Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Technology has transformed the face of marketing. Modern consumers use various devices, from desktops, laptops and tablets to e-readers and smartphones at any given time. Television adverts are viewed online, offline, first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or 10:05 on a street corner while you’re standing waiting for a bus.
How we consume marketing is also changing. As consumers, we are approached through these channels in dozens of ways: blog posts, emails, apps, social promotions, television spots, banners, flyers, and that personalized name printed across your bottle of Coca-Cola.
These changes in technology and consumer behaviour continue to have enormous implications for businesses and the agencies that market them. Putting all your marketing eggs into one basket is no longer enough. To successfully engage your audience, you must synchronise various marketing channels.
Embracing multi-channel marketing
Numerous advantages exist to multi-channel marketing. The ROI benefits of tailoring your reach to meet your audience are already well covered. Read about them here, here, or here.
This article concerns multi-channel marketing’s potential for positive branding and communications. Both of these areas depend on appropriate channels to facilitate correspondence between you, your brand, and your consumers.
Building customer rapport
Rapport with your customers is essential to favourable customer relations. Rapport shows you understand your customers, from their needs and values to their language. It shows you care about your customers enough to give them time and consideration. It shows you respect them and their opinions.
Depending on your brand identity and the tone of voice you use, rapport can be as simple as replying quickly and politely to customer queries. Some of the cheekier brands tend to engage in more informal chat. Whatever your approach, the core of successful rapport is ensuring your customers feel good — about you and themselves. They will swiftly grow to associate the two for brand loyalty and a positive brand reputation.
So, what does customer rapport have to do with multi-channel marketing? Quite simply, rapport relies on effective marketing channels:
- For example, Twitter is typically seen as the go-to customer service platform for retail brands. A strong Twitter account enables you to quickly and efficiently address the queries and concerns of your customer base and keep complaints to a minimum.
- Facebook Pages are excellent platforms for sharing posts, videos, and articles that reflect well on you and your brand. Customers who relate to these shares will relate more strongly to you, furthering brand engagement and loyalty.
- Adjust your rapport to reflect the marketing channel and the audience using it. Consider the kind of language your customers are using, as well as the style/form of the platform. Something as simple as emulating how your consumers communicate helps create rapport by likening you to them.
Making customers fall in love with your brand
Customer rapport is one way to help your customers feel positive about your brand, but there are a variety of other tactics and strategies you can use. The best way to help your consumer base to fall in love with your brand.
A customer who loves your brand is a remarkable thing. Make them feel appreciated, and you have secured lifelong business. When they need a new product or service, they think of you first. They actively search out and engage with your marketing efforts. But love doesn’t come quickly, so how can multi-channel marketing help your customers fall in love with your brand?
Be transparent
Using multiple channels enables you to communicate similar messages across various platforms, promoting consistency. Utilise channels frequently so your customers can see you are active and involved. Make messages clear and simple to understand so your customers grow to recognise you and your brand.
Inspire them
This might be as simple as choosing the right channel for a specific promotion. Your advert for that new fitness device will look much more tempting on a television screen, but promoting it through a Facebook ad will enable you to target a more specific and receptive target audience. Drive both promotions and use them to complement one another for a unified marketing experience capable of moving your audience to action.
Listen to what your customers are saying.
Marketing through multiple channels enables you to engage and interact with a broader audience. Communication on this scale gives you a better idea of what your audience is saying and how they are feeling in regard to you and your brand.
Promote trust.
Multi-channel marketing lets you inform your audience of business changes and coming promotions well before they happen. This prevents unexpected changes from spooking your consumer base, while insider promotions can be used to make customers feel more special and exclusive.
