This is the Year of Omnichannel
We all wish marketing was simple. I’m asked again and again, “What is the one thing that will make our marketing more successful?” In today’s fragmented media world, there is no “one thing.” What’s the one college class that will make you smarter? What’s the one drug that will cure all my ills? What’s the one food that will make me healthy? Why does it have to be diet and exercise, can’t I just do one?
We are finding with more and more data, that people are omni-shoppers who research products online, but then go to the store to buy them. It’s not just Amazon. They are also people who visit multiple websites and then visit the same websites multiple times to find the information and answers they want. This idea is leading to more omni-channel marketing efforts. Hubspot defines the omni-channel experience as “a multi-channel approach to marketing, selling, and serving customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience no matter how or where a customer reaches out.”
If you want to see omni-channel experiences at work, study Disney or Starbucks. You’ll find seamless integration from mobile to web to print to in-store marketing.
Recent research from Criteo also found that in order to optimize your conversions in the omni-channel world you should start with your the big Vs of marketing–your visuals and video. Nearly 90% of shoppers said appealing photos can sway decisions while 77% say video can do the job. Strong visuals, compelling video and short, meaningful words will make all the difference in the omni-channel world facing us all.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
