Multichannel strategy: how to implement it?

Mastering your communication is an essential element of a good digital strategy. We juggle different communication channels, manage our relationship with customers & prospects, and try to unify it all with the goal of generating leads. This is what we call multichannel communication. In this article, we give you the keys to making your multichannel strategy a success, let’s go!

Multichannel definition

Multichannel consists of using different independent communication channels in order to achieve a specific marketing objective. This may involve, for example, increasing the visibility of a product or attracting prospects to your business. This strategy is part of an overall strategy for distributing a product or service. The objective: list all your touchpoints and unify them to streamline your communication

Multichannel takes into account all offline and online communication media. A classic example is offering a product or service in a physical point of sale (communication channel 1) and on a website (communication channel 2).

Communication channels can be divided into two parts:

• Physical communication channels: stores, trade shows, local markets, urban advertising
• Digital communication channels: website, social media, emails, etc…

Each channel is independent and therefore makes it possible to target several audiences for the same marketing action. The advent of digital has opened up a world of possibilities for implementing a multichannel strategy.

Difference with cross-channel

Where multichannel means you communicate independently on each channel, cross-channel enables interaction between the different tools. Each one interacts with the other with the aim of improving the UX and UI of your strategy. In itself, it takes into account that the user uses several channels before making a purchase.

For example, you sell computer equipment to businesses. You want to change suppliers. You will search online for information on new products on the market, subscribe to newsletters, look for reviews on different social networks and finally find your new supplier.

This approach involves using several different communication channels. Each one provides additional information in the prospect’s conversion funnel. 

Why integrate a multichannel strategy into your communication?

Implementing a multichannel strategy is essential. Today, consumers use several communication channels to consume: social media, websites, in-store points of sale, etc.

Some business sectors are also more responsive to certain communication channels. For example, the construction sector will be more inclined to receive SMS messages and use flyers, unlike a marketing team, which will be much more receptive to emails

A multichannel strategy will give your brand better visibility. Sharing your commercial offer across different channels will help you develop your brand and retain your customers.

Making your offer available on several channels gives your customer the possibility of controlling their purchase, from gathering information to the sale. This control is a way for you to offer a unique customer experience. Use your communication channels to your advantage. Offer your customers an original experience that sets you apart from your competitors. Your multichannel strategy therefore becomes a strategic pillar of your strategy with the ultimate goal of generating leads.

Physical communication channels

There are many ways to communicate in a multichannel strategy, whether on the web or in person.

The point of sale, the basis of physical communication.

Communicating at your point of sale is the basis of any good physical communication. Whether about your product or service, taking care of your communication at your place of sale is a first step toward implementing a multichannel strategy. Use roll-up banners to clearly explain what you do and place them wisely at your point of sale.

Paper or print media

Although digital occupies an increasingly important place in a communication strategy, paper media still has a bright future ahead of it. Quick and inexpensive, it sometimes plays an important role in a cross-channel strategy. Offer, for example, a promo code on a flyer that can only be used online. It’s a good way to generate leads

Presence at trade shows

We sometimes tend to forget it, but being present at trade shows is a very good way to integrate a product or service into your multichannel strategy. Depending on the persona you target, participating in trade shows can be a source of lead generation.

Think about digitizing your physical operations! The challenge is to continue your relationship on other channels, and certainly online channels. So plan to collect an email address during your operations via forms. To motivate your audience, you can offer a gift, a discount, a trial, or whatever is relevant in your business in exchange for their contact details. For example, a certain pen brand (among others) beginning with B and ending with C offers children’s pencil kits at its trade shows to anyone who leaves their email for a contest.

Multichannel applied to the web

Although it is possible to use physical and digital channels, it is now much more practical, and even essential, to focus on digital communication channels. Indeed, over the last 10 years, digital has continued to increase its number of users with, once again, a year of double-digit growth, according to a 2022 Wearesocial study (+4% internet users and +10% social media users at the beginning of 2022 compared to 2021).

Digital communication channels therefore have a prominent place in a communication strategy. Integrate them into your strategy and take advantage of their benefits.

The website

The showcase of your company, your website must reflect your image and the values it wishes to convey. Well optimized, it will be the central point of your multichannel strategy and will serve as the foundation for many marketing actions (SEO, social media, improvement of the customer experience, etc.)

Think about the power of pop-ins, which will enable a personalized browsing experience and encourage your visitors to take action! For example, a pop-in inviting them to an open day that will be visible only to visitors from the relevant region. Also, most marketing automation tools offer a dynamic content feature that will allow you to adapt an entire part of the page specifically for your visitor.

The blog

The blog is very useful for sharing information about your expertise. It also has a second benefit, since your SEO will only improve. SEO is also part of a content marketing strategy. The ideal is to categorize your content to allow fine segmentation of your readers and thus communicate the updates that interest them.

The newsletter

Very practical for informing your customers or prospects, it is the most effective way to deliver a message. Send it to the right person, at the right time, with a relevant message to boost its effectiveness. Here too, as with the website, personalize! The best practice is to create dynamic content to gain relevance and save time for the marketing team.

Social media

Powerful tools for engaging and retaining a community around your brand, social media are an integral part of a multichannel strategy. They are an inexhaustible source of visibility for companies that want to promote their offers at lower cost. They are also an excellent way to understand the needs of your customers, particularly thanks to the engagement rate. Social media are also used in a content marketing strategy. How about a personalized tweet inviting your ambassador to share your latest article with their community? And all of this automatically thanks to marketing automation.

Email signature

Why use an email signature? Because it is a powerful means of communication. It can be very useful for relaying a marketing action in order to generate leads. For example, promoting a webinar that you are organizing.

To sum up, each channel has its objective: promote, acquire, retain

We have presented the communication channels most commonly used in a multichannel strategy. You can, of course, integrate other channels if you consider them relevant. And do not forget that each business sector and each brand has its own objectives.

How to integrate multichannel into your strategy

Identifying your target at the start of your customer journey

Before anything else, it is important to identify your target before integrating this notion into your strategy. First, develop your marketing persona. This will allow you to determine their favorite communication channels. 

For example, your persona is a sales director at a large company who is looking for ROI and the sales performance of their teams. They want a better CRM tool. Their buying journey may first involve participating in a trade show in order to find new tools on the market. Then they will go online to compare this tool with others and finally request quotes.

Choosing communication channels

Once your target has been identified, it is now time to tackle the choice of your channels. It may be worthwhile to choose channels that complement each other. For example, participating in a trade show and sending a newsletter to your participants. Your target has entered your customer journey.

Mastering your customer journey

It is now time to transform your target into a lead and your lead into a customer. And for that, mastering their customer journey and therefore their communication channels is essential. This is when they will begin to receive communications from the marketing team, which will personalize your messages according to their data. In fact, implementing a good multichannel strategy means streamlining each communication channel and making them interactive with one another. This is what is called omnichannel

Omnichannel, the evolution of multichannel

Omnichannel can be defined as taking the customer experience and the relationship you have with them into account in your strategy. It is the evolution of multichannel. Customers now want a unique and personalized consumer experience. It should also be noted that customer experience has become a criterion more important than price.

Unlike the other concepts, this one takes advantage of each communication channel to optimize the conversion of your products. For example, using a tablet in a supermarket to obtain information about a product is omnichannel communication.

Deploying your multichannel strategy

When the company has identified its persona as well as the communication channels it wants to integrate into its strategy, that is when it can begin deploying its strategy.

If we take the example of the sales director who wants a new CRM tool. You could, for example, have a physical booth at a trade show. Then, engage them by offering a benchmark on the advantages of your product compared with your competitors. Finally, your social media can serve as support and reassurance elements to convince them definitively. Above all, capitalize on the first touchpoint: once your prospect has been met, continue communicating with them via the channels they value.

Of course, specific skills will be necessary to meet each need: salespeople to prospect at trade shows, web marketers to create relevant content, and community managers to manage social media.

Adapting your communication channels to your persona is the key to a successful multichannel strategy.

Measuring the results of your actions

The last step is to measure the results obtained from each communication channel used. This is when you can draw your conclusions and understand which channels are the most used in order to understand the intentions of your leads. 

This is also when you will be able to implement omnichannel communication. Your results will highlight elements that will allow you to combine certain channels in order to optimize them.

These results will also make it possible to make strategic decisions for your objectives, for example, using new communication channels or removing some.

Integrating marketing automation into your multichannel strategy

To make certain communication processes easier for you, it is possible to use tools that facilitate the implementation of a good multichannel strategy such as marketing automation.

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Offering the customer a unique experience through task automation

Marketing automation will allow you to offer your prospect a better user experience. Indeed, if you want your multichannel strategy to capture your customers’ attention, it is necessary to send the right message, at the right time, to the right person. Marketing automation is the solution.

Marketing automation will allow you to set up scenarios that will nurture your lead. If we once again take our example from earlier. Imagine that the sales director receives in their inbox a benchmark of existing solutions even before participating in the trade show. There is a strong chance that they will not even open the email, even if the content is relevant. They are not ready to receive this type of content. Wait for the right moment to multiply the power of your multichannel strategy.

Marketing automation will therefore allow you to create campaigns that will automatically send the benchmark after a sales director has participated in a trade show. You focus only on high value-added tasks and actively contribute to the success of your multichannel strategy.

Retaining your customers thanks to marketing automation

To go further with the multichannel strategy, it is also possible to retain your customers thanks to marketing automation. Setting up an ambassador campaign offering benefits to your most loyal customers is an excellent way to minimize churn. Satisfied customers are the best advertising! 

You have all the information you need to launch your multichannel strategy, now it’s your turn!