Rise, Consumer…Rise!Understanding Omni-Channel Marketing And The Six Critical Questions That Must Be Answered In The Age Of The Empowered Consumer

Sean R. Nicholson@socmedsean

Who Is Sean?5 Things You Should Know About Me:

•I AM NOT a guru•I have very little formal marketing training•I AM a customer•I am an introvert •I want to help people

Why Would You Listen To Me?

Because…

•I AM NOT a guru•I have very little formal marketing training•I AM a customer•I am an introvert •I want to help people

Before We Start

1. There is no rocket science2. I expect you to question my ideas3. I encourage dialog and live-tweeting4. I hope to learn something from you 5. I love post-presentation engagement

@socmedseansean@socmedsean.comlinkedin.com/seanrnicholson

Just what the session description said:

What’s The Topic Of Discussion?

Understanding Omni-Channel Marketing And The Six Critical Questions That Must Be Answered In The Age Of The Empowered Consumer

But Beware….

What Are We Going To Focus On Today?

Omni-channel marketing

also known as

“marketing to human beings”

What Aren’t We Going To Focus On Today?

• Relationship marketing• Content marketing• Email marketing• Mobile marketing• Guerilla marketing• Search engine marketing• Event marketing• Point-of-sale marketing• Just-in-time marketing• Social media marketing• Agile marketing• B2B marketing

• B2C marketing• Cause marketing• Channel marketing • Closed-loop marketing• Word-of-mouth marketing• Direct marketing• Inbound marketing• In-app marketing• Loyalty marketing• Performance marketing• Re-marketing

…or any of the other various forms of marketing.

So, Before We Start….

Stare into the void and clear your mind of all that marketing clutter

Let’s Start From The Beginning

Marketing 101 says that to engage your audience, you should deliver your message:

To the right ____________.

At the right ____________.

Via the right ____________.

With the right ___________ .

person

time

channel

frequency

Simple. Right?

Unfortunately, No.The competition for eyeballs and brains is fierce!

• Every day, humans create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data

• Over 27 million pieces of content are shared every day

• In 2014, Google indexed more than 67,000,000,000 pages

• 90% of the data in the world was created in the last 2 years

Your content had better be good…or unique!

But It Doesn’t Stop With DataThe volume of potential marketing channels is overwhelming

And Then There’s The Process

But What’s Missing?

We Need To Resist The TTR And Ask

Who

What

When

Where

Why

How

These Six Questions Are Key

Instead, we need to take a deep breath and ask a few questions:

1.Who is our target audience?2.What do we know about them?3.Where are they engaging?4.When should we send our message?5.Why would they choose our product/service?6.How can we provide them with value?

Why Are These Questions So Important?

Jim Morrison Said It Best

Understanding The Consumer Is Key

• People today are bombarded with marketing messages

• Our minds have developed the ability to avoid information overload

• We filter out non-relevant messaging

• We turn off filters at different times of our lives

• We use different channels for different reasons

So How Do We Predict Their Behaviors?

The Same Concept Applies To Humans

To catch a human, sometimes you just have to ask…

…and listen.

Integrated, Multichannel Is A Good Start

Understand The Operational Flow Of Your Marketing

But The Magic Happens Building Relationships

How will our audience experience our message?

Source: Whitepaper: The future of retail http://www.liquidagency.com/brand-exchange/retail-is-dating/

Let’s See An Example Of

Omnichannel Marketing In

Action

Who Should We Target?

Who is our target?

What do we know about them?

Where are they engaging?

Middle-aged white guy from the suburbs of Kansas City. Internet savvy, conducts online research before he purchase. Uses email and Facebook and likes to travel

Conducts quite a bit of research before making travel decisions. Generally, there are 3-4 different channels that influence their decision. Price and value are important in their choice

Google search, social channels like Facebook and Twitter, and potentially email

What Makes Us Different?

When should we send our message?

Why would they choose our product or service?

How can we provide them with value?

Because there are multiple steps in the journey and the user engages in multiple channels, it would be ideal to place marketing messages in environments where he might be thinking about travel (e.g. travel sites, Facebook, etc…)

Our differentiating factor is that we have a pool that is often reviewed as one of the best pools in Las Vegas

By providing access to one of the best pools in Vegas, at a rate that is not only competitive, but perceived to be of high value

Let’s Go To Vegas!This was where it started….

But Let’s Not Break The Bank…and this is where it ended.

…And The Relationship Continues

Value continues to be provided via multiple channels

Another Effective (albeit strange)

Example Of Omnichannel

Marketing In Action

It Started With A Survey

The $5 Million Question

Before answering this survey, were you aware of this product?

My answer: Definitely Not.

Would you consider purchasing ________________?

My answer: Definitely Not.

They were working hard to determine whether I was their target demographic

Three Things Combined Must Be A Good Thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7uY36-LwA

The Response To The Ad Was…Conversation

And The Conversation Grew

Creating Brand Awareness

Best Or Worst…It Was Talked About

Did They Understand The Audience?

Who is our target?

What do we know about them?

Where are they engaging?

110 million people who know our brand, but probably have never heard about our new product

During this particular time, they are about the most diverse audience you can identify, yet those paying attention have high expectations of something unusual that entertains them

Primarily watching television, however, a significant element of our product target audience will also be using mobile devices and posting on Twitter and Facebook

Did Their Messaging Have Impact?

When should we send our message?

Why would they choose our product or service?

How can we provide them with value?

Introductory messaging can be sent leading up to the Superbowl, primary messaging is a Superbowl advertisement, and follow up messaging after the ad airs

Primarily because it is a Mountain Dew product. Secondarily because it offers a combination of Mountain Dew, Juice, and Caffeeine

Through the introduction of a new product that competes with other energy drinks

Did They Accomplish Their Goal?

• Do you remember the product or just the creepy mascot?

• Did it grab national attention and become a trending topic on Twitter?

• Were people talking about it the day after the Superbowl?

• Did it actually move the needle in sales?

• Did they put their message in front of large audience to raise awareness of an unknown product?

• Were they thinking of their potential customer first?

A Quick Wrap Up

Omni-Channel Marketing In A Nutshell

• It’s not rocket science and there is no secret sauce.

• Understanding your audience is the key.

• Remember…to catch a human, you have to think like a human. You’re a human.

• The six questions can help you get off on the right foot in developing your campaign, messaging, and target channels.

Bonus: 5 Tools That Can Help

• Acxiom – Understanding your audience and find more people like your current audience

• Brandwatch – Keyword listening and trend analysis

• Hootsuite – Social media engagement

• Optimizely – A/B testing for your digital messaging

• Google Analytics – Measure. Measure. Measure.

Questions?