Dove Direct Print & Marketing Blog - “Multichannel Versus Omnichannel Marketing in 2019”

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Multichannel Versus Omnichannel Marketing in 2019" discusses the premise of how to achieve increased ROI using multichannel marketing strategies versus omnichannel marketing synergies. Multichannel advertising is exactly what brands have been engaged in for decades, that being to advertise on select marketing mediums and platforms that make sense for a brand's targeted demographics, and depending on the budget, the more channels the merrier
Omnichannel marketing can consist of a single marketing campaign being distributed everywhere on just about every media channel.

The online marketing channels now take up a large part of any advertising budget, and to that end, brands and marketers are faced with multivarious marketing decisions.

Omnichannel marketing is a concept where the content is repurposed for each and every channel that the brand is looking to target, including the smaller niches that are often avoided in a limited, albeit multichannel campaign. In a sense, one can think of omnichannel marketing strategies as a mass reach solution of sorts, and multichannel as a niche targeting concept limited to those niches most likely to match the brand's targeted prospects.

Multichannel marketing is more limited with a selective distribution approach whereby the marketing campaign is published on the most appropriate channels that the brand can afford.

What Separates Omnichannel from Multichannel

Throughout many marketing discussions is the debate about the similarities and differences between multichannel versus omnichannel marketing. In fact, some folks believe that the two are very similar strategies, however, these two marketing disciplines are very different. While both strategies utilize multiple channels to engage customers and prospects, they are distinctly separate concepts.

By definition, multichannel marketing is commonly thought of in terms of its capability to engage with prospects across various media platforms. A popular definition floating through the marketing halls of discussion is that mulitchannel strategies are focused on the where, with campaign channels consisting of publishing to areas such as a print ad, direct mail piece, a website, retail location, event, word-of-mouth and could include product packaging.

That said, multichannel strategies are less concerned with producing seamless customer experiences and in most cases operate in a silo type approach, with the marketing team focusing on their individual channels. In short, the multichannel approach is limited to focusing on getting the messaging out to the most channels that the brand can afford.

By contrast, omnichannel marketing merges consumer engagement on a holistic level to the whole customer experience outcome. This is achieved by ensuring that each and every marketing touchpoint is consistent from the consumer's perspective with the primary focus being that of putting the customer and brand relationship on solid ground.

Multichannel is good and can be effective, however, omnichannel is much better.

Brands that have developed excellent omnichannel customer experiences achieve a 91% higher YTY on average increase for customer retention rates when compared to brands that opt to forgo an ominchannel marketing strategy.

Further, Gary Vaynerchuk, dubbed by many as a marketer extraordinaire is a huge fan of omnichannel marketing concepts. In fact, Mr. Vaynerchuk has actually provided proof of the omnichannel results with a video to demonstrate how that single piece of video marketing content could be repurposed into 30 plus pieces of marketing content for 30 plus marketing channels.

Mr. Vaynerchuk has suggested that omnichannel marketing is the way to go, and his successes are hard to dispute. Therefore, brands and marketers that utilize the content repurposing technique will be better prepared for creating that seamless customer experience.

This means that all marketing content and collateral can be used for videos, email marketing, direct mail marketing, social media, mobile, brochure content, websites, podcasts and any channel being considered, even outdoor.

Reducing Effort to Effortless

Basketball phenom Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors has often been dubbed as "Stephortless," meaning that his three point shots are the most efficient in the NBA due to his ease of shooting with such accuracy.

Similarly, marketing efforts should also be streamlined to be more efficient from collateral creation to reducing or even eliminating the effort consumers are facing that defines their experiences.

In addition, Misla Tramp, EVP of Insights and Innovations for Thazoois recently stated; "There is a tendency to consider the many channels available to connect with consumers today as simply more options to be used. That's more of a multichannel approach. Omnichannel involves using data to understand where effort exists in the customer experience and how to remove, rather than add, effort."

Therefore, brands comfortable with using the multichannel strategy versus omnichannel marketing concepts are operating in a Jurrassic marketing park and could be missing their targets in spite of harnessing the multichannel approach.

Omnichannel Brings Consistency

The multichannel marketing experience is locked on delivering marketing collateral to the various marketing channels the brand has opted to advertise within. Insofar as having unified collateral for those marketing channels, multichannel strategies do incorporate that idea to a point. However, because the marketing team tends to work in silos, the customer experience piece tends to get placed on the back burner.

Why is that so important? For example, how many times have you purchased a product online and then after the purchase you start getting email promotions and possibly a direct mail piece asking for you to purchase the same product you already purchased?

That means the marketing team is not paying attention to the purchase data, and are most likely simply responding to emails the CRM has captured. This is a good example of marketing teams working in silos, or having to deal with the lack of a comprehensive internal strategy to avoid those kinds of customer experience errors.

That said, organizations that are using an effective omnichannel strategy take great steps to ensure that all internal departments (even beyond marketing) have been educated and are on board with the campaign marketing messages. And this internal department buy in could include social media, video, sales, customer service, customer successes and public relations. Internal consistency is a must-have in order to execute a successful omnichannel marketing campaign.

Personalized Optimization

Personalization, Personalization, Personalization! By now, even misfit toys have heard the term personalization, which has become the leading marketing buzzword to gain prominence over the past several years. We know that by placing a personalized message on a piece of collateral whether it's digital or a direct mail piece, even by just addressing the prospect by name goes a long way towards generating interest and placing the prospect into the sales funnel.

We also know that direct mail marketing using the variable digital printing (aka variable data printing) technology changes the game beyond the first name, to include specific data that sheds more light on each prospect, from the images they respond to, the message types that peak their interest, purchasing history, age, income, and the list structure and capture could go on to satisfy the brand and marketing team's concerns.

While many brands are continuing to support multichannel marketing efforts, more of them are becoming interested in finding a way to produce effective and accountable data based on commerce independent of each of channel. That said, optimization afforded by the omnichannel platform brings a level of efficiency that optimizes how each channel is being used. In short, omnichannel marketing brings a consistent, seamless customer experience that zeroes in on the individual and takes personalization to a higher level.

Customer Retention Factor

Customer retention aka "churn" represents a challenge each and every business faces on a daily, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. Churn is a term commonly associated with the number of existing customers that have left purchasing with the brand, juxtaposed against the number of new clients boarded during a given period of time. It is a common belief that marketing per se, as one of its functions, is supposed to serve as the guardian of the churn castle.

With effective marketing strategies marketers and brands believe that churn will be reduced. At the end of the day, brands that are complacent with multichannel marketing could be missing out on reducing churn.

The Net-Net

Multichannel and Onmichannel are two different beasts. They both are built on divergent strategies that would appear similar in nature, i.e., reach as many consumers and prospects as possible through multiple channels. However, brands that are looking to increase sales and customer retention will have to make the jump to onmichannel marketing. The future is now and omnichannel marketing is here.

Thank you for reading "Multichannel Versus Omnichannel Marketing in 2019."

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