It's important to understand how the major channels of  digital marketing are intertwined. This includes search advertising, mobile marketing, display advertising, and social marketing.  An effective marketer knows that each of these channels make up a piece to a much larger puzzle that guides the customer through a journey from discovery to purchase to advocate. 

How To Use an Integrated Online Marketing Strategy

Let's use a siding company for this example. A customer that is interested in fixing up their newly purchased home may subscribe to certain social platforms where their affinity for home improvement is shared with fellow fans.  A marketer for a siding repair business can then leverage social marketing strategies to gather opinions, and educate clients about the value that new siding.  All the while gaining impactful insight into buzzwords, keywords and pain points of ideal customers.  Through the use of carefully constructed actionable CTAs (which yes, we can help with), the social platforms should entice web visits. The company can then use cookies to learn more about the potential client.  From there the marketer can begin the integrated marketing process of starting an effective display marketing campaign using retargeting metrics.  This guides the potential customer from product need to the brand recognition stage.  In addition, the marketer can be using display marketing to reach more affinity audiences on home improvement or real estate blogs to further enhance a brand recognition to educated customers.

Adding Mobile Marketing into the Strategy

Working in tandem, the siding company marketer should be leveraging search advertising efforts for customers that are using queries around the big actionable keywords, which they can take from their research in the social marketing step of the marketing journey.  By creating a search campaign the marketer is ensuring that they are reaching the potential customer at the very moment that they are researching their service, once again displaying brand recognition and education.  But to take it a step further, perhaps this siding company has a small service area circumference that they want to target.  The marketer can leverage mobile marketing to reach potential customers that are active in the ideal geo targeted areas.

Completing the Customer Journey Through Social Marketing

Finally, to come full circle on this integrated strategy, by creating a positive customer experience, the ideal outcome is for the client to become a brand advocate on their social channel.  Because today’s sales funnel is turning upside down due to the social nature of purchases, earning an endorsement from a customer on a social channel opens the door to new customer acquisition through social sharing of businesses.  People like to get advice from others when it comes to large purchases, or even what is on trend, and in this way social marketing is a very powerful channel that can begin and continue the customer journey.

Why a Multi-Channel Cohesive Marketing Strategy Works for Small Businesses

This marketer leveraged a cohesive multi-channel marketing strategy to reach these potential clients at every stage of their journey.  This contrasts from a single channel marketing strategy which doesn’t give the brand a chance to guide the potential client through the purchase journey.  A single channel marketing strategy that, for example, only leverages search advertising, could be losing out on discovering new buzzword keywords from social marketing, or the retargeting efforts of display, and even missing out on geo located searching through mobile advertising.

Final Takeaway for Digital Marketing Strategies on Multiple Platforms

Overall the multi-channel marketing approach is stronger for a multitude of reasons, but the most important reason is the customer journey guidance.  Multi-channel approaches will serve more potential customers and more analytics to tweak messages as the company grows.  Marketing is an ever-evolving process, and by missing out on one step, marketers are missing out on chances to tailor messages to ideal customers.   The point?  Find your sector, and market to them using a cohesive multi platform approach.  Overwhelmed trying to keep up with all of the latest platforms?  We can help with that.  Consultations are always free, we GENUINELY enjoy small business think tanks; so, reach out.  We're here to help!

What are your thoughts on the new age retail experience?