Omnichannel Marketing Buzzworthy, or Buzzword?
It’s Monday morning and your alarm rings *ugh*...
You stretch and scan Instagram for any noteworthy memes you missed overnight.
You grab a shower and check your email on your phone while your coffee is brewing.
You scroll through all your missed text messages while you munch on some breakfast.
You hop in the car and listen to a marketing podcast on your way to work.
You power up your MacBook and open a million browsers to start another busy day as a marketer.
It’s 9 AM and you’ve already interacted with 4+ marketing channels. In today’s marketing landscape, most consumers are using more than one platform to engage with digital content: SMS, email, social media, podcasts, online search, apps, and more.
Did you interact with a single brand across multiple touchpoints during your pre-work digital extravaganza? If you did, you may have had an omnichannel experience and not even known about it. That’s kind of the idea with omnichannel, after all. To unobtrusively give you everything you want as a consumer across every touchpoint.
Omnichannel, so much more than a buzzword
If you’ve heard of “Omnichannel” and thought, “that’s a buzzword I’ll pass on”, it’s a super fancy word for a super simple concept. Omnichannel marketing is a coordinated strategy that provides your audience with a single seamless experience across multiple channels and touchpoints.
For example, during your morning Instagram scroll, you saw a KPop Demon Hungers Stanley Cup that you knew your kid would love for their birthday. So you clicked buy, transitioned to the seller’s website to buy, and then received email and SMS confirmations of your purchase. Multiple touchpoints. Seamless experience. Omnichannel.
Omnichannel experiences can also transition from the ‘real world’ to digital media. For example, when you went to brew your coffee, you realized you were out of half-and-half. So you abandoned the coffee and headed to Dunkin’. While you were there, you saw a QR code promoting a special offer that you could get by subscribing to their social channels. So you scanned the code before you placed your order, completed the required action, and the cashier scanned your digital coupon. When you left Dunkin’, you got a text asking how you liked their new menu item, along with a link to review it online. Point of sale signage to a digital experience. Seamless execution. Omnichannel.
You get the idea. Omnichannel integrates branding, messaging, and experiences to create a cohesive and connected journey. If you’re new to the concept, here are a few campaign ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Here are a few actionable steps to take to create an unbeatable marketing strategy and transform it into an irresistible omnichannel campaign.
Understand the ideal customer experience.
A customer receives your product and opens the box. Perhaps you’ve got a QR code on the top of the materials that takes the user to an onboarding portal with step-by-step instructions or videos to help them get started. Reducing friction by seamlessly passing customers from channel to channel to optimize their onboarding experience is an excellent way to begin using omnichannel marketing tactics.
Personalization, everywhere.
A prospect downloads an eBook from your website and shares their name, job title, and primary interests. What now? Do you keep targeting them with the same eBook they already downloaded? Or do you create an omnichannel experience by:
Sending them a personalized email that acknowledges them by name and shares a piece of synergistic content based on their interests.
Personalize the landing page with synergistic content so that when they click on the link, the landing page greets them by name.
Targeting them with ads on social media that align with their interests and stage of their buying journey.
In 2025, personalization is table stakes. Consumers expect you to know who they are and what they like to create an experience across every touchpoint that shows that you know them.
Automated Touchpoints, Consistent Talktracks.
A veterinary clinic sends an SMS to their clients with senior pets (leveraging their CRM to only send this message to clients with pets over 8 years of age) for Animal Pain Awareness Month in September, advising them to come in for a wellness exam and enjoy a free arthritis screening. They share the same message via email, organic social media, and paid social media. When a client with a senior pet walks into the clinic during September, the front desk verbally alerts them to the promotion, and pet owners can grab a brochure that reviews what they’ll receive in their free arthritis screening. Every touchpoint from pre-visit to at-clinic was seamless and consistent.
Convert Conference Traffic to Leads.
Use QR codes at conferences to invite booth visitors to enter your giveaways. This is an efficient way to turn in-person visits into in-database leads. These leads can automatically enroll in nurture sequences with messaging that is consistent with your giveaway.
Omnichannel Pitfalls to Avoid
If you’re new to omnichannel marketing, avoid these common pitfalls
Don’t silo marketing communications channels
Consider email, ads, and point of sale as an interconnected web that can support each other. If you’re running one campaign only on email and another only on social media, you are missing opportunities to optimize campaign outcomes.
Don’t over-message
When sharing the same message across multiple channels, it’s important to avoid sending too many communications. Spamming recipients can result in opt-outs and annoyance.
Don’t ignore mobile
Most prospects engage with brands on both mobile and desktop machines. Often, engagement with your brand will start on mobile first and transition to desktop as the consumer becomes more interested. Make sure it’s easy for them to make the transition.
Don’t forget offline
Conferences, events, and other in-person experiences are crucial. These are often the highest-value touchpoints, so don’t let them die on the vine; collect crucial information to transition them to a digital experience after the in-person touch.
Don’t rely only on automation
While automation is important, it’s not everything. Consumers still place a lot of value on personalized 1:1 communication. Add steps in your automations that assign tasks to sales reps to send hand-written notes or engage in personalized outbound calls.
Don’t neglect data privacy
Pay particular attention to this one with SMS and email. CAN-SPAM and GDPR laws are no joke.
Don’t assume one size fits all
Leverage the data you are collecting via cookies and direct data provided by prospects to segment your database and deliver the most appropriate communications based on the consumer’s job title, buying stage, etc.
Ready to Kick-Off Your Own Omnichannel Campaign?
If you need a little help or a turnkey solution, the Red Brick Partners team can help. We’re experts in marketing automation, CRM optimization, and digital marketing communications. Contact us today to get started.