Omnichannel marketing: How to create experiences that move and evolve with the consumer

Brands use omnichannel marketing to reach customers across a variety of online and offline platforms. A brand with a solid omnichannel marketing strategy will give consumers a consistent experience across a variety of touchpoints, whether they’re shopping in-store, opening an email newsletter, browsing an e-commerce site or seeing an ad on social media.

This integrated approach keeps marketing on-brand and on-message as companies work to reach consumers through an increasingly complex digital and retail landscape. A strategy also creates exciting opportunities for brands to develop more sophisticated relationships with consumers. Brands that use omnichannel marketing have more chances to interact with their customers and gather information about their wants and needs. 

Omnichannel marketing solutions not only reinforce brand awareness, but they allow brands to create fully personalized experiences. The unified approach of an omnichannel platform also ensures that customers receive quality service – no matter what digital or brick-and-mortar interaction they’re having with a brand. This makes consumers more engaged, more likely to develop loyalty to a brand over time and more eager to spend on that brand. 

Retail-agnostic media networks like Fetch provide brands with the infrastructure to execute omnichannel marketing that responds intelligently to individual consumers’ needs.   

What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing is a strategy that takes a holistic, integrated approach to all the different marketing tools a brand uses to interact with customers. 

From the marketer’s perspective, omnichannel strategies are about more than making the best use of any one touchpoint. Examples of single touchpoints include developing a strong Instagram presence, improving the in-store experience and more. Instead, this type of marketing is about understanding how different customers move between all those different channels. 

From the consumer’s perspective, an omnichannel retail experience is seamless. Whatever touchpoint or mix of touchpoints a given consumer prefers, omnichannel marketing smoothes their path toward getting what they want. It offers the flexibility and cohesion consumers have come to expect in a digital-first commercial landscape.

How is omnichannel marketing different from multichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing and multichannel marketing strategies both involve reaching consumers through a variety of platforms. But these two approaches differ in fundamental ways.

In an omnichannel marketing platform, different modes of interaction with the consumer are united at the ground level. Omnichannel strategies factor in how consumers move between different touchpoints. These strategies treat all those touchpoints as densely intertwined and part of a complex and responsive whole. 

Multichannel marketing takes a more siloed approach. A brand with a multichannel marketing strategy may have a well-developed in-store retail experience, a lively email newsletter, and a user-friendly online shop. But the customer will experience each of those as entirely separate buying journeys. 

What are the advantages of omnichannel over multichannel?

Every marketer knows how difficult it can be to execute a cohesive strategy across multiple third-party platforms. These platforms aren’t necessarily designed to work in concert with one another or provide smooth points of transition for consumers. 

An omnichannel strategy requires sophisticated infrastructure and planning. That investment pays off with substantial benefits:

• Consistency: In a multichannel marketing strategy, brands often struggle to create consistent messaging and experiences across different platforms. Omnichannel marketing allows brands to bake in that consistency from the start.
• Data: A brand using an omnichannel marketing platform will be able to gather all of its customer and sales data into a centralized system. 
• Responsiveness to the customer: An omnichannel retail approach provides myriad opportunities for brands to understand individual consumer needs and interests. This helps brands create personalized messaging and offers — which, in turn, becomes part of an experience delivered seamlessly across different touchpoints. 
• A seamless customer experience: If all of a brand’s marketing channels are well-integrated from the start, customers will run into far less redundancy and frustration as they navigate those channels. Brands that cut down on pain points for customers will have greater success at retaining them.

How omnichannel marketing centers the customer

Omnichannel and multichannel marketing approaches start with very different priorities. Multichannel centers around the product. Omnichannel centers around the customer.

By making different marketing channels work in concert, brands can meet customers where they’re at. Omnichannel marketing gives brands more access to consumer data, as well as more dynamic ways to use that data.

The concept of omnichannel retail exists because today’s consumers move fluidly between digital and physical shopping. They’re conversant with an ever-shifting variety of platforms and marketing channels. They gravitate toward brands that can harness those channels to create more convenient, rewarding experiences.

An omnichannel marketing strategy will also integrate customer-support functions like online help chats. This ensures higher-quality service rather than the more impersonal experience a consumer might have within the confines of one siloed platform. 

What are the best omnichannel strategies in marketing?

Omnichannel marketing strategies are highly complex. They have to serve the specific needs of  not just a given brand, but also the needs of a variety of customers. Some companies will plug into existing omnichannel marketing platforms, and some have the resources to build their own infrastructure for an omnichannel experience. 

This doesn’t lend itself to a cookie-cutter approach. Still, a few consistent themes and tools stick out in the landscape of omnichannel marketing trends:

• Rewards programs
• In-house apps
• Better integration of contact channels for customer support
• Bridging digital and in-store shopping
• Aligning SMS, email, and social messaging

For example, brands that allow customers to order products online and pick them up at a brick-and-mortar store have an effective omnichannel retail experience. This strategy ties together the different touchpoints a consumer has with a brand.  

But that’s just one part of a holistic picture. How else does that same customer interact? How does the brand meet their needs when they want their order delivered, or decide to browse in-store before buying? What sorts of follow-up communication will keep that customer engaged? An omnichannel marketing strategy should be able to answer those questions–for this consumer and many others with different behaviors and preferences.

Why Fetch should be your omnichannel solution

Fetch is an omnichannel solution that provides real-time purchase visibility. This creates a seamless buying journey from app to retailer. Fetch can power “click to brick” marketing strategies with its customizable, rewards-driven campaigns. 

By incentivizing consumers to snap receipts from both in-store and digital purchases, Fetch has developed a real-time dataset that bridges various retail experiences. That data, combined with flexible tools for targeted campaigns, makes Fetch a powerful engine for building consumer loyalty. These strengths in omnichannel marketing have also helped brands successfully introduce new products.

Ready to try the most effective omnichannel marketing solution available? Get in touch with the Fetch for Business team today.