How to get more leads with an omnichannel strategy?

Omnichannel marketing is an approach in which all digital and physical communication channels are integrated to provide a truly 360° vision of the consumer journey. Therefore the customer can switch from one channel to another with total transparency. All data are centralized, internal silos are ironed out, and information circulates instantaneously. All the interactions within the omnichannel approach – customer support, inventory management, social media, online or in-store purchases – lead to a personalized experience. And a study from the Harvard Business Review shows that omnichannel is already a reality: 73% of consumers shop through several channels. Therefore a good omnichannel strategy is essential to develop your business and generate more leads. *

Map your customers 

Knowing your customers is one of the cornerstones of any marketing strategy. To deliver the best possible experience, it is essential to know who to speak to and through what channel. This mapping work requires a comprehensive view of the tools and platforms used by your leads. Influence marketing, blogs, affiliate marketing, online advertising, video, social media… each segment has its own world. And that is where your personas come in. Your personas (or buyer-personas) are like Identikit pictures of your typical customers. They have an identity, a life and a career path, the details of which your teams need to complete with real data. That is why you need to know what influences your personas allows you to target your actions to obtain a complete view of the customer journey.

Each of your mapped personas operates in a particular world. You have to work out how to speak to them. For example, Persona X, aged 50, head of a provincial SME, who reads the print version of a broadsheet newspaper and travels little, will be approached differently from a 35-year-old who works as the marketing manager of a large company and is always online and moving around. In both cases, an omnichannel approach is pertinent. But in each case, a different, specially tailored omnichannel strategy will be used.

Incorporate MDM in your data management

The data from your leads can come from anywhere. For example, a meeting at a trade fair, a request to add someone on LinkedIn, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a white paper, a recommendation from an existing customer, etc. But each platform has its own ecosystem, and it can difficult to make them communicate with one another. The more sources there are, the greater the potential for confusion, loss or duplication of data.

Getting a proper handle on your data is essential. In order to manage this dimension, some marketers work with MDM (Master Data Management) solutions. These tools make it possible to centralize and manage your data from all sources (sales, marketing, inventory management, finance, logistics, supplier information, etc.). Obtaining leads is important, but managing, centralizing and avoiding duplication of data are just as crucial.

To a degree, depending on your resources, a CRM platform or DMP can be perfectly adequate. The key is to have an appropriate business tracking tool.

Turn all your touch points into experiences.

Online sales tend to be associated with sales via an online store. But in this respect, too, omnichannel has been a gamechanger. Each touch point can be transformed into an experience for the customer or lead. This strategy involves deep integration using all the tools available to advertisers. Today, it is possible to sell by email, via Instagram, on a mobile app, on a price comparison site, on Pinterest, via chatbot, from a showroom…

The same is true of your leads. They can contact you via a host of channels. This is why identifying touch points is essential to a successful experience. If the information is centralized and properly used, a lead who has downloaded a white paper will not have to be sent a reminder of the same white paper. He may, however, be contacted via LinkedIn by a salesperson. That salesperson being equipped with the lead’s interaction history to ensure a successful and targeted approach.

It is also useful at the scoring stage. A lead who requests a demonstration will score much more highly than one who merely retweets a post. More than ever, the evolution of a lead in the conversion tunnel can provide you with the right information to help make the right decision.

Digital technology has transformed brands’ attitudes to lead generation. Building an influence strategy, generating qualified traffic and building audience clusters through an omnichannel approach gives advertisers the tools they need to boost their business!

Could this type of strategy help your business, especially in the lead up to Black Friday? Check out our current offers…