. They want to help you find the toys you love no matter where you look

Why Omnichannel Marketing Fun

Omnichannel marketing makes it easy for you to enjoy your favorite toys in different places. It's like having a magical toy store that follows you around, always ready to show you what you like, whether you're at home, at the store, hanging out with your friends, or watching TV!

Now this might seem creepy and overbearing, but the reality is there are so many brands already doing this, my favorite being Marvel. They have figurines, movies, tv shows, theme parks, and regardless of where you see them, your favorite heroes act and present themselves the same way.

Now it's about taking that same OCD level and injecting it into your SaaS brand and all the channels you're engaging with from your ads to marketing engagement, sales experience, and onboarding process.

The exceptional stroke of genius would be getting your experience to a point where the contact, engaging with it, feels as though the entire system was created and imagined by one person because it's so seamless!

Key Features Of Omnichannel Marketing

• Seamless Integration: omnichannel marketing focuses on creating a fluid transition between different channels. For example, a customer might browse your platform online, receive a targeted advertisement on social media, and then complete their purchase without any disruption in their experience
• Consistent Messaging: all marketing communications should maintain a consistent tone, branding, and messaging across channels. This consistency helps build trust and recognition among consumers, enhancing their overall experience with the brand
• Customer-Centric Approach: omnichannel strategies are designed with the customer in mind, tailoring interactions based on individual preferences and behaviors. This includes personalized messaging and offers that reflect past interactions and the customer's current stage in the buying journey
• Data-Driven Insights: successful omnichannel marketing relies on data analytics to understand customer behavior across channels. By tracking interactions, brands can optimize their marketing efforts, ensuring that they meet customer needs effectively and efficiently

Benefits Of Omnichannel Marketing

• Increased Customer Loyalty: research shows that customers who engage with brands through multiple channels tend to be more loyal and spend more compared to those who use a single channel
• Higher Sales Conversion Rates: campaigns that utilize three or more channels can see significantly higher order rates, as they cater to the preferences of consumers who switch between platforms
• Enhanced Customer Experience: by providing a unified experience, brands can improve customer satisfaction, making it easier for consumers to interact with them in a way that suits their lifestyle and preferences

Examples Of Omnichannel Marketing

Several brands exemplify successful omnichannel strategies:

• Starbucks: their mobile app integrates with in-store experiences, allowing customers to order ahead and earn rewards seamlessly
• Walgreens: the company offers a mobile app that facilitates prescription refills and provides inventory information for different store locations, enhancing the shopping experience
• Timberland: by incorporating technology like NFC in stores, Timberland creates interactive experiences that link online and offline shopping, allowing customers to transition between channels easily

Now as someone who works in SaaS, you're probably saying these are all B2C brands selling something physical, how does this apply to me?

Examples Of SaaS Omnichannel Marketing

Well several SaaS brands have successfully implemented omnichannel marketing strategies to provide seamless customer experiences across multiple touchpoints. Here are some notable examples:

• Slack: Slack uses an omnichannel approach to engage users across various platforms. They integrate their messaging app with email notifications, mobile push notifications, and desktop alerts to ensure users stay connected regardless of the device they're using
• Salesforce: as a leader in customer relationship management, Salesforce employs omnichannel marketing to provide a unified experience across web, mobile, social media, and in-person events. Their Marketing Cloud platform helps other businesses implement omnichannel strategies as well
• HubSpot: HubSpot's inbound marketing and sales platform uses omnichannel marketing to engage customers through their website, blog, social media, email, and customer support channels. They provide a consistent brand experience and personalized content across all touchpoints
• Zendesk: this customer service software company uses omnichannel marketing to showcase the benefits of their own product. They offer seamless support across multiple channels, including live chat, email, phone, and social media, demonstrating the effectiveness of their omnichannel approach
• Adobe: Adobe's Creative Cloud suite employs omnichannel marketing to reach and engage creative professionals. They use a mix of email marketing, social media, webinars, and in-person events to provide a cohesive brand experience
• Dropbox: Dropbox uses omnichannel marketing to promote its cloud storage and file-sharing services. They integrate their product across various platforms and devices, ensuring a consistent user experience whether accessed via web, desktop, or mobile app
• Mailchimp: this email marketing platform has expanded its services and now uses omnichannel marketing to promote its broader marketing automation tools. They engage users through email, social media, and content marketing, providing a unified experience across channels

These SaaS brands demonstrate how omnichannel marketing can be effectively used to create seamless customer experiences, improve engagement, and drive growth in the software industry. By integrating various touchpoints and providing consistent messaging across channels, these companies can meet their customers wherever they are in their journey.

Modern Day Brands Creating New Expectations

What you need to realize is that once a handful of brands does something differently and sets an expectation of how someone should experience something, that then becomes the bar at which everyone else is measured, it's just a matter of time before it impacts your industry or field.

In summary, omnichannel marketing is a vital strategy for modern SaaS brands aiming to meet the evolving expectations of consumers who navigate multiple channels in their purchasing journeys. SaaS brands can enhance their marketing effectiveness and drive better outcomes by focusing on integration, consistency, and customer-centricity.

Next Chapter In The Guide

In the next chapter of the guide, I'll share why creating an omnichannel revenue system is difficult, especially as your SaaS brands continue to grow.

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Creating An Omnichannel Marketing Strategy Difficulties

Omnichannel marketing offers a customer-centric approach, but it is fraught with potential pitfalls that can undermine even the best strategies. Understanding the root causes of these failures is crucial for success.

Read The Next Chapter →