Omnichannel retail marketing: 5 trends to watch
Retailers must prioritize omnichannel marketing in order to drive sales and loyalty. Learn about key trends to stay ahead of the pack.
In a constantly-evolving field, it can feel as though marketing resources are stretched thinner than ever. The ongoing talent shortage and budget cuts mean that smaller teams are spread over larger areas, which creates difficulties when paired with today’s “always-on” consumers.
The best way to get the results you want is to ensure there are consistent and relevant communications throughout your marketing funnel by taking an omnichannel approach. Given tight budgets and stretched resources, how can you do this effectively?
- Assess your team’s strengths & weaknesses
- Focus on the customer and their journey
- Monitor your media mix and recalibrate if needed
Modern marketing: The omnichannel approach
For many of today’s marketing teams, omnichannel can be a Herculean task. With prioritizing in-the-moment needs, it can be enough of a challenge to consistently maintain a campaign on a single channel. However, today’s fragmented audience clearly requires an omnichannel approach.
A diverse stream of media touchpoints gives your brand the ability to connect with consumers in a variety of different ways — but it also means that communication must be consistent, in order to promote brand awareness, drive conversions, and ultimately, brand loyalty.
Not diversifying your media mix puts you at a comparative disadvantage. And when the numbers indicate that brands serving ads across 3+ channels can attain as much as a 250% higher purchase and engagement rate than those only using a single channel, it becomes clear that a multifaceted media strategy is critical.
Because of an increasingly crowded marketplace, building your brand means ensuring you’re present across various mediums that consumers interact with on a daily basis. This may include, but isn’t limited to, your social media channels, website, apps, and even offline in print and at physical locations.
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Take stock & play to your strengths
No one can be an expert in everything. With finite time and the need for consistent communication, it’s important to lay out the specific capabilities of your team, and to determine your weak points.
Whether or not you subscribe to the belief that marketing is facing its worst talent crisis, the fact remains that smaller teams find themselves at a greater disadvantage in this industry, where constant fluctuations mean that various specialists and experts are often needed.
Beyond that, new technologies are constantly emerging that can have even the best marketers hitting the books as they work to learn on the job.
Know your team’s capabilities— and work to find solutions that play to everyone’s strengths.
Of course, not every solution will work for every brand. It may take a bit of trial and error, but this approach will ensure that your efforts can be devoted to an omnichannel strategy that will ultimately maximize your returns.
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A customer-focused approach to omnichannel
Rather than focus on your product, a consumer-centric omnichannel approach will bring the greatest returns. When it comes to finding the right time and place for your message, considering your consumer’s unique needs should be at the heart of the experience.
Most brands have their ideal consumer— and it’s this image that should continue to guide you as you expand into an omnichannel strategy. However, it’s not about a static image of your consumer— many expect their favorite brands to be up to date with their product preferences and to adapt to those preferences in near real-time. A robust data set helps you optimize the customer experience.
It’s true that data privacy concerns are a growing issue among consumers, however, a majority of them don’t mind providing this data if it leads to a better shopping experience. As many as 76% of consumers would complete a short survey to improve their shopping experience.
Perhaps equally vital to a consumer-focused experience is how you leverage the data you gather. For example, consider mapping the customer’s journey. How are consumers most often finding your products?
Determining how your ideal consumers are moving through the marketing funnel can give your brand more strategic entry points into their browsing experience.
Less is more: Creating the best omnichannel retail
The best omnichannel retail strategy focuses on the channels that matter most to your customers and providing seamless customer experience.
Constantly tune your strategy to keep up with trends
Another way to begin enhancing your omnichannel approach is to establish greater brand affinity for your consumers. As you seek to move your ideal consumer through the marketing funnel, consider what tangential information they actively seek out.
For example, as New Balance works to move consumers down their funnel, product placements for their shoes are interspersed with relevant content, offers and community interactions.
Once you have an omnichannel approach in place, it requires proper maintenance. Consistently monitor your media mix and ensure the balance is still right for your brand.
For instance, Starbucks relies heavily on the integration between its mobile app and its in-store locations, as many of its ideal consumers are consistent purchasers who are already on-the-go.
However, an automotive brand might think differently, as many people maintain their vehicles for many years after a purchase, meaning that they have to find different ways to keep their brand top of mind— such as through commercials, or on sites dedicated to auto maintenance. Make sure your various channels continue to promote brand synergy across the consumer journey.
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Meeting the challenge, getting results
The world of marketing is only getting faster and more complex. When it comes to campaigns that attract and keep consumers’ attention, omnichannel marketing is no longer the exception, but the rule. Therefore, it’s more important than ever to take stock of your teams and ensure that you’re playing to your best strengths.
If your strategy centers around your consumer, then you can drive conversions more effectively and achieve greater brand loyalty.
