Omni-channel marketing has increased in popularity since the pandemic, with 61% of all companies (and 77% of B2C companies) noting an increase in their marketing channels. Omni-channel marketing helps companies reach more customers on the platforms they naturally use and follows the modern habits of consumers, but it also comes with data complexity.
In this blog, we discuss the benefits of omnichannel marketing, and how to manage the data complexity that comes with managing more channels (and a mix of online and offline channels) while still keeping tabs on key performance metrics.
Modern buying experiences are far from linear and no longer confined to one channel, one device, or even one physical location. Buyers might start their journey with a Google search leading to a blog post, but then they might purchase a product in store. Likewise, they might browse products in real life and then end up purchasing online. And that’s not even mentioning all the other channels, from social, to display, to podcasts, to CTV, and beyond that they might encounter along the way.
Omnichannel marketing is essentially an approach to marketing that reflects this new way of buying. Omnichannel strategies encompass a wide range of digital and physical platforms involved in advertising and selling a product or service.
One reason for the rise in omnichannel marketing is simply that consumer habits are changing. According to data from Salesforce’s latest “State of the Connected Consumer” report, buyers in both B2C and B2B contexts use many different channels to interact with businesses (10 for business buyers and 8 for consumers). Buyers also split their time between online and offline media, so it’s important to pay attention to both.
Not only is omnichannel marketing an accurate reflection of how modern buyers purchase, it’s also better suited to offer diverse buying and research experiences. Some buyers will use more channels to research and complete transactions, others will only use a few. Some may skew toward online, whereas others will lean offline. Omnichannel marketing has the potential to cater to all experiences with a unified approach.
Lastly, omnichannel marketing can be profitable. According to McKinsey retail expert, Tyler Harris, “Omnichannel customers shop 1.7 times more than single-channel shoppers. They also spend more. The in-store customer, going forward, will be someone who is hitting all the different channels and touchpoints that a brand or retailer has. That means consistency and connectivity between all those channels will be really important.”
Despite the wide range of digital channels available to marketers, marketing strategies aren’t 100% digital. In the previously mentioned CMO survey only a small percentage of marketers went fully digital and almost a third of respondents were adding more offline channels.
While a hybrid approach can be beneficial because of the way modern consumers buy, the reality of trying to do online and offline marketing (and do it all well) is that it’s often difficult to see a holistic view of the impact of all of those separate channels.
Additionally, it can be difficult to correctly attribute conversions and revenue when working across so many disparate channels. Some companies attempt the custom approach to this type of measurement but find that building a solution to handle the first-party data collection necessary presents more challenges than it’s worth.
With Rockerbox products, companies can alleviate the work of centralizing and standardizing data from all the channels they use in their marketing mix.
Rockerbox helps many customers pull off complex omnichannel and multichannel marketing strategies by providing measurement solutions that give marketing teams insight into what’s working and how to adjust their strategies.
Global health and wellness organization WeightWatchers is just one example. Their team was faced with the challenge of making sense of all of their disparate marketing data across digital and online platforms. The lack of centralized data made it difficult for them to pull out actionable insights that could drive their team and their business forward.
By using Rockerbox, WeightWatchers was able to get a centralized view of their global marketing data in their data warehousing platform, Snowflake. Having this central resource helped their marketing and data teams access the necessary data to drive more intentional decision-making, gain a greater understanding of their customers, and spend marketing dollars in the most efficient way possible.
To make omnichannel marketing work, you need to have a measurement plan in place to track performance and spend across all of your channels, online and offline. With this holistic measurement approach, you can get a clearer picture of how your marketing channels and tactics are working together to convert visitors into customers.
Reach out to our team today to start discussing the solution that’s right for your business.
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