As customers have come to expect personalization and demand a seamless customer experience both online and offline, companies have had to embrace omnichannel marketing.

Omnichannel marketing is a step up from traditional multichannel marketing that focuses on promoting a brand across multiple channels. The aim of an omnichannel marketing strategy is to create a seamless customer experience that is personalized, simple and relevant across all channels to help drive traffic and generate leads.

In a DMI podcast, Matt Santos, VP of Products & Strategy at Neil Patel Accel coined omnichannel marketing as:

“A marketing tactic that is cohesive, first and foremost, between traditional marketing tactics and digital marketing tactics that creates synergy between all of them.”

In this blog we will explore omnichannel marketing to cover:

• What is omnichannel marketing?
• What’s the role of data in omnichannel marketing?
• The four pillars of an omnichannel strategy
• How can AI enhance an omnichannel marketing strategy?
• How to execute an omnichannel strategy
• What are the key digital channels for omnichannel marketing?

An omnichannel approach to marketing allows customers to have a positive experience on each channel, while acknowledging all their previous touchpoints with your brand.

To be more effective, omnichannel has evolved to include elements like personalization and integration.

• Integrated marketing: This aims to bring together the various marketing channels to deliver a consistent brand message and experience to align all customer touchpoints.
• Personalization: Show the growing importance of AI in digital marketing and data analytics in creating hyper-personalized customer experiences and a shift towards more tailored and individualized marketing efforts.

A successful omnichannel approach draws on data from the customer journeyalong different channels. You can use the available data to map out the different customer touchpoints to identify customer motivations and needs, and design a strategy to meet those needs.

This data can come from:

•  CRM, CDP, and email platforms
•  Website analytics
•  Paid search
•  SEO and keyword-tracking tools
•  Social media
•  Mobile app usage data (where applicable)
•  Sales teams (where applicable)
•  Customer feedback (research, surveys, and case studies)

When it comes to collecting and storing customer data it’s important to prioritize data privacy and transparency.

You can do this by knowing and adhering to data privacy regulations like GDPRthat let your customers know that their data is protected. It’s also important to be transparent about how their data is used by obtaining explicit consent and allowing customers to control their personal information.

Top tip: The best way to collect data is to get full participation from a prospect or customer known as zero-party data. Find out how to encourage customers to share their preferences and feedback to personalize experiences without infringing on privacy concerns.

Omnichannel marketing extends beyond purely digital marketing to all areas of the business, ensuring they work together:

• Marketing channels: Use channels like email, social media, display and video, social media, SEO content, mobile apps, and PR to engage potential customers, generate demand for your products, and build your brand.
• Sales channels: Use digital channels like PPC, SEO, email, social media, mobile apps, and retargeting to turn your potential customers into paying customers.
• Operations: Streamline your back office in areas such as product, order, and inventory management, logistics, and fulfillment.
• Shipping and fulfillment: Use either your own shipping methods and delivery software management tools to ensure your products reach customers on time and undamaged or enlist the help of a third-party logistics specialist company.

It’s worth noting that artificial intelligence (AI) is now used by many businesses to streamline and optimize many marketing tasks.

There are many AI tools that can be used for automation, content creation, customer journey mapping, data analysis, and social media management.

One of the biggest areas AI can help optimize in an omnichannel approach is personalization.

This is crucial, particularly when 83% of people say they’re more likely to stay loyal to a brand that offers a personalized experience and companies that focus on personalization see an average boost of 46% in customer spend, according to Twilio’s 2024 State of Customer Engagement Report.

AI-driven tools can analyze vast volumes of customer data to deliver hyper-personalized experiences across all touchpoints. This includes dynamic content that adapts in real-time to user behavior which can improve engagement and conversion rates.

A great example of dynamic content in action is Amazon where consumers are directed to products based on past purchases and behavior. The screenshot below shows how Amazon puts products into categories such as ‘Pick up where you left off’ and ‘Buy again’ to entice people to click-through.

Another key area AI can help boost an omnichannel approach is customer service. The increased use of chatbots and virtual assistants can provide real-time customer support and guide people through their purchasing journey while helping a company gain insights into customer behavior.

Here’s an example from software company Intercom that uses a chatbot to engage a website visitor but also has sections that can be clicked into to find out more information such as ‘News’ and ‘Help’.

A successful omnichannel marketing strategy involves the following key actions:

• Unify messaging: Align and coordinate all messaging across your sales and marketing channels.
• Identify user affinities: Identify how people perceive your brand or business across different channels, and give them the opportunity to engage.
• Segment customers: Segment your customers based on how they define themselves, how they behave, and what their characteristics are.
• Personalize experiences: Engage customers in real time with automated and personalized experiences.
• Reinforce messaging: Reinforce your message and proposition at every touchpoint and on all channels.

Omnichannel marketing encompasses traditional channels, digital channels, physical, and online experiences, so let’s look at each of these in more detail.

• Website optimization
• Email marketing
• Social media
• Display advertising
• Video
• Search marketing
• Affiliate marketing

Website optimization is a crucial part of any omnichannel strategy because you typically drive people to your website when they click through from a digital marketing channel.

Because your website is likely to be the last point of contact before someone buys, optimizing the website experience to match customer preferences is vital for sales success. And the actions that customers take on the website can become a valuable source of first-party data.

Here are key ways marketers can use website optimization to support an omnichannel approach:

• Embed a responsive design – Ensure the website functions seamlessly across all devices for a consistent experience.
• Optimize for mobile – As mobile devices account for 68% of online shopping orders according to Statista, optimizing the mobile user experience is crucial. This includes responsive design, fast-loading pages, and mobile-friendly payment options.
• Personalize content & recommendations – Use AI-driven personalization to tailor content based on user behavior across channels.
• Offer a seamless user experience (UX) – Maintain consistent branding, navigation, calls-to-action and messaging across all platforms.
• Improve load speeds – Optimize images, code, and hosting to reduce bounce rates and improve engagement.
• Integrate customer data – Connect website analytics with customer relationship management (CRM) systems, email, and social data for a unified customer view.
• Cross-channel retargeting – Use website data to fuel personalized ads and email campaigns across multiple channels.
• Offer chat & support – Implement AI chatbots or live chat that integrate with social messaging apps and email.
• Leverage SEO & voice search optimization – Optimize for search engines and voice queries to capture traffic from multiple sources.
• Include social proof – Showcase testimonials, ratings, and UGC (user-generated content) from various platforms.

Remember customers have different expectations on different channels so it’s important to understand which channels are important for your business.

When it comes to digital channels that drive traffic to your website, these channels fall into two categories:

•  Marketing channels drive consumer demand and build brand awareness.
•  Sales channels close the deal and facilitate sales conversions.

When you drive people to your website from different channels, optimize the site with these expectations in mind. Using a data-driven, omnichannel approach, you can create the type of experiences, content, and messaging customers expect on each channel.

With effective email marketing, you can segment audiences based on various criteria, such as past purchases, which makes it perfectly suited to the omnichannel approach.

In addition, you can base all your communications with customers on a data-driven understanding of their past touchpoints with your brand.

As a result, you can create emails that are personalized and direct and cater to different customer segments to engage in building customer loyalty.

Bear in mind that there are a number of different email types depending on the message you want to convey and the action you want the recipient to take which include:

• Welcome email
• Promotional email
• Nurture email
• Retargeting email
• Cart abandonment email

If you want to get the most from your email marketing activities, you need to segment your list so you can personalize content and get insights into different buyer personas and segments. Here are some useful characteristics you can use to segment your email audiences:

• Recent purchasers
• Purchasers of certain product types
• Seasonal purchasers
• Cart abandoners
• High-value purchasers
• Lapsed purchasers
• Newsletter subscribers
• E-commerce account holders

You should also know some key ways to leverage email in an omnichannel strategy:

• Personalize & segment campaigns – Use customer data from multiple channels to send tailored emails based on behavior and preferences.
• Retargeting – Set up trigger emails or workflows based on website visits, cart abandonment, or social media interactions.
• Promote loyalty programs – Reward customers through email with points, discounts, and exclusive offers tied to in-store and online purchases.
• Automate drip campaigns – Guide users through different stages of the customer journey with automated email sequences.
• Send users to other channels – Include links to social media, mobile apps, and personalized website experiences in emails.
• Optimize for mobile – Ensure emails are responsive and work smoothly on all devices.
• Keep consistent brand messaging – Ensure that email designs, tone, and messaging align with other marketing channels.
• Integrate with customer service – Offer support by linking email responses to live chat, SMS, or phone support.
• Conduct A/B testing – Test subject lines, visuals, and CTAs to ensure effectiveness across platforms.

Top tip: Check out some email marketing examples to get inspiration or see what content is used to prompt different actions.

Social media interactions can influence the customer journey by helping the customer to develop their knowledge of your products, offerings, brand values, and customer service, all of which can influence their decision to proceed to the next stage of their buying journey.

Once you know which social media platforms your customers use , you can create tailored content for those platforms.

The content you share on social media can have a direct impact on omnichannel performance. It’s all about understanding when your customer is in the marketing funnel so you can deliver content that will be relevant and resonate.

For example, if you’re trying to engage someone that knows nothing about your brand, product or service you might post an infographic or high-quality image that offers guidance or useful information for someone at the start of their journey. For those further down the funnel at the consideration stage, a how-to video can help provide valuable information for people l actively looking for information to help them decide to purchase.

An effective social media strategy and targeted content, can help you cultivate engaged social media communities that advocate for your brand.

Some effective ways you can use social media to drive an omnichannel strategy are:

• Integrate with social commerce – Enable direct shopping on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, linking to the website or app.
• Retarget & create custom audiences – Use social media ads to retarget users based on website visits, abandoned carts, or email interactions.
• Tailor content – Repurpose blog posts, videos, and email content across social platforms for consistent messaging.
• Leverage influencer & UGC – Use influencer marketing and customer-created content to build credibility across all channels.
• Use geotargeting – Set up location-based targeting to promote store events, special offers, or region-specific content.
• Use social listening – Monitor conversations to understand customer needs and improve messaging across channels.
• Use AI-driven personalization – Use AI tools to analyze social interactions and deliver personalized ads, emails, or product recommendations.
• Use hashtags – Align social media campaigns with broader marketing efforts through relevant or branded hashtags in email, web, and in-store.
• Use QR codes – Encourage customers to scan QR codes in physical stores or social media to access promotions, loyalty programs, or product details.
• Tap into live streaming– Use live video events and interactive polls to engage users and drive them to other channels.

Top tip: Use social media to promote sustainability and ethical business practices including social issues to build trust and loyalty with customers.

A display ad is an online advertisement that targets shoppers whenever they are online and wherever they are browsing.

You can use display ads to target shoppers even when they’re not actively searching for a specific product. They come in many different formats, including images, videos, and text and can be placed as:

• Banner ads – A wide horizontal ad at the top of the blog page.
• Sidebar or skyscraper ads – Vertical ads placed in the right or left sidebar.
• Inline or in-content ads – Ads placed within the blog content, appearing between paragraphs.
• Sticky ads – A floating ad that stays visible as users scroll.
• Pop-up or lightbox ads – An overlay ad that appears when a user first visits or scrolls down.
• Native ads – Ads that blend into the blog’s content, appearing as recommended articles.
• Footer ads – A horizontal ad at the bottom of the blog page.

Display advertising is a great way to increase awareness of your products and services among general consumers. You can also use it to target certain predefined segments on platforms that they use such as social media or search engines.

This can be done through programmatic advertising which is a sophisticated way to place ads using traffic data and online display targeting to drive impressions at scale, which results in a better ROI for marketers.

For example, you can display banner ads to segments of consumers you think might be interested in your product or offering, based on an analysis of their characteristics.

You can use display advertising to support an omnichannel approach by:

• Cross-device targeting – Deliver display ads across mobile, desktop, and other devices for a seamless experience.
• Retarget & remarket – Show personalized ads to users who visited your website, engaged with emails, or interacted on social media.
• Use geo-targeting – Serve location-based ads to direct customers to nearby stores or region-specific promotions.
• Create personalized & dynamic ads – Use AI-driven recommendations to display relevant products based on customer behavior.
• Create interactive ads – Use formats like video, carousel, and gamified ads to enhance brand storytelling.
• Co-ordinate promotions & discounts – Align display ad offers with in-store, website, email, and social media campaigns.
• Use first-party data – Leverage CRM and website data to create highly targeted, privacy-compliant ad campaigns.

Top tip: If you use Google to promote ads, check out this blog on how to improve your Google Ads quality score quickly.

Video content can help people decide which product to buy – and which business to buy from – by providing reviews, product demonstrations, tutorials, endorsements, and immersive experiences with your business and products.

Research by Wyzowl found that 52% are more likely to share video content than any other type of content. This means that video can be effective for brand awareness and also act as a great word of mouth marketing tool.

The rise in popularity of TikTok and YouTube Shorts has also created huge demand for short-form videos so it’s worth considering length when you create video content.

There’s also the opportunity to advertise using video, especially since consumers are increasingly using channels like TikTok as a search engine to find answers to queries.

You can use video marketing to support an omnichannel approach by:

• Telling a story – Create video themes, messaging, and visuals that align with other marketing channels for a seamless brand experience.
• Create interactive & shoppable videos – Enable viewers to click directly on products within videos to drive conversions across platforms.
• Use Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality – Allow customers to virtually try on products or visualize them in their environment to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experiences and reduce return rates.
• Personalize video content – Use AI and customer data to create personalized video messages based on user behavior and preferences.
• Use live streaming & webinars – Host live Q&A sessions, product demos, and virtual events that integrate with social media, email, and websites.
• Retarget leads – Use video ads to re-engage users who visited your website, abandoned a cart, or interacted with emails or social media.
• Promote user-generated & influencer content – Leverage customer and influencer videos across different touchpoints for increased trust and engagement.
• Optimize videos for SEO – Ensure videos are discoverable via search engines and voice search by optimizing titles, descriptions, and captions.
• Embed videos in emails – Increase engagement by embedding videos in email campaigns for product launches, tutorials, or testimonials.

Top tip: If you want to use YouTube more effectively find out some simple but effective ways to grow your channel.

You can use search marketing as both a sales and marketing channel. Think about how customers use search at various stages of their customer journey and what they expect from each stage.

Use keyword research in both paid and organic search campaigns to create synergy between both strategies.

• SEO keyword research inspires you to create content that helps people discover your products, learn more about them, and make the decision to buy. You can also use AI to help streamline and optimize your SEO efforts.
• PPC keyword research is more concerned with purchase-based keywords. You can use these to create experiences for people who already know what they want and can easily search and buy. It’s essential to keep your messaging consistent across your paid search ads, landing pages, and website content.

A well-thought-out search marketing campaign can help you boost an omnichannel approach by:

• Integrate SEO & PPC – Combine organic and paid search to maximize visibility across all customer touchpoints.
• Use local SEO – Optimize local search listings (including Google My Business) and use location-based PPC ads to drive online and in-store traffic.
• Leverage voice search & AI – Optimize content for voice search queries to capture users searching via smart speakers and mobile assistants.
• Use search to retarget & remarket – Show targeted ads to users based on previous searches, website visits, or abandoned carts.
• Create shopping ads – Use Google Shopping and product ads to connect searchers with in-store and online inventory.
• Promote branded search campaigns – Build brand presence by bidding on branded keywords.
• Automate PPC campaigns – Use AI-powered bidding and automation to adjust search ad spend based on customer behavior across channels.
• Integrate content & search – Align blog content, FAQs, and video content with top-performing search queries to engage users across touchpoints.

Top tip: Find out clever and effective ways to maximize your PPC strategy.

Affiliate marketing is when businesses enter into an agreement with bloggers or other content publishers such as influencers.

These bloggers or publishers are then paid for any sales they drive on behalf of the business. This payment is usually a fee or commission for the sale. For example, if a blogger writes a review of your product or service, they might also include a link to your website

Common types of affiliates include websites that write reviews for travel, computer or tech, fashion, books, or other consumer goods. The opinion of the author can help influence the customer’s final decision.

A great example of an affiliate website is ‘This Is Why I’m Broke’, which is packed with products you would think nobody wanted to buy! Someone must do though as they make thousands in commission, with most of their affiliate links leading to Amazon.

Affiliate websites tend to be content-heavy, and they rely heavily on SEO to drive traffic. It’s a good idea to provide your affiliates with fresh content and updates for their websites regularly. This ensures they stay up to date on new and interesting aspects of your business, which they can share with their audiences.

You can use affiliate marketing to enhance your omnichannel strategy through:

• Multi-channel affiliate promotions – Leverage affiliates across websites, social media, email lists, and YouTube to maximize brand reach.
• Influencer & content creator partnerships – Collaborate with influencers and bloggers who align with your brand to drive traffic across multiple channels.
• Cross-device tracking & attribution – Use advanced tracking tools to monitor customer journeys across mobile, desktop, and in-store visits.
• Retargeting & remarketing – Allow affiliates to use retargeting ads to re-engage visitors who didn’t convert initially.
• Integrating with loyalty programs – Allow customers to earn rewards from affiliate-driven purchases both online and in-store.
• Social commerce & live shopping affiliates – Work with affiliates who use live shopping and social commerce platforms to drive real-time engagement.
• Performance data analysis – Analyze omnichannel performance data to refine affiliate partnerships and marketing strategies.

Digital marketing is evolving all the time, and omnichannel marketing has become a key strategy for many brands.

An effective omnichannel strategy can enable you to build awareness and drive sales across several digital marketing channels, including email, search, social media, and display advertising.

By tracking the performance of the different channels, you can fine-tune the strategy to ensure the various channels complement each other and your marketing delivers the results you want.