It is essential to remain competitive in this ever-expanding digital landscape we live in, and one way to do that is engaged with multichannel marketing effectively.
It refers to the combination of direct and indirect communication channels, online and offline. Some of these channels include Website, email, social media, SEO, content and mobile. It gives people much more opportunity to see your product or service, and for them to discover it on a channel that they already actively use. This way, the initial interaction feels much more organic, and you are starting the inbound marketing process in a much more natural way.
The Importance of Multichannel Marketing
You must be where your customers are, and to do so, you must be active on multiple different channels. Your prospective customers are everywhere, online and offline. There are so many ways to get in front of your customers, and if you already know where they hang out online, then you’ve already cut out the middleman.
In case you’re under the impression that multichannel marketing isn’t worth the effort, here are five eye-opening statistics that might change your mind:
- 89% of media is viewed through mobile applications.
- The average consumer has 4.3 internet-connected devices.
- 90% of consumers move between digital screens throughout the day.
- 73% of consumers use multiple engagement channels in their interactions with a single preferred retailer.
- Brands with multichannel marketing strategies see an 89% retention rate.
So, are You Convinced Yet?
If you want to grow your business in 2019, you need to be in front of your customers on the channels that they already use, for both personal and professional use. Recent studies on retail consumer preferences demonstrate how consumers tend to interact with customers companies in digital spheres, and you need to be there in front of them before your competitor swoops in and catches their eye.
What does it take to do multichannel marketing right? Here are three goals to focus on when creating an overall multichannel marketing strategy:
- Create and maintain a single view of the customer across all channels.
- Establish a multichannel marketing platform that will allow you to launch and monitor each channel.
- Create an excellent customer experience across all channels with a consistent brand.
The Challenges of Managing Multichannel Marketing
95% of marketers say that they know how important multichannel is for targeting. However, only 73% have a multichannel strategy in place.
While a lot of marketers know that multichannel marketing is the way forward, a lot of them are still reluctant to jump on board as it comes with several challenges. But nothing in life comes easy. Luckily in 2019, we have lots of options on how to overcome these challenges. Let’s look at a few options.
Challenge: Targeted Messaging
Consumers in 2019 want personalised marketing messages, and when you’re trying to get your voice out there on multiple channels, it can be difficult. However, messaging must be tailored to the audience’s preferences with their demographics taken into consideration.
Engaging with consumers in this way will allow you to target your consumer much more effectively as they will be attentive, receptive and willing to listen to what you’ve got to say.
Solution: Buyer Personas
By creating a persona, you will be able to make your product/service much more attractive to potential customers in the future. They are critical to the business, and you should designate time developing them.
Buyer personas help you understand your customer’s needs and wants, as well as their challenges and objections. This will make it easier for you to create tailored and specific content and marketing messages that will attract their attention.
You might create 1 or 2, or as many as ten different personas which reflect your target audience. You can always develop more personas at a later stage if needed.
Challenge: Highly Choreographed CampaignsÂ
Customers are everywhere, which means you have to be everywhere, which sounds pretty tiring. Marketers must continually develop and coordinate highly orchestrated touch points and micro-campaigns that span multiple channels fluidly, in a way that the customer finds meaningful and trustworthy. Yeah, that does sound pretty tiring.
Solution: Multichannel Marketing Automation
Multichannel marketing automation will allow you to set up, launch and measure multiple marketing campaigns across various channels all with the hit of one button. You’ll be able to execute and monitor campaigns from one dashboard, eliminating the need for multiple logins, with various passwords.
Challenge: Attributing Success to Campaigns and Channels
Multichannel marketing might seem overwhelming to the inexperienced marketer, as you are juggling lots of balls at the same time. It’s increasingly difficult to know which channels are working well, and what’s not working as well. You need to know in real-time what’s making your company money, and helping you grow your business.
Solution: Monitoring Marketing Analytics in Real-Time
By monitoring your marketing analytics in real-time, you’ll be able to see exactly what’s making you money and what’s not. You can compare and contrast campaigns and channels and see what your audience is attracted to the most.
A marketing analytics dashboard, like what’s offered as a bonus with Zymplify’s dashboard, will allow you to do this easily. You can measure and monitor live campaigns, in real-time, allowing you to make informed decisions that will help you optimise your marketing efforts and eliminate bottlenecks as soon as possible.
Multichannel Marketing Automation
Today, successful marketers are using marketing automation to leverage and optimise their already existing marketing efforts. It can be used for much more than efficient, targeted email campaigns. You can use marketing automation to help with lead generation efforts, create cleverly timed SMS notifications and move your leads through the pipeline effectively based on behavioural triggers.
Because marketing needs to be so personal in 2019, you must be one step ahead than your competition and offer a customised experience. This might sound daunting, but there are automation software providers out there that you can use to make your job easier – like Zymplify!
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