The Small Business Guide to Omnichannel Marketing: Turn Content into Clients
Does securing new clients seem, well, harder? You have to go through more discovery calls, follow-up calls and back and forth to get new clients on the books. You have to post about services more. When a couple of social media posts used to do it, you’re promoting a service day and night to get the same traction. It’s a sign of the times my friend.
The landscape consumers are navigating while making buying decisions is overwhelming. There’s uncertainty on a global scale from upcoming elections in the US and UK to a tough job market and the rising cost of living as the cherry on top, all of which is being pushed down our throats in whatever digital space you choose to spend your time.
Additionally, there is a higher competition for your potential client’s attention as more businesses than ever have an online presence. You’re far from the only business in their social media feed, email inbox and Google searches. This has only been accelerated by AI which has made it possible for people to post more content.
In this shitstorm, your clients are looking for content that’s relatable, uplifting and genuinely helpful from brands they can believe in. Those are the brands that will stick in their minds and they will turn to when they’re ready to pay for a solution. But how do you get your content in front of potential clients with everything else going on? Let’s talk about omnichannel marketing.
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel marketing is a strategy where you use more than one marketing platform to share content and promote your business. It’s the opposite of building your business on Instagram - which for the record I don’t recommend anyone does. It’s too risky and unpredictable as you put your content in the hands of algorithms designed by tech gurus who only really want one thing, to make more money.
It’s much more reliable and effective to use an omnichannel marketing strategy. When I create omnichannel marketing strategies for my clients they usually look like this:
2 blogs a month - one focused on SEO and one focused on topics relevant to the business, industry and target audience that month
A weekly email newsletter - promoting their blogs and services with a timely focus
3 posts a week on Instagram - for more personable content and to take advantage of short-form video
2 posts a week on LinkedIn - to position them as a thought leader and influential founder
This kind of strategy works for multiple reasons.
Why bother with omnichannel marketing?
When you spread your content marketing across multiple platforms, you enjoy multiple benefits that smooth the flow from leads to paying clients. Here are my favourite benefits.
Increase your reach
If you only post on Instagram, you can only reach your audience when they are on Instagram. You miss out on opportunities for them to see your content when spending time on other platforms. That’s vital because it takes multiple touchpoints such as engaging with content for leads to convert. Some say up to 50 touchpoints. If you are visible on multiple platforms, it increases the chances of new people finding your business and people who are already familiar with your business experiencing multiple interactions, bringing them closer to buying from you.
Consumer preferences
Different people like to spend their time online on different platforms. I know you have an ideal client profile but your client base isn’t a bunch of clones. There will be variations as well as consistent patterns among your audience. So allow them to connect with you on the platform of their choice. Now I’m not suggesting you post daily on every marketing channel. That will compromise the quality of your content detrimentally. Consider the top places they are likely to spend their time and be visible there so you cover your basis. You can do that by asking your clients where they like to spend their time online. Don’t ask, don’t know!
Micro-commitments
When you are active on multiple marketing platforms, you can direct your audience to access the value you provide on different platforms, for example, asking your social media followers to join your email newsletter or your email subscribers to read your blog. That’s powerful because someone moving from one platform to another to engage with your content is a micro-commitment. They go from a passive lead to an active lead. They’re building up what they’re willing to do to get support from you which makes paying for your services feel like less of a leap of faith later down the road.
The benefits of all
There are different benefits to different marketing platforms. Why not enjoy the benefits of all the platforms you post content on to grow your business? Social media is good for reaching new people because a user’s feed is a mix of content from accounts they follow and content from accounts the algorithm thinks they’ll like. That’s very different to a user’s email inbox which should only be filled with content from people they have decided to receive emails from.
However, emails have the advantage of reliability. There’s no algorithm to overcome. If someone has signed up to receive emails from you, they’ll get emails from you. Plus you can curate what emails individual subscribers receive and when based on characteristics and behaviours like how they joined your email list and what they have already purchased from you. Then there are the joys of blogs which allow you to go into a lot more depth to prove your expertise, drive traffic to your website where your sales pages are and attract qualified leads by ranking on Google when people search for your specific area of expertise.
Implementing an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy
Essentially, you make sure you don’t put all your eggs in one basket which would risk losing contact with your potential clients. The more sources of leads you have, the better. On a good day, you have access to a higher number of potential clients. On a bad day, like if Instagram goes down or Google changes the algorithm, you have other ways to contact potential clients.
When implementing an omnichannel marketing strategy, planning is your best friend. I’d plan blogs then use that to inspire your emails and then use that to inspire your social media content. It helps you move people between platforms so they have more interactions with you and build greater know, like and trust. It also requires less headspace to cover the same topics on all platforms compared to coming up with independent topics for each platform.
If you’re thinking, this sounds great but I’m already at capacity so I don’t have the time or headspace to put it into practice, the 3 channel package is for you. I’ll strategise, research, plan, write and finalise (and schedule and create graphics for if you’d like) everything I mentioned earlier:
2 blogs a month - one focused on SEO and one focused on topics relevant to the business, industry and target audience that month
A weekly email newsletter - promoting their blogs and services with a timely focus
3 posts a week on Instagram - for more personable content and to take advantage of short-form video
2 posts a week on LinkedIn - to position you as a thought leader and influential founder
Book an initial consultation to hire me as the content writer for your omnichannel marketing strategy. Show up for your future clients at the volume and with the value they need to say yes to you.