Want to sink your teeth into a delicious example of omni-channel marketing in action?
Maybe you should order a pizza. Dominos recently ran a TV campaign where a bunch of celebrities argued over the best way to order a pizza. One did it by sending a pizza emoji in a text. Another got a pizza with a tweet. One ordered via her smart TV. One tapped his smartwatch and presto—Pizza!
The underlying idea behind Dominos’ AnyWare campaign is the essence of omni-channel marketing. Your prospects should get the same great experience no matter how they choose to buy from you. To achieve that, you need three key elements:
1) A unifying, overarching message that’s consistent across marketing channels
2) Consistent offers available at all consumer touchpoints
3) All marketing channels working together to drive sales, not fighting over credit
If you’re a direct response marketer, I know what you may be thinking...
“If I’m stuck looking at the big picture, how am I supposed to hold any given channel accountable for its performance?”
Holding every marketing dollar accountable is still paramount, but it’s crucial to understand that consumer behavior has evolved. The era of direct response advertising where a single call to action provokes a single action is over. Customers will click on your web ad because they saw your TV spot. People will respond to your radio ad because their friends raved about you on Facebook. No matter how you tell consumers to act, they’ll go to their preferred method first. Without an omni-channel strategy in place, your prospects may not recognize you when they try to find you.
Results reporting isn’t as black and white as it used to be, but that’s okay. Sacrificing simplicity was the price of unparalleled opportunity. Because the sheer number of consumers responding to direct response is far higher than it’s ever been. People are abandoning the traditional shopping experience in favor of the convenience of buying direct. As long as you’re willing to meet your prospects where they are, you’ll find your consumer base is far larger than ever before.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you may think omni-channel is unattainable. You’ve got bigger fish to fry than investing in the technology that would allow your customers to place orders with smiley faces on twitter. Keep in mind that pursuing an omni-channel strategy doesn’t mean adopting every channel immediately.
Think of omni-channel as a journey. A potentially extremely profitable journey that pays for itself and enables your growth. Every new channel builds on (and reinforces) the success of your existing channels.
Part I
In Part I of this series, we covered resisting the urge to reinvent the wheel with each new channel. Eventually you’ll want to swing for the fences with your testing, but out of the gates it’s better to stay in lockstep with what you’ve seen work in the past to establish a baseline. You’re speaking to a new audience, so even if a message seems tired to you, it’s still brand new for them. By eliminating unnecessary variables and keeping as much the same as possible, it’s far easier to maintain omni-channel synergy.
Part II
In Part II, we covered the dangers of channel splintering. Once you start testing aggressively, it may be tempting to let each channel go in its own direction to chase incremental improvement. However, this could rapidly undermine each channel’s ability to support the others. Maintaining the big picture performance is more important than the performance of any one channel on its own.
Now for Part III, we’re covering something vital. It applies to both your relationship with your customers and your business relationships that run your marketing engine.
Avoid Single Transactions
The last thing you want is a one-and-done experience with your customers. Day One revenue is important in offsetting marketing costs and keeping the lights on, but the key to a truly profitable campaign is to have as many compelling avenues as possible for your customers to buy from you again and again.
Continuity doesn’t have the stigma that it used to. If your product or service continues to deliver value month after month, consumers are happy to keep paying. Convenience is king, and subscription services are being embraced everywhere as people move away from the traditional shopping experience. As long as you’re transparent with your cancellation policy, continuity can be perceived as a benefit, not a burden.
To execute an omni-channel strategy, your marketing engine needs to be nimble. When your operation is small, it’s easy to justify paying per item, per project just to get things done. Early on, if you discover something in testing that really works, you’ll only need to make changes in a few places to keep everything consistent. However, as you start taking on more channels, the work will snowball. You’ll need to make more changes in more places. If you’re getting nickel and dimed by your marketing people every time you need to make tweaks, it’s going to rapidly become unsustainable.
You need to seek marketing partners who are as invested in your growth as you are. At Marketing Architects, we cover all of the production costs for TV advertising. If you’re ready for a marketing partner that bets on your growth, we should talk.
