Multi-Channel Marketing Defined: What It Is and Why It’s Important for Your B2B Marketing
Why a Robust Multi-Channel Marketing Plan Is Necessary for B2B Companies
So often, we hear terms or phrases thrown around that sound familiar, but we aren’t totally sure what they mean. Multi-channel marketing is a prime example of that – we can guess that it has to do with marketing in more than one place, but is that really it? Yes and no. Multi-channel marketing means engaging your prospects and customers in a combination of channels, both direct and indirect. This can include website, email, social media, direct mail, in-person locations, and much more.
There are a few terms that are often used interchangeably to describe this same concept: omni-channel marketing, cross-channel marketing and even integrated marketing.
If this all sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve talked about it in a few different ways now. Our integrated marketing service takes this concept a little further, ensuring all of these channels are marketed to in a coordinated way. And integrated marketing communications is a key part of this as well. The final step of our “How to Make Your B2B Marketing Not Suck” e-book helps you come up with your marketing engine and thus your marketing plan, which incorporates a wide variety of marketing activities and channels.
The point of all of this? Multi-channel marketing is important because you need to be where your potential customers are. And since we’re not mind readers, that basically means you need to be everywhere. You must put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think about where they’re learning about companies like yours, then be there. It’s all about a customer-centric approach.
Here’s an example. Often, our clients think that they don’t really need to be on social media because they’re a B2B company and social media works best for B2C. But most of the time, that just isn’t true. Simply having a solid presence on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram can present your business as in-the-know, one that stays on top of trends. Even if you’re not getting a ton of engagement, it is important to BE THERE. After all, the majority of B2B shoppers do most of their research online before contacting a company, so make sure your presence is known, showing who you are and why you’re good at what you do.
Ideally, someone would see a consistent image of your company at each of these different touchpoints. If you meet a prospect at a tradeshow, you want your salespeople’s message to align with your booth graphics and handouts. Then, when they check you out on online, your website and social media posts should also make sense based on what they already know about you. If you follow up with emails, the same thing goes.
It can be overwhelming to think about all of this at once, which is why you should take the time to think through your marketing plan. Our e-book can help, and so can the Pomerantz team!
