What Omnichannel Marketing Is and Why Your CPG Brand Needs It

Let’s start at the beginning—omnichannel marketing focuses on providing customers a seamless shopping experience through a multi-channel sales approach. That means offering customers the same experience (and access to the same products) whether they are shopping on online on any device or in-store. It’s about empowering customers with options.

Before we go any further, it’s important to recognize the differences between omnichannel marketing and multi-channel marketing. Multi-channel marketing interacts with potential customers across varying platforms or mediums (a print ad, social media ad, digital banner, broadcast, etc.). Omnichannel marketing also reaches customers across multiple channels, however it takes how those channels work together into account, how customers move from channel to channel and what stage customers are in in the buying cycle.

Where a multi-channel marketing strategy may include print, display and social media ads, an omnichannel strategy goes one step further to identify and address consumer buying patterns, like customers who visited the brand’s Instagram profile were more likely to purchase the product online versus in-store.

The Opportunity for CPG Brands

Single-channel marketing has all but become obsolete. Promoting products using only print ads, television spots or flyers taped on light posts puts brands at a serious disadvantage. Not only does it dramatically limit your exposure, it’s simply not how people gather information anymore.

Almost three-fourths of people turn to either Amazon (38%) or Google (35%) to begin researching a product. In fact, 83% of US consumers research products online before buying those items in brick-and-mortar stores. This further illustrates the need (and opportunity) for an omnichannel approach.

Consumers are not only turning to mixed channels for information, but they are also completing purchases in a variety of ways. Advertising or selling across only one channel means only capturing a small piece of the pie. Multi-channel marketing satisfies one piece of the puzzle. Implementing an omnichannel approach lets brands maximize reach and potential purchases.

But First, You’ll Need Some Research

Your brand’s marketing strategy must contain a plan of action towards a certain objective backed by research. Without these elements, a strategy is no more than a thought with no direction.

So, before you take any action on expanding to an omnichannel approach, take a step backwards and dig into the data. Ask yourself or your research/strategy specialist:

• Who are your customers?
• Where are your sales coming from?
• Do your customers purchase primarily online or in-store?
• Are there certain products customers buy exclusively online or in-store?
• How many channels are they going through before making a purchase?

The best way to optimize your strategy and serve your customers is to know who they are and what they expect from your brand. With this context, you can determine which channels and mediums to include in your strategy and how they interact with one another to unlock the potential of a truly omnichannel strategy.