What is multichannel marketing?
As the name suggests, multichannel marketing is a form of marketing that utilises multiple channels to reach and engage with potential and existing customers.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: What are the channels I can use for multichannel marketing?
You can use virtually any channel that your target customers use for your multichannel marketing campaigns. Examples include:
- TV
- Radio
- Out-of-home (e.g., billboards)
- Websites
- Social media
- Search
- Apps
Keep in mind, however, that while it may seem like a good idea to tap as many of these channels as your budget allows, it is so much more cost-effective and efficient to just concentrate on channels that allow you to reach the majority of your target customers.
Another thing to consider is that online channels tend to not only be cheaper than offline ones, they also give you access to powerful targeting and analytics tools you can use to reach exactly the customers you want to reach and continuously improve your marketing campaigns.
Channels such as TV, radio, print, and out-of-home are designed more as a way to just broadcast your marketing messages to as many people as possible. They provide you with very limited—if at all—targeting tools.
Question #2: What are the benefits of it?
The biggest benefits of multichannel marketing are as follows:
- Improved brand awareness – By being present in a lot (or all of) the channels your target audience uses, you dramatically improve your chances of being seen.
- Increased reach – Instead of just focusing on a single channel, multichannel marketing allows you to reach your target audience across the many different channels they use.
- Top-of-mind positioning – By being ever-present in your target audience’s life, you increase your odds of being the top-of-mind choice once they are ready to make a purchase or take whatever other action you need them to take.
Question #3: Are there any challenges of having it?
The biggest challenges in multichannel marketing are as follows:
- More moving parts to manage – Instead of just managing a single channel, you will have to familiarise yourself with, create content for, and manage multiple different channels at the same time. Unless you have the budget to hire a team to help you, this can get overwhelmingly fast.
- More channels to spend money on – Marketing costs money. Marketing through multiple channels at the same time costs even more. This is exactly why it is important to only tap as many of the channels your target audience uses as your budget allows.
Question #4: How can I boost the effectiveness of my multichannel marketing campaigns?
To boost the effectiveness of your multichannel marketing campaigns and ensure a healthy ROI, you need to follow these simple steps:
- Figure out who your target customers are. This is the first and most important step. If you do not know who you are selling to, how do you expect to make a sale?
- Find out what they need and/or want. The next step is to figure out exactly what your target customers are looking for so you know how to craft your offer.
- Find out where they hang out the most. As we have seen in the previous section, you need to know which channels have the most potential to bring in a healthy ROI on your marketing spend.
- Come up with a campaign that addresses their main need and/or want. If you want your marketing messages to resonate with your target customers, you need to craft them in a way that directly addresses their primary pain points.
- Roll out your campaign across all the channels you identified. This will significantly increase your odds of getting your offer in front of your target customers.
- Make sure your branding and messaging remain consistent across all the channels you tap. The last thing you want is to spend so much time and money on multichannel marketing and still fail to build a recognizable brand because your branding and messaging are all over the place.