Omnichannel marketing aims to create a cohesive, well-orchestrated customer experience across channels. The idea is to take a data-driven, customer-centric view of the purchase, engagement, and loyalty journeys and meet customers where they are for each. But in some cases one channel holds sway over the others, helping marketers take that more customer-centric approach while still meeting their marketing-centric needs and goals.
As omnichannel marketing grows in adoption and popularity among marketers, the question then becomes: What channel is—or should be—the linchpin of omnichannel marketing, and why? Twelve marketing experts share their perspective. Their answers may surprise you.
Christine Kessler, Client Services, Sudden Impact Marketing
As both a consumer and a marketer, I believe the linchpin of omnichannel marketing is the website. Cool campaigns can attract attention, but if the website isn’t up to date with the latest in-store and online inventory, or if it’s difficult to find what I’m looking for, you’re not going to make the sale. My time is valuable, so if I’m interested in a product, I’m going to check it out online before ever stepping foot into your store. And if I’m not in a store, your mobile tactics won’t be nearly as effective.
What are the latest product reviews? Is it available in my preferred location? Can I reserve it online? I should be able to answer all of these questions from the convenience of my laptop, iPad, or phone; meaning the site also needs to be responsive. If you’re tracking my activity on the website accurately, you should have enough data to ensure that my experience is a seamless transition from what I was doing online, and you should be able to properly target me the next time a similar product goes on sale.
Holly Pavlika, SVP, Brand Strategy, Collective Bias
According to a recent Pew Research Internet study, 74% of adults use social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This means that 74% of adults are sharing content with their followers on the aforementioned social channels. As marketers look to provide a cohesive customer experience for their consumer audience, social media should be a major focus of marketing campaigns. Socially connected customers are generating millions of impressions annually, and casting a wide net of influence over their friends and followers. And, with the implementations of “Buy” buttons on both Twitter and Pinterest, the intermix of social and commerce isn’t something marketers should take lightly. For example, we recently launched a study that examined the impact of Facebook on sales at a major grocer and found that Facebook fans of the grocer spent 50% more at the store than non-fans, and bought a total of 35% more product. For marketers, this is a clear indicator that social channels aren’t just a useful awareness tool, but a prime driver of sales.
Eric Stahl, SVP of Product Marketing, Salesforce
While marketers are constantly focused on the latest new platform, email has long proven itself to be the workhorse of digital marketing. It delivers the highest ROI, is appropriate for every audience, and plays well with consumers. In fact, a recent survey from Marketing Sherpa reveals that 91% of U.S. adults say they like getting promotional emails from companies they do business with.
Email ties digital marketing efforts together to deliver a seamless and personalized customer experience; it can be a petri dish for data testing, combined with predictive marketing to drive transactions, or used to amplify social media advertising efforts. In a case study of one major online retailer, email openers were 22% more likely to purchase when first reached with Facebook ads.
Email may not be the flashiest marketing channel, but it’s the connective tissue of the customer journey.
Soo Jin Oh, SVP of Data Business & Ad Operations, Magnetic
With consumers constantly switching between devices—including mobile phones, computers, wearables, tablets, and connected TVs—more and more marketers are implementing omnichannel strategies to reach consumers as they move across devices and along the purchase funnel. The rise of mobile consumption has quickly become the foundation for these omnichannel strategies, as the medium provides more ways to tap into a variety of data points to target consumers and deliver a brand’s message through tactics like click-to-call, swipe features, and GPS locators. While the increase in mobile consumption offers marketers a great deal of opportunity, we’re now faced with new challenges like how best to measure the efficacy of our cross-device efforts. It’s imperative that marketers spend more time analyzing the data they receive and set definitive goals to ensure their cross-device strategies are as effective as possible.
Mar Brandt, Vice President, Strategic Accounts, Experian Marketing Services
While each marketing channel holds an important place along the customer journey, time and time again, email has been proven essential. According to a study by Forrester Consulting commissioned by Experian Marketing Services, marketers who are seasoned in email will lead the transition to the era of cross-channel marketing. In the study, Forrester found that marketers struggle to integrate data sources and adopt effective data management practices, yet email marketers demonstrated significantly higher rates of data usage best practices—twice as much as the average respondent.
When executing a cross-channel strategy, marketers must select channels not only based on their target customers’ habits and preferences, but also those that are best at delivering the message tied to each stage of the customer’s journey. According to our 2015 Digital Marketer report, email remains the most popular and effective channel to do this with. Marketers are able to pinpoint and identify what is most relevant and influential in the customer’s path to purchase. This level of clarity gives marketers the opportunity to then incorporate additional channels based on what’s relevant to the customer along that path that ties all communications together.
Alex Lustberg, CMO, Lyris
Email is clearly the linchpin of any omnichannel engagement strategy. All the lessons in digital marketing were learned in email and it remains the heart of every digital relationship. Why? First, it’s the most mature, accepted, and adopted digital engagement technology. As a result, it has become both the digital driver’s license, necessary for completing any online transaction. It remains the only proven way to engage in an ongoing series of conversations with a captive audience of one.
Krista LaRiviere, CEO and Cofounder, gShift
Email. After decades of innovation in digital marketing and the introduction of new channels and methods to reach audiences, email is the linchpin of omnichannel marketing. Digital marketers wanting to get in front of their audience—who have asked (opted in) to be marketed and communicated to—stand the best chance of accomplishing that through a well-thought-out email marketing campaign. Getting into the target audience’s inbox also allows them to consume the message when it is convenient for them.
Jared Belsky, President, 360i
Believing there is one channel of more importance in an omnichannel measurement scheme is at direct odds with the meritocracy that is supposed to be digital marketing. Attribution systems sprung to life in theory to help marketers grow their business, but instead have too often devolved into arbitrating “credit” wars. A peer of mine is fond of saying that the best omnichannel system is the “one that makes your client the most money.” Adhering to this thesis builds trust. The one trump to this thesis is context. If you’re preparing to drive trial to a new line extension with a short window, then the channels that are driving trial (e.g., programmatic, search, direct mail, FSIs) need to be weighted beyond those that less directly contribute to that critical goal if time is not on your side.
Diaz Nesamoney, CEO, Jivox
The marketing landscape is shifting, namely, to an on-the-go consumer landscape where marketers need to have a mobile mind-set. Marketers now have a new approach to multichannel marketing, through the use of data, to communicate the right message at the right time to the right person. We now have more access to real-time data than ever before and we can serve messages that are personalized depending on the weather, location, time, as well as their own preferences no matter what channel users are viewing it on. Combining dynamic content with precise message targeting is essential for the modern day marketer, and with smart use of technology this year will be the year that creativity and relevancy come together.
James Zayti, Group Director, Hyundai Media, INNOCEAN USA
While it varies by category, we’ve seen that a brand’s website in the automotive space holds clout over other channels. It truly is the only channel that has no bias toward how old you are, what devices you use, or what social networks you prefer. It not only has the ability to cater to a serious intender, but also to a window shopper, and provides numerous forms of content such as imagery, video, product detail, and price. It can also serve as a brand’s hub that users can visit to get all of the information they could possibly want to know about and discover. When you mix it with search, a brand’s website can be pretty remarkable.
Stella Goulet, CMO, Avanade
Effective omnichannel integration is critical to successful marketing programs. But, increasingly, we view Twitter as the linchpin that sits at the center.
We’re not alone. The Content Marketing Institute found that 88% of B2B marketers use Twitter to distribute content, compared with 55% in 2010. And confidence in Twitter as an effective platform has gone up five percentage points in the past year.
Twitter has two key factors going for it: 1. it’s highly interactive—driving discussions, surveys, and more; 2. it’s fast and flexible, enabling us to convey key messages quickly and post a variety of content. Companies can also host tweetchats to dive deeper into a particular topic and expand their audience, something we’ve done successfully on several occasions.
Of course, our ultimate objective with Twitter (and all social channels) is to drive clients to our people and website, where we can provide a deeper, richer experience.
Greg Head, CMO, InfusionSoft
Omnichannel isn’t easy for any business, but for marketers at a small business being truly omnichannel can be especially challenging given their limited time and budgets. It’s hard enough to keep up with a few channels and keep the revenue flow going. This makes it even more critical for small business marketers to continue to hone their messages and narrow the target audience to make sure their message hits home and converts. Ironically, most small businesses struggle to specialize and focus beyond one level of “dentist in Scottsdale” or “marketing consultant.” They need to be even more focused to get their message across to the right audience. There are a number of steps to nurturing prospects and this requires multiple touchpoints, but it starts with a triggered action, such as an email, and then testing to understand which channel drives greatest word of mouth, and this is different for every business.
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