This is chapter 24 of Louis Gudema’s Bullseye Marketing book, which is available on Amazon.
Omni-channel marketing – being present on all of the channels where your customers are hanging out– is critical today. In just the simplest example, product research often starts on mobile and then moves to desktop; people may move back and forth between mobile, desktop, tablets and in-person for some time. Or consider the retailer who has a customer in the store ready to buy, but that customer is going to do further research on their mobile phone before making that in-store purchase. Or the customer who is “showrooming” – looking at the item in the store before buying it online.
In more complex business purchases the customer may consume information on the vendor’s website, social media, review sites, blogs, YouTube, trade shows, podcasts and other sources before making the purchase – a decision made in concert with several other people who are also consuming many pieces of information.
The omni-channel approach that the Bullseye will lead you to ultimately provides for consistent experiences and messages across all channels and interactions with the customer. They can interact with the company in the way that is most convenient for them and know that what they do on one device will be reflected if they switch to another.
One version of the Domino’s pizza home page lists many of the ways that you can order from them:
Consider all of the potential media interactions that an airline could have with customers:
- TV ads to build brand awareness
- search ads when people are searching for airfares to/from cities that the airline flies to
- reservations website
- third-party reservation sites
- email and app reminders for an upcoming flight reservation
- digital check-in a day or two before the flight
- text notifications of flight delays or other significant news
- Eticket on app or phone
- in-flight entertainment and Wi-Fi
- in-flight magazine with articles promoting other locations that the airline flies to
- posting of the experience with the airline to social media, and how the airline responds to that.
The full omni-channel customer experience with the airline goes far beyond those media interactions to include
- ticket/bag check kiosks and people
- boarding process at the gate
- flight attendants and how they handle the boarding and safety talk (Southwest uses humor)
- the in-flight drink and meal service
- on-time arrivals
- deplaning and getting bags (for those who checked them) at the destination
- how passengers are rebooked if a flight is canceled
Each of these is a customer touchpoint: a moment of interactions between the customer and the airline when the customer has an expectation and will come away from the touchpoint feeling delighted, satisfied, or annoyed. Some of these touchpoints are more critical than others and can make or break the relationship.
Over time you can build a rich omni-channel program that not only gets the right message to the right person at the right time, but also provides them with an excellent experience on all of their interactions with your company.
Nothing that I’ve written in this book should be taken to denigrate the third phase programs. It’s not that advertising or inbound or social media or content marketing are always ineffective; in the long run they may be tremendously valuable. Rather, the Bullseye approach outlines a way to prioritize the least expensive, fastest programs for a company to start with, to get quick wins, build support, and then move on to longer range programs.
Ultimately do everything that works for your business.
