Regardless of the size of your business, personalized strategic marketing programs have become a “must have.” Consumers own and use multiple devices and require multiple touch points with your business before they decide where to spend their dollars. This fundamental challenge of marketing to the modern consumer is at the heart of the need for an omnichannel strategy. When embarking on an omnichannel strategy, you need to consider 10 critical elements:
1. Start with goals
What is your primary business goal? Are you focusing on consumer acquisition? Are you trying to maximize return on investment? Whatever your business goals, they are a critical part of your omnichannel strategy since they will directly influence your marketing mix.
- Use your business goals to drive your strategy
- Match up your goals with channels that will get the most return
2. Put personas at the center
Are you mostly targeting age groups between 20 and 40? Mostly female? Professionals? Is your ideal customer interested in specific activities? These are just some of the elements of your target persona that will help you identify the right look, the right messages and the right campaigns that will help you drive your business.
- Create or use your target buyer demographics
- Build ideal “personas” of who you want to target
3. Your website is the start of your omnichannel campaign
Your website may seem like an odd place to start an omnichannel campaign, but it’s critical. Eventually all other marketing efforts will lead back to your website. That means you must design with a user experience tailored to your target consumer persona. Your website should include all the technology and innovation you need to focus on conversions and should provide an app-like mobile experience to ensure ease of use and navigation.
- Makes sure your website is technologically up to date
- Mobile first is key in 2018 – “responsive design” is no longer enough
- Have conversion-centric features enabled on your site
- Consider features like price comparison widgets and revenue recovery to maximize your omnichannel investment
4. Get local & organic
Your local search presence and SEO strategy are key aspects of your omnichannel strategy. Run a presence scan to understand if your business is listed everywhere and correctly. Consumers often look up your information directly in apps like Apple Maps or Yelp – make sure you are getting found. Ensure that you rank well for both branded and non-branded keywords to keep your business top of mind. And don’t forget about voice search – In just two years, over 50% of search is expected to be voice-based.
- Make sure your local-search presence is perfect across local search apps
- Have a sound keyword strategy for both branded and non-branded keywords
- Get an organic search strategy in place that is voice-search ready
