Retail Marketing Managers: 3 Ways to get your Omnichannel Strategy to the Next Level

In the retail industry, marketers are constantly being challenged with the perpetual inventions of new marketing channels and technologies. As an Integrated Marketing Communications graduate student at Medill, I have found two articles that address the challenges in Omni-Channel Marketing.

Digiday held the Digiday Retail Summit earlier this year to galvanize retailer, agency and vendor executives and share valuable insights on the challenges the industry faces. Hilary Milnes of Digiday interviewed a few of these executives to understand the specific challenges in Omni-Channel marketing, which included implementing marketing strategies that balance brand awareness objectives with achievable ROI, understanding new technologies that foster the use of big data for more efficient ad spending (ie. Beacons and Social Media), and focusing on the right platforms to reach key consumers (ie Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram). In the past few years, retail companies have refocused their business approach to incorporate Omni-Channel strategies. With the ongoing development of new technologies, the Mines’ interviews point to a need for a more discipline in Omni-Channel marketing. It is clear that this discipline is paramount for retail companies to survive.

https://pixabay.com/

Similarly, Forbes covered this new age of Omnichannel Marketing with the ongoing challenge to use Big Data in a structured and impactful way. As John Sawyer of Teradata says, “With mobile devices, social media and other popular customer channels, marketers are being inundated with data – but as such, they’re also being presented with endless possibilities.” With “endless possibilities” comes the need to be more disciplined in the approach to using big data for omnichannel marketing. As there is no turnkey strategy on data capture, analysis and implementation, each retail company will need to scrutinize their data capture habits and infrastructure to appropriately study their consumers to understand exactly who there customers are and how they should be communicated with.  

Here are a few points to keep in mind when taking your omni-channel marketing strategy to the next level:

1. UNDERSTAND- Invest in the resources to better understand the customer.

2. CONNECT – Focus on the channels that are most connected to the bottom line.

3. EMBRACE - Optimize operations by embracing new technology.

With more discipline in the points above, your strategy will be better suited to compete in the data-centric retail world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laurel Neveu is studying Integrated Marketing Communications at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. As she pursues a M.S. in IMC, she plans to specialize in Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing. Before attending the IMC program, Laurel worked in Digital Ad Sales and Partnerships with publishers, Viacom and Say Media, and had a brief stint in event production with the 2015 Essence Festival team at Time Inc. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, visit her personal site, or follow her on Twitter -  @LaurelNeveu