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This is the third article in a series on marketing technology by Marketing-IT expert, Gilbert Sabat. Read the first and second articles: Marketing and IT, unlikely partners in the delivery of extraordinary brand marketing and Define and prioritize IT and marketing objectives in seven steps.

By Gilbert Sabat, Founder & CEO of MM4L Canada Inc.

What is omnichannel marketing? There are many definitions, but for this article I will use the following: ‘A refined, integrated and consistent cross-channel marketing approach designed to deliver great customer commerce across all channels’.

Decreased budgets, increased consumer choices, explosion of digital channels, pressure to generate profitable growth; these are many of the factors driving the need to deliver more with less. Omnichannel marketing is the key to this challenge as it looks at all channels holistically and in an integrated fashion, resulting in a complete solution with benefits from economies of scope.

In my experience working in marketing-IT, I have identified six technological pre-requisites for successful omnichannel marketing:

1. Consistent branding across digital and physical channels: Whether a logo or campaign, branding must be consistent across your website, mobile presence, printed material, packaging, OOH, etc. Content must be centralized through content management systems, while centralized application management must be employed in order to deliver effective and efficient consumer engagements across all channels.
2. The ‘I want it here and now generation’: Today’s consumers want relevant, targeted and immediate service. Whether you employ in-store kiosks or mobile geolocation, your product and service at the physical location must be relevant at that specific point in time. For example, if a consumer is using an in-store kiosk to find the red wool sweater at the downtown store, then the inventory levels for that size and color sweater at that location must be displayed. This means the in-store kiosk must be integrated with the in-store inventory management system.
3. Customer service reps need technology too: When a consumer is served by a customer service representative (CSR), the CSR must have access to all the channels available to the consumer to provide a relevant service. The CSR will need access to a device and training on the relevant channels.
4. People are unique: Consumer loyalty can only be gained when you treat them as they expect to be treated – as unique individuals. To learn about your consumers, you must analyze individual behavioral and transactional data. This requires an investment in both business intelligence systems and people. A word of caution: with all the hype on Big Data, be sure to invest the right resources up front on identifying those key pieces of data that will help you achieve your objectives. It is not the volume of data that counts, but the quality and pertinence.
5. Plug-and-play technology: A new social media channel comes on the market and is quickly embraced. Your architecture should be open enough to quickly test out and integrate this channel. Integrating new technologies must be done in weeks and not months.
6. Smart and agile response to market changes: A new product is rolled out and consumers are providing feedback on the website, social media channels, in-store forms and other media. Integrating disparate data, learning from them and quickly responding is critical to a brand’s success.

None of the elements identified above should be shockingly new. An ordinary marketing-technology team delivers point solutions based on each of these elements. However, an exceptional team takes a holistic approach and focuses on building an enabled platform, people, processes and governance that will support a sustainable brand experience for the consumer, no matter where they are or what technology they are using to connect.

Gilbert Sabat
Gilbert is a marketing technologist with over 15 years’ experience in small to Fortune 500 companies. Throughout his career, he has helped companies deliver double-digit growth through efficient use of leading edge, yet practical and integrated marketing technology. You can connect with him via LinkedIn or call him at 514-262-4780.