Marketers are pacing with how customers operate in various places simultaneously rather than executing a single start-and-stop campaign or just one marketing strategy, like TV or email. Therefore, developing several channels of consumer connection is crucial if you want to boost your sales and client retention rates. 

 

It is possible to analyze customer profiles in-depth, link acquisitions to specific actions, and reach out to clients everywhere. So, you also need to be everywhere if you want to catch them there. Your multichannel marketing plan enters the picture here. Only 73% of marketers have a strategy in the right place, although almost all (97%) use multichannel marketing (source). A mighty plan improves the ROI and makes your multichannel strategy more sensible and functional.

 

Learn how to create a multichannel marketing strategy for business expansion.

 

7 Steps To Create A Strong Multichannel Marketing Strategy

 

1. Define your goal

 

Before considering channels, it’s better to set your goal first. Every marketer has business goals such as more lead generation, more successful lead scoring, more deal closing, and so on. But, you should be a little more specific to evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and any associated tactics and make changes as you go. Put numbers on your goals. It’s something like:

• Each month, 15% more leads,
• increase brand awareness scores by 5%,
• By the end of the year, each client will contribute 10% more revenue to the sales funnel.
  
  

A defined aim is the first step in developing an effective multi-channel marketing plan. If you don’t have a purpose, it’s hard to tell whether or not what you’re doing is effective. However, it is simple to choose the channels to use and the KPIs to monitor when you are clear about what you want to accomplish.

 

2. Identify and study your target market

 

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for every business. Also, various target markets are for different industries. Therefore, marketing strategies and channel selections differ from one another. 

 

The primary focus of multi-channel marketing is to reach your clients where and when they are most receptive. So, before that, you must be completely clear about who your target market is. Once you identify the potential customers, you are ready to invest time in researching them.

 

Check the information you already have in your CRM (customer relationship management) platform about your current clients first. Study their:

• Industry or business type
• Problems and difficulties they frequently encounter
• Utilization of products
• Demographics
• What led them to you?
  
  

Then, add feedback from your actual customers to that data. To gather quantitative data, use surveys. This data benefits marketers in selecting the channels on which to concentrate their efforts and the messaging to use.

 

Related: Why CRM is necessary for inside sales?

 

3. Invest time in choosing suitable channels

 

Each channel requires significant time and financial commitment as you develop your plan, create content, and pay for commercials or paid campaigns online. When a channel makes more sense to you than others based on your buyer profile and your particular aims, you should go for it. Start by choosing suitable channels individually, then add more as you experience success.

 

Sort digital marketing channels according to the phases of the customer journey. For instance, you may reach potential customers via LinkedIn during the brand or product awareness phase, while email marketing is the best method for distributing content during the contemplation stage.

 

4. Approach each target customer differently

 

Finding out which channels your target audience prefers is only the beginning. Understanding which marketing messages will appeal to them and resonate with them at each point of the inbound marketing funnel is the ultimate thing you must give value to at the end.

 

One of your team members can likely handle social media platforms with expertise, whereas another staff member has a tight grasp on email marketing. Therefore, it’s simple to develop a practical strategy where each team or department works independently. 

 

Make sure that everyone on your team knows your target buyer and the messaging you’re using to speak to them. While maintaining consistency across all platforms, you should customize your messaging for each consumer profile.

 

5. Initiate the process with marketing automation

 

In this era of technology and digitalization, marketing automation is essential for your multi-channel marketing initiatives if you want to track down everything from sales interactions to customer engagement. Hence, you should automate procedures as much as you can. 

 

You can connect to most channels via CRM software, which instantly establishes user profiles. Then, the profiles are continually updated with information about their activities and interactions with your business.

 

Here are some statistics about marketing automation you may skim through (source):

• B2B marketers who used marketing automation enhanced their sales pipeline contribution by 10% on average.
• Marketing automation users reported 77% more conversions and 80% more lead generation.
• To reduce repetitive work, 36% of marketers employ marketing automation.
  
  

Related: How Marketing Automation Improves Inside Sales Productivity

 

6. Present your website in the best light

 

The company’s website also acts as a marketing channel and has the potential to be much more than just a web presence. With a thoughtful choice of website material, such as blogs, videos, infographics, case studies, and more, it’s possible to design a unique experience.

Given that consumers access content on a variety of platforms and devices, in addition to social media and email, marketers using multi-channel strategies will need a responsive website. Making the best use of this marketing channel will help your website shine out and attract customers who will visit it just for the content.

 

7. Keep an eye on the results

 

Last but not least, be sure you have a strategy in place for gauging the success of your new marketing approach. Almost all marketing automation platforms have the most crucial metrics pre-integrated, allowing you to access the most recent information at a glance.

 

Additionally, you shouldn’t expect results immediately because great marketing techniques don’t show effectiveness overnight. Marketing is a nurturing process that uses persuasive materials to guide buyers along the sales funnel. Don’t give up if you don’t get results quickly; it may take some time. Instead of abandoning an approach if it isn’t producing results after a few months, seek other ways to improve it.

 

Eventually, your objective in this current circumstance, where buyers are the ultimate priority, is to combine all of these channels into one successful multichannel approach to inbound marketing. The world is more technologically advanced than ever before. If done correctly, a stable multichannel marketing plan is the best approach to building relationships and increasing conversion rates.