With tonnes of different marketing strategies out there, it can be difficult to know which one is right for you. You’re likely here because you want to know which one to choose: omnichannel or multichannel. So, let’s dive straight in and take a look at both strategies in more detail, and how your business might benefit from them.
Omnichannel or multichannel? That is the question
We live in an age where marketing is essential for promoting your products or services and reaching your target audience, but in order to market effectively, you need to have an understanding of the different strategies out there. And there are so many that it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming.
Two popular approaches are multichannel marketing and omnichannel marketing. Many people often mistakenly believe that they are the same thing when, in reality, they have very different purposes.
Omnichannel meaning
Omnichannel – literally meaning ‘every’ or ‘all channels’ – refers to marketing to your customers across all of their preferred channels throughout their customer journey.
Multichannel meaning
Multichannel – literally meaning ‘more than one channel’ – refers to targeting your customers via a combination of mediums, both direct and indirect.
But doesn’t that all mean the same thing? No. Need further clarification? That’s what we’re here for, so let’s break it down and take a closer look at the two marketing strategies to help you decide. Will it be omnichannel or multichannel?
What is multichannel marketing?
Multichannel marketing is where businesses utilise multiple marketing channels, often independently of each other, in order to target and interact with customers. These channels might include social media, company websites, email, TV and mobile apps.
Multichannel marketing is used as a way of making your brand as visible as possible across a number of platforms. The main aim is to get your brand seen by a larger audience and boost conversions.
Multichannel marketing: A channel-centric approach
One of the main distinguishing features of multichannel marketing is that it’s very much a channel-centric approach. Essentially, this means that businesses who employ this approach focus on each channel separately, with messaging and style often being different across platforms.
So, with each channel comes a separate strategy, and different goals and metrics. The focus is very much on establishing your brand’s presence across different channels, without actually coordinating campaigns that flow between them.
What about the customer?
The downside to this is that while each channel is separate to your others, your customer isn’t getting the same experience across your different touchpoints. Why is this a problem? Well, it means your customers may notice inconsistencies in their customer journey – especially where messaging and branding are concerned.
Multichannel marketing can also sometimes lead to disjointed customer interactions, as different departments are often responsible for handling different channels, meaning differences in communication between teams.
What’s omnichannel marketing?
While a multichannel marketing strategy focuses on creating separate ideas across each channel, omnichannel marketing is all about aligning messaging and integrating ideas across all channels so that, wherever a customer is in their journey, they will be able to move seamlessly.
Omnichannel marketing: A customer-centric approach
Where multichannel marketing is a channel-centric approach that aims to drive your brand’s visibility, omnichannel marketing places the customer at its core.
The main goal of omnichannel marketing is to create a seamless and integrated experience for your customers across all your touchpoints. So, regardless of where you market to them, they’ll know it’s your brand they’re seeing.
Customers use a wide range of channels on a day-to-day basis, and omnichannel marketing takes this into account, making sure that the experience they receive from your brand is the same across each channel and every point of their customer journey. Its emphasis is really on creating a consistent experience, so, you could say that it provides a more cohesive experience for your customers.
Not only this but omnichannel marketing also allows you to gather customer data, so you can get a better understanding of what they like, how they tend to behave and how they interact on different channels. A huge benefit of this is that it enables you to then utilise this data to create a more bespoke customer experience.
Which should I choose? Omnichannel or multichannel marketing?
You’ve heard the key differences, and hopefully that’s given you some food for thought as to which approach might work best for your company. So, omnichannel or multichannel marketing? Which is right for your business?
If you don’t have enough resources but want to place emphasis on making your mark and really establishing a presence across a number of channels, multichannel marketing may be your best option. The pros of this are that it takes less time to implement, provides flexibility and allows for expanded reach.
Whereas, if you’re looking to create a customer-centred strategy with the aim of creating a tailor-made customer experience that flows, regardless of which channel your customers are using at any given time, omnichannel marketing could be for you.
While omnichannel marketing requires more time and resources, if you want to delight your customers and target markets, having a customer focused marketing strategy, such as this, can pay dividends, helping you build strong relationships with your audience, foster brand loyalty and get that competitive edge over your competition.
Not sure where to start with omnichannel or multichannel marketing? Or just need help with your overall marketing strategy? KAYBE are here to help! Get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.
