How to Benefit From Multichannel World For Your Marketing Strategy

When it comes to launching a marketing strategy, your impulse might be to choose one or two marketing channels and to concentrate on them.

Unfortunately, this is not the case, when you should go with your impulse.

Customer needs are constantly growing, and with the rapid development of technology, they start using more and more channels to find, research, and buy the product they’re interested in.

Thus, choosing a single channel for your marketing strategy may cost you potential clients. They will have no idea where to find you!

By choosing a multichannel approach, you will increase your online presence, helping potential customers see your product online more.

More Statistics-Based Benefits

• multichannel marketing is important for creating a cohesive customer journey across all channels, with 86% of senior-level marketers supporting this statement;
• to connect with a single preferred retailer, 73% of consumers use multiple engagement channels;
• in regards to contacting the brands, 64% of Internet users expect to receive real-time assistance despite the customer support channel they use.

Nevertheless, only 5% of marketers currently engage all the necessary tools for multichannel marketing. However, you may be surprised that all the necessary tools are already at your hand when it comes to hitting multiple channels for your marketing strategy.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into the multichannel world and discover some ways how you can apply its benefits to your marketing strategy.

1. Social Media Omnipresence

Social media already offers you at least four or five different channels for your multichannel marketing strategy. Depending on your business and your target audience, you might choose the platforms, which offer the format of the content which is right for you.

Your brand can really benefit from social media. Every social media platform offers diversity, and in this diversity, you can find your target audience. Social media marketing should be involved in your multichannel marketing strategy. However, there are some mistakes to avoid:

• 91% of companies in the U.S. use multiple social media platforms for marketing purposes. But even though multichannel marketing presupposes using several channels, trying to target all social media platforms just for the sake of reaching more people, can actually turn your marketing strategy the other way around. Why? Your content will start to suffer. Remember that your target audience is always interested in high-quality engaging content that brings quality, not a mediocre omnipresence on all platforms.
• Choose social media platforms according to the demographics of your target audience. For instance, you’ll find that women are dominating Instagram, while men are more active on Twitter. Gender, age, and other indexes will help you determine which platform to use.
• Social media omnipresence presupposes producing diverse content. Although recycling content is an effective marketing strategy, it is a fact that Internet users get bored very quickly, so you can’t go with recycled content all the time. Study what each social media platform can do for you in terms of content to see, how you can diversify it.

Social media can also help you develop a multichannel customer support strategy. Consider this: 67% of consumers report that they usually engage with a brand’s customer support service through social media. Thus, introducing a seamless customer support experience through social media, including chatbots and automated replies will not only help you communicate with customers but also help your customer support react quicker.

2. Mobile vs. Desktop? Both!

The craze around giving the preference to the mobile version of the website over a desktop version only seems to gain momentum. It is true that the majority of people use mobile versions of websites more often, for instance, while being on a commute or to quickly look up information online. Among the reasons, why marketers invest in it, there’s the fact that Google prioritizes mobile versions of websites and it helps build the credibility of a brand.

However, practices from different companies show that the desktop website version is as important as a mobile version. For instance, Flatfy, an international real estate company, invested in both versions of their website to be equally informative in order to let people access the same amount of information either through a mobile or a laptop.

They even took it one step further by creating several websites (both for the desktop and mobile versions) in different languages, thus expanding the number of channels to reach their audiences in different countries. So, if you want to increase your presence internationally, don’t only aim for two basic versions of your website, but try to make them more fit for your international community.

3. Branded App Bonanza

Aside from diversifying your online presence by having different versions of your website and hitting different social media platforms, your multichannel marketing strategy can greatly benefit from a branded app.

According to MindSea, mobile users spend over 40 hours a week using smartphone apps. However, MindSea also states that only 9.7% of all apps are branded and business-related.

Of course, mobile apps require substantial investment, not only for their development but also for maintenance. However, this cause is worth investment, considering all the benefits it brings along:

• More value for customers. Mobile app contributes to increasing customer engagement as well as boost sales. This is due to the fact that customers get a convenient opportunity for shopping from their smartphones.
• Better brand visibility. Because not many companies have branded apps, investing in one gives you a unique opportunity to stand out.
• A valuable contribution to a positive customer journey. Customers appreciate having different channels for interaction with a brand. Having a fully-functioning branded app will secure you with a strong base of loyal customers.

A branded app is a great marketing and communication channel, investment in which will pay off quicker than you expect. It creates an additional channel for your business to target your audience and make the communication with them more effective.

Get Ready to Go Multichannel!

With so many options at hand, there’s no excuse for you for not using the multichannel world for your marketing strategy. Not only will you get numerous options to marketing your business, but you’ll also make the communication with your target audience more efficient and diverse.

So, don’t lag behind. Introduce your business to the vast audiences on different social media channels, and engage with mobile users via a mobile version of your website and a branded app. It won’t be long until your marketing strategy sees positive results of the multichannel world.

About the author: Ryan is a passionate writer who likes sharing his thoughts and experience with the readers. Currently, he works as a real estate agent, you can check his website here. He likes everything related to traveling and new countries.