How to Think About Omnichannel Impact

“Omnichannel” is here to stay. And as a marketer with a growing team of brand strategists advising our CPG clients on how to run effective digital programs, I’m in the position of regularly re-explaining what omnichannel means. That’s because it doesn’t mean only one thing. Or does it?

Here’s how I break it down. “Omni” is latin for “in all ways and places,” says Google. And “channel,” as a marketer, refers to the way you’re getting your message to your customer. Channels can be social media posts, billboards, TV commercials, flyers placed at a table at a conference, your pitch deck… the channels we use today are countless.

“Omnichannel,” therefore, has come to mean doing all of the things on countless channels. When you’re at a conference like Shoptalk and the concept of “omnichannel” comes up, the collective understanding in the room is that “omnichannel” means reaching a retail shopper in the various places they may be making purchase decisions. Or, how are you making sense of your efforts so that if someone sees your products online, on TV, or in the store, they have a consistent experience with your brand?

We used to think about marketing as a funnel. You get your message to a targeted yet somewhat broad audience (a TV commercial during the 5PM news), then you have a conversion point or two (they go to the mall--check! They enter your store--check!) and then they make their purchase. You’ve moved them through the funnel.

But today, the way I see omnichannel marketing is more like a puzzle. I often visualize all of the pieces suspended in the air, floating and converging. They start snapping together, randomly making connections, and then all of a sudden they all pop into place, completing the picture.

This is what marketing looks like today. Customers are getting to the point of purchase in a significantly less linear way than they did twenty years ago, but rather are having an “aha” moment when a single message really clicks and gets them to see the full picture.

What’s the lesson, then? How can we make sense of marketing that looks like a puzzle that belongs at Hogwarts? Look at who’s doing it right.

Direct-to-consumer brands are a fascinating study in how to get started with great omnichannel messaging. These brands, which inarguably fascinate traditional retail players, have had to have a deep understanding of their brand experience. Without the discoverability that comes with being placed on a brick-and-mortar retail shelf, these brands have developed an extremely tight brand identity to help them gain share of mind with consumers. The brands evoke emotional responses that inspire loyalty from the get-go, whether uber cool, lustrous ads seen on Instagram and subways (Glossier) or mission-driven practices that are also reflected in branding and influencer strategy (Warby Parker). Then, they have the added luxury of linking back to an ecommerce platform that they often own and operate. They can talk to that customer, and control their purchase experience from end to end. Regardless of whether a customer is hearing about this brand for the first time or completing their tenth purchase, the emotion and the experience has consistency. This is omnichannel done right.

For brands who don’t have a direct to consumer setup, these omnichannel ideas aren’t directly transferable. Non-DTC brands have become disjointed, in many ways (and, frankly, they needed to do so to adapt). CPG brands, for example, many of which have been around for decades, have developed multi-pronged strategies. Brand marketing comes from one agency, creative direction from another. Shopper marketing lives with separate teams who have expertise about various retailers. It’s really challenging to maintain a consistent voice and experience when a customer can find your brand in hundreds of places or stores. 

So, if there are any lessons we can glean from those companies who mastered omnichannel marketing, it would boil down to consistency. Luckily, legacy brands have consistency in their products--that’s arguably what makes them most beloved. When a person opens up a pack of Oreos, they know exactly what they’re going to get. Translating this to marketing initiatives, however, is crucial. If I could urge my favorite CPG brands to do one thing it would be re-orient themselves around their core brand attributes. Figure out what that one puzzle piece is that will make the rest snap into place. Maybe it’s your iconic logo, your beloved mascot from the 80’s, or a tagline that comes to mind for every American when they hear your brand’s name.

Ultimately, “omnichannel” is impossible to execute in the way many have come to understand it. But an alternative reading of “omni” is simply “all.” (OK, this marketer with a B.A. in Theology could really go off on omniscience right now, but I’ll spare you.) The only way to make sense of “omni” is to actually start thinking about it as something really singular. It’s counter-intuitive but effective. You can’t be everywhere and everything, but if you’re going to continue to appear on more and more channels, make sure you’re singularly iconic when a consumer sees you there.

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