Is Omnichannel Marketing Right for Your Business?
Every once and awhile, new marketing buzzwords get crafted (or old ones get repackaged and revitalized) and seem to spread through the internet like wildfire. The viral nature of these new marketing trends usually comes with confusion over what the terms actually mean – with people just dropping them mid-conversation to seem "in-the-know".
"Omnichannel Marketing" is another example of just that. Let's review the different definitions of omnichannel marketing, why it sounds so familiar, and if the idea of omnichannel marketing for contractors and home service providers is viable for your organization.
Is Omnichannel Marketing About Being Omnipresent?
Some marketers suggest that omnichannel marketing simply refers to being omnipresent online. Specifically, they suggest that your business have should a marketing presence on every channel possible – from paid ads to LinkedIn to Facebook to Twitter to Twitch to blogs to email marketing to carrier pigeon.
Is Omnichannel Marketing About Being Cohesive and Integrated?
More commonly the answer to the "What is omnichannel marketing" question – omnichannel marketing is about the customer experience when it comes to your business. While it does require that your marketing efforts exist on more than only your website or any one single platform, the focus is more on creating a unified experience for your potential customer.
What's The Right Answer?
We believe that omnichannel marketing is less about being everywhere in hopes of increased exposure and is more about the integrated, unified experience for a customer.
Is Omnichannel Marketing Simply Multi-Channel Marketing?
We've talked about multi-channel marketing before – specifically about multi-touch marketing and the old "rule of seven" that suggests you need to present your business to a prospective customer 7 times before they will take action.
That's one of the reasons why many marketing agencies (ours included!) suggest that you try to better understand your customer and the multiple different paths they may take to get to your doorstep. From there, you should position your marketing efforts to have a presence on those most common paths. Usually for contractors and home service businesses, that looks like having a social media presence, and/or paid advertising, and/or a review management plan.
While omnichannel marketing definitionally must be multi-channel marketing, just because your business is present on multiple channels doesn't mean you are practicing omnichannel marketing best practices.
How Do I Make My Marketing More Omnichannel?
One thing that fans of both definitions of omnichannel marketing can agree upon is the need to extend your brand while maximizing your content.
Sharing your generated content in a patterned way (like publishing Individual Project Posts on your website and resharing that content on social media) is just one way to have a cohesive marketing presence. For deeper omnichannel integration, take a look at your marketing and customer communication efforts from multiple standpoints:
- Visual Branding - We're talking about your website, social media, email marketing, PPC, receipts, continual email communications, your business cards, etc. – every bit of your business that is ever exposed to your end customer. From a visual standpoint, you want you consistency with the right colors, logos, slogan, text in everything you produce, down to the little things like your email signature or the look of your invoices.
- The "Voice" Of Your Marketing Efforts - Though less tangible, what you "sound like" in your marketing – from things that are written on your website and social media posts to how every member of your staff answers your phones – is important. Just like visual branding, it makes sense to have consistency in all manners of communication.
- Your Lead Intake Experience - What happens when you get a lead? When you call or send an email or provide additional materials for your potential customer to review – it should all sound and look consistent with the rest of your outbound marketing materials. It should feel seamless, like the company they are talking to today is the same company that saw online in their decision making phase.
- Your Onboarding Experience - Once a prospect becomes a signed on customer, the manner in which you conduct business should continue to match your branding and the experience your customer has had so far. From the folders you use to present design + build plans to the art on the ongoing service agreement – it all should feel the same as your website and everything else the customer has associated with your business.
- Your Continued Customer Experience - Even when the job is done, your thank you cards, review building marketing efforts, and continued top-of-mind awareness should continue to mesh with all of your other efforts.
The overall goal is to create consistency throughout every phase of a customer's life and interactions with you – from the first Google search through job completion and beyond.
Omnichannel Marketing Doesn't Just Apply to Prospective Customers
Think of omnichannel marketing in part as branding for your entire business. In that sense, your brand doesn't stop after your website. It doesn't only exist before the "lead capture" or "completed sale" phase of your customer life cycle. If a user is interacting with you, your office staff, your techs, or anyone else – in the end the important thing is that your user feels like everyone is on the same page, on the same team. That extra bit of marketing effort is what separates your customer experience from any other company. It gives them a reason to stay and a reason to come back.
Is Omnichannel Marketing Right for a Home Services or Construction Business?
To be clear, we are not talking about the "be present everywhere" shotgun approach here. Being present everywhere for the sake of being present, even if you are smart with content utilization, doesn't mean your marketing will be more effective. It is better to know where your prospective customers are and be in the right places instead of every place possible.
If we are talking about having a cohesive brand for every prospective customer and client interaction – then absolutely yes. You don't have to go off the deep end right away and spend thousands of dollars to get it done right. With the right marketing agency, the right materials, and the right training – you can create a unified omnichannel marketing presence that is right for you.
About Chris Lonergan
Chris Lonergan has over 12 years of contractor marketing experience with Footbridge Media. With a background in web design, print design, content creation, and online marketing, Chris is focused on providing quality marketing and business solutions in the construction and service industries - helping small business owners to more efficiently manage their companies and grow their operations.
Chris Lonergan has previously contributed to and/or been featured in PM Magazine (Plumbing & Mechanical | Contractors x Engineers), theNEWS (ACHR - Air Conditioning | Heating | Refrigeration), Service Roundtable's blog, inPAINT Magazine, the SMB Marketing Agency Show, and the Green Industry Podcast. Chris is also a past SGI/CertainPath breakout session presenter.
