In the marketing world, the term omnichannel is pervasive, and meant to describe efforts by companies to diversify and broaden the tools, channels, and platforms they use to reach their audiences.
After all, digitally-connected consumers today are using email, social media, websites, and a wide variety of media formats to communicate with each other and stay in touch with the brands and businesses they care about.
But is there such a thing as being in too many places with your marketing strategies?
A Data-Driven Approach
The answer is a resounding yes.
Digital marketing is resource-intensive. Doing it well requires time, people, and budget, and most companies don’t have unlimited amounts of any of those things. Trying to be everywhere online and in front of every audience just doesn’t make sense strategically, tactically or financially.
Your customers and prospects, however, are giving you information every day about the channels that matter most to them. And that intelligence can help you determine what channels make the most sense for your business.
Thanks to technology, you can easily understand:
- Whether and where your customers are looking for you on social media, and which platforms they care about
- How they’re interacting with the content on your website, and what features or applications are proving most useful to them
- Where your sales are coming from and how digital channels are influencing them
By focusing on the feedback you get through data, you can meet your customers where they already are, invest in the channels that are already working, and learn what smart, methodical bets you can place for future expansion.
Customer Experience Is Key
Whether you’re emphasizing a few selective channels for your marketing or taking a more complex, integrated approach, the most important thing to consider is how you’re designing the ultimate experience that your customers will have with your brand.
Your customers won’t care if you’re using the latest and greatest VR technology for your manufacturing business if they can’t go to your website and get the basic information they need about your products. Nor will they be interested in your presence on the slickest new social media application if you aren’t serving them well through your existing mobile app.
And in today’s global marketplace, a true omnichannel experience includes making sure your content is available in the languages your customers use and do business with each day, no matter where you’re communicating with them.
Some good questions to ask about your brand’s omnichannel strategy:
- Can our customers easily and seamlessly navigate and consume content on our website in their preferred language?
- Are we delivering content through our email and social media campaigns in the languages our customers want and use?
- Have we designed our search engine optimization strategies to help global customers find the information and content they need?
- Is our translated content optimized for the way our customers access it, including mobile devices or third-party application?
Asking smart questions about the effectiveness of your omnichannel strategy – including how you’re reaching multilingual customers – can help you focus on the channels that will deliver the most results and maximize the resources and effort you spend reaching customers across the globe.
Global Omnichannel Is Good For Business
You’ve already made significant investments in the core building blocks of your brand: a solid website, strong messaging, a clear value proposition. Maintaining that brand consistently and clearly around the world and across the channels you’ve chosen can be a challenge.
But the effort to do so can pay big dividends.
Having a clear, focused and localized omnichannel strategy communicates clearly to your international customers that you know what channels they use and value, and that you’re paying attention to their preferences. Localizing content for every channel you use also communicates that you’re committed to showing up authentically in their market with respect for their language, culture, and unique needs. That builds trust, and trust – especially in a fast-moving digital world – drives sales.
A global and selective omnichannel strategy also makes it easier to scale to other international markets as your business expands. Once you’ve laid the groundwork and done the research to know where your customers need and want to find you, smart technology investments and expert partners can help you easily scale those learnings to expand your business into new local markets.
Our digital landscape today is complex, and new tools and platforms are always showing up.
But successful businesses know that the right omnichannel strategy – one that’s inclusive of international audiences, focused on a few of the right channels, and delivering on a truly global experience – matters most of all.
Showing up well beats showing up everywhere, and a few smart investments in research, technology, and localization can make successful omnichannel marketing a reality for your brand.
Craig Witt is the Executive Vice President, Go-to-Market: Global Sales, Marketing, Customer Success at MotionPoint