To uncover the major challenges in implementing omni-channel marketing and how to overcome them, we asked marketing leaders and directors this question. From developing a comprehensive training program to balancing personalization and privacy concerns, here are the top fourteen insights these experts shared.
Develop Comprehensive Training Program
Training and aligning our marketing team to think and operate in an omni-channel context was a major hurdle. Traditionally, team members specialized in one or two channels, but omni-channel marketing requires a holistic view and understanding of all channels and how they interact with each other. This required a cultural shift within our marketing department and extensive training to develop the necessary skills and mindset.
To address the training challenge, we developed a comprehensive internal training program that focuses on cross-channel marketing strategies and tactics. We also encouraged cross-functional teams to work together on projects, which helped break down silos and foster a more collaborative environment. This approach helped our team gain a better understanding of how different channels interact and the importance of a unified strategy.
Marc Bishop, Director, Wytlabs
Focus on Overall Sales Performance
One big headache with omni-channel marketing these days is figuring out who’s seeing your ads and where. With all these new rules about cookie consent, it’s tougher to track folks online. Knowing if someone bought something because they saw your ad on Facebook or clicked on your email link? That’s tricky.
But here’s what we do: we focus on the big picture—like how overall sales are doing—instead of sweating over every little click. This way, we keep pushing on all fronts and adjust our strategy based on what the sales numbers tell us, not just bits and pieces of incomplete data.
Mike Zima, Chief Marketing Officer, Zima Media
Use Multi-Touch Attribution Model
Tracking the correct KPIs during an omnichannel campaign can be pretty tricky. Each channel has its own set of data points, and figuring out how they all connect can be a bit of a puzzle. Since the buyer journey happens across various touchpoints, it’s so important to pick the right attribution model to really measure how effective your campaign is.
A multi-touch attribution model, which aligns with the different stages of the customer journey—like awareness, engagement, conversion, and delight—can really help simplify things. Basically, you want to track how far your campaign reaches at each stage by monitoring activities across different channels and assets. This will give you a better idea of interest and progress. Plus, it’ll help you create the right messaging and provide valuable insights for optimizing your campaign.
Rob Clegg, Senior Content Manager, Exclaimer
Automate Workflows With Zapier
A major challenge I faced when implementing omni-channel marketing was effectively connecting various apps, conversion channels, and our CRM system. Each platform had its own set of data and tracking mechanisms, making it difficult to create a seamless, integrated experience. To overcome this, I used Zapier to bridge the gaps between these disparate systems.
Zapier allowed me to automate workflows and ensure that data flowed smoothly between apps, conversion channels, and our CRM. Thankfully, setting up Zaps (automated workflows) meant that I could connect different tools and platforms without needing extensive coding knowledge. This integration ensured that all customer interactions were tracked in one place, providing a unified view of our marketing efforts and customer journey.
David Abraham, CEO, Bluesoft Design
Invest in Salesforce Marketing Cloud
One of the biggest hurdles was tracking the customer journey across multiple channels to gain a holistic view of their interactions with our brand. Our existing tools, like Google Analytics, were siloed, making it difficult to piece together the full customer journey. We invested in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, which integrated data from all our channels, providing a 360-degree view of customer interactions. This enabled us to understand their behavior better, personalize our marketing efforts, and measure the effectiveness of our omni-channel strategy more accurately.
Map Customer Journey With Analytics
One significant hurdle we faced while implementing our omnichannel marketing strategy was effectively tracking and understanding the customer journey across various touchpoints. We conducted detailed customer-journey mapping to address this and utilized analytics tools to gather insights. This approach allowed us to pinpoint critical touchpoints and pain points in the customer experience.
By understanding these interactions, we could refine our strategies and create a more seamless and cohesive experience. Investing in comprehensive journey mapping and analytics is crucial for effective omnichannel marketing. Use these insights to identify gaps and continuously improve your approach, ensuring a unified and enhanced customer experience across all channels.
Jeffrey Pitrak, Marketing Account Manager, Transient Specialists
Centralize Data With Customer Data Platform
A major challenge I faced while implementing omni-channel marketing was ensuring seamless integration and consistency across various customer touchpoints. Our goal was to create a unified customer experience across digital and offline channels, but we encountered significant difficulties with data silos and inconsistent messaging. The primary issue was that our marketing data was fragmented across different platforms, including social media, email, and in-store systems. This fragmentation led to inconsistent customer experiences and made it challenging to track and analyze customer interactions holistically.
To address this challenge, we undertook a multi-faceted approach. First, we invested in a centralized Customer Data Platform (CDP) that unified data from all touchpoints. This platform allowed us to create a single customer view, ensuring that interactions across channels were synchronized and up-to-date. By integrating data sources such as CRM systems, social media analytics, and point-of-sale systems, we were able to gather comprehensive insights into customer behavior and preferences.
Next, we developed a cohesive omni-channel strategy that emphasized consistent messaging and branding. We collaborated with creative teams to design unified campaigns that adapted to each channel’s format while maintaining a consistent brand voice and message. This approach ensured that whether a customer interacted with us via email, social media, or in-store, they received a coherent and engaging experience.
To further streamline the process, we established cross-functional teams that included members from marketing, sales, and customer service. Regular meetings and collaborative tools facilitated communication and alignment, allowing us to address any issues swiftly and adapt our strategy based on real-time feedback.
Finally, we implemented robust analytics and reporting systems to continuously monitor performance and customer feedback across channels. This data-driven approach enabled us to make data-informed adjustments, optimize campaign performance, and enhance the overall customer experience.
By integrating data sources, maintaining consistent messaging, and fostering cross-functional collaboration, we successfully overcame the challenges of implementing omni-channel marketing and delivered a cohesive and impactful customer experience.
Saurabh Kumar, Senior Manager, Data Science, Kraft Heinz Foods Company
Craft Platform-Specific Content
You must realize that content is like fuel for omnichannel marketing. If it’s rotten and not valuable, the whole campaign sputters out. In today’s online world, we must know that customers use all platforms of social media, whether it’s a website or an app. Crafting perfect content that resonates with each platform is a win-win for a marketer.
The key is to understand your ideal customer and figure out how they interact with your business. Once you understand this, you can tailor your content to be both relevant and engaging for your customers on every platform. That way, our content fuels our marketing and helps us win over customers!
Aqsa Tabassam, PR & Brand Manager, RevenueGeeks
Integrate Platforms With Hootsuite
Our company struggled with integration when implementing omnichannel marketing, but fortunately, with the right software, we were able to connect all platforms seamlessly and create smoother, more powerful marketing campaigns.
It can be challenging to identify what is holding your business up when it comes to omnichannel marketing. There are so many variables, and it doesn’t help that the more channels you add, the more complicated it can get. With tools like Hootsuite, you can manage all of your social media in one place, ensuring that everything looks neat, comprehensive, and, in turn, effective.
When we began using Hootsuite, we found it was quite simple to add all of our social media channels into the software. It then helped us track engagements and interactions in real-time. We could quickly see what marketing tactics worked and, just as importantly, which ones weren’t as effective, so we could tailor and amend with haste. It helped us create and publish new content in a fraction of the time.
Ryan Mcclellan, Marketing Manager, Character Counter
Maintain Consistent Customer Experience
A major challenge we faced was maintaining a consistent customer experience across all platforms. Early on, we discovered that different channels, such as social media, email, and our website, each had unique engagement patterns and user expectations. This made it difficult to deliver a unified message and seamless experience.
To overcome this, we invested in comprehensive analytics and customer-feedback systems. These tools allowed us to track customer interactions in real time and adapt our strategies dynamically. By continuously refining our approach based on data-driven insights, we were able to create a more cohesive and engaging customer journey across all touchpoints.
Dinesh Agarwal, Founder, CEO, RecurPost
Ensure Uniform Product Information
Maintaining consistency of information across a multitude of channels is key for building consumer trust and brand integrity. Our clients are companies that have portfolios of hundreds or thousands of products. Their challenge when it comes to omni-channel marketing is bringing consistency across multiple channels. If product information is being managed through manual data entry and scattered across countless versions of spreadsheets, the process of maintaining an omni-channel marketing strategy can be daunting.
By using a Product Information Management (PIM) solution, you can ensure uniformity in product descriptions, specifications, and imagery across all your marketing channels. Whether it’s print catalogs, e-commerce websites, social media, or mobile apps, you can rest assured that your product information remains accurate and up-to-date at all times.
Hannah Duggleby, Marketing Specialist, Channel Studios
Repurpose Content for Each Platform
The major challenge was repurposing our content to match different platforms. Facebook is more informational, Instagram is more visual, and X has character limits. So, it took some time to get our content to resonate with audiences. We first tried making carbon copies of the content, but engagement levels were inconsistent.
We then started using a marketing strategy where we took our brand values of natural remedies and sustainability and created guides for each platform. We had guidelines for every medium. Email had a content guide, along with SMS, blogs, and social media platforms. The guides helped us stay within the confines of engaging content for each medium but still let us be creative in our approach.
We also used several generative-AI platforms to create templates for each medium. Canva helped a lot by helping us create a brand kit. We did the same on Mailchimp. The point was to adhere to content guidelines while still maintaining our brand values through automation. It worked great.
Anders Blomqvist, Co-Founder, Cannabiva
Develop Comprehensive Brand Guidelines
We initially struggled to maintain a unified voice across different platforms. To overcome this, we developed a comprehensive brand guideline that detailed our tone, style, and messaging for each platform. This document served as a reference for our marketing team, ensuring that our brand’s essence was preserved across emails, social media posts, blog content, and advertisements.
However, we allowed each channel to retain its unique flavor to cater to the specific audience it attracted. For instance, our LinkedIn content remained professional and industry-focused, while our Instagram posts were more creative and visually engaging. This balance helped us maintain brand consistency without stifling the uniqueness of each platform.
Brian Onyang’o, Founder and MD, West Kenya Real Estate
Balance Personalization and Privacy Concerns
Our omnichannel marketing strategy had to strike a delicate balance between personalization and privacy concerns. While customers liked to be presented with tailored experiences, they were also anxious about how their personal data was being collected and used. In response, we were upfront about our data collection process and prioritized data security.
We developed stringent data-security protocols (encrypted data and regular security audits) and made our privacy policy public so that our customers knew their personal information was in good hands and in no danger of being revealed to third parties without prior consent.
Furthermore, we limited ourselves to collecting only the data required to improve the user experience—and we could balance customer privacy with the marketing messages we sent them. This way, we optimized customer satisfaction (and loyalty) without compromising privacy.
Mark McShane, Founder, Cupid PR
Brett Farmiloe is the founder of Featured, a Q&A platform that connects brands with expert insights.
Omni channel stock photo by PopTika/Shutterstock
