Omnichannel vs. Multichannel Marketing: What’s the Difference?

Today’s business environment features high competition, which leads to the necessity to stay in close contact with consumers. Thus, the ability to interact with customers via multiple channels and the necessity to achieve the maximum number of touchpoints come as the key requirements of modern marketing for companies and enterprises of all levels.

Nowadays, marketing plays a vital role in the functioning of any company, saturating the business landscape with multiple strategies, tools, and channels for product promotion and the development of close and continuous contact with the target audience. The introduction of multichannel interaction helps pump the business workflow and increase sales.

Today, modern marketing differentiates between omni- and multi-channels. In the article, we’re going to have a deeper look at these notions. Our experts will answer the question “What is multichannel and omnichannel?”, highlight the key benefits and peculiarities of each type, and make a comparative analysis of both strategies.

Omni VS. Multichannel: What are They & How do they Work?

Both notions are used to determine ways of interaction with customers, the process of leading them to make a purchase, and a highly effective way to retain consumers and stay in close contact with them. However, both strategies differ in some points. Let’s discuss each type in more detail to clarify the difference between both types of marketing.

The Essence of Multichannel Marketing

A multichannel marketing approach implies the use of several media channels for product promotion and increasing sales. These can be social media, email, TV, phone, retail storefronts, etc., which are used to communicate with consumers, retain their interest, and encourage them to make purchases. The main feature of this approach implies the complete absence of integration between different media channels, i.e. marketing campaigns in different channels are not interconnected and work solely.

How does it Work: Example of Multichannel Marketing?

In this case, each media channel promotes its individual campaign to sell products and functions separately without any connections to other promotional channels. If we regard examples of multichannel and omnichannel, the first one looks like the following: promotional emails are designed completely differently if compared to a brand’s style and content on Instagram. Both channels are not integrated and live their own lives when communicating with consumers. It means that customers should monitor promotional offers and other announcements on a particular social media to be aware of current updates.

The main goal set before marketers is to explore new communicational channels to expand the business’s reach and cover a wider target audience, which results in maximizing conversion. Here, marketing campaigns are developed for each channel separately without the opportunity to integrate them with each other. This strategy consists of the following steps:

1. The development of a marketing strategy starts with in-depth research of the market segment to identify the target audience and create a customer profile.
2. Based on the obtained results, relevant promotion channels are selected. The choice of suitable interaction channels depends on the customer profile, i.e. his age, gender, on what social networks he spends much time, etc.
3. The development of tailored promo offers for each specific channel.
4. Tracking the performance and reach of each marketing campaign.
5. Making adjustments and updates to improve the reach and appeal of offers to clients.

That is, to sum up omnichannel vs multichannel strategies, the latter approach implies the development of multiple marketing campaigns for different channels without integrating them with each other.

Benefits of Multichannel Marketing

Here is a brief list of the key advantages of the regarded method:

1. Highly targeted campaigns.
2. Independent performance.
3. The ability to differentiate consumers and customize marketing offers.

The Concept of Omnichannel Marketing

Now, let’s move on to another popular approach and consider the question “Is omni-channel same as multi-channel?” When considering this marketing approach, the main difference is a high level of interaction and interaction between marketing campaigns, i.e. all promotional offers are united and function as a single unit, representing the band in different social media. That is when facing an omnichannel strategy, a consumer can move between different social media seamlessly without facing any misunderstanding. All promos, pages, and campaigns have a unified style, content, and message, which improves customer acquaintance with the brand and loyalty.

Example of Omnichannel Marketing

To realize the differencebetween omni channel versus multi channel, let’s consider how the first approach works in reality. A customer sees a luring promo on a retail storefront. He buys something in a physical store, and the purchase is packed into a shopper with a QR code or a web address to retarget consumers to an Instagram or Facebook page. By entering these pages, consumers keep monitoring of special offers. Besides, email newsletters are sent to steer interest. In this case, all channels are interrelated and are formed in a unique style to work n tandem to improve reaching clients and increase their brand awareness and loyalty.

Advantages of Omnichannel Marketing

Here’s a brief listing of the key benefits of the omni strategy:

1. A unified system of interaction with the target audience.
2. Wide coverage of clients.
3. Increased consumer loyalty due to well-designed campaigns.
4. Easier monitoring of the brand’s offer.

Omni VS. Multichannel Marketing: Difference & Comparison

Now, let’s outline the key difference between omnichannel and multichannel approaches. Here, it’s important to mention the following criteria:

1. Customer experience. An omnichannel strategy is focused on the consumer to ensure a consistent and flawless journey across the brand’s platforms, while a multichannel approach uses unrelated separated campaigns, which complicates the consumer experience.
2. Channel coordination. Omnichannel marketing provides multiple ways for consumer engagement, where all chains of the marketing campaign are unified. In the multichannel strategy, campaigns are separated and are not interrelated.
3. Data sharing. An omnichannel strategy relies on data sharing between channels to realize and serve individual consumer preferences.
4. Customer focus. In omnichannel marketing, the consumer stands as a central point, and the business places a stronger emphasis on the target audience, trying to meet their expectations and demands at every touchpoint.
5. Goal. A multichannel approach prioritizes channel-specific goals, while omnichannel marketing targets enhancing overall customer loyalty and satisfaction.

That is, each marketing strategy is applied for particular tasks, meaning that both approaches are worth existence and attention. The main thing is to pick a suitable strategy, depending on the business demands.

How to Select the Right Strategy?

Finally, let’s make a clear guide on how to define what type of marketing strategy (multi vs omni channel) your business requires. When choosing the best solution for communicating with the target audience, keep in mind the following factors:

1. Industry. Depending on the industry, different approaches can be more suitable. For instance, e-commerce, retail, and MCA businesses usually benefit from omnichannel marketing, while a multichannel approach is sufficient for a traditional manufacturing sector.
2. Target audience. Analyze your target audience thoroughly to understand what promotional channels are the most popular and effective among them.
3. Budget. Consider how much money you can spend to build a marketing campaign. Omnichannel marketing requires more investments, while multichannel solutions are usually cheaper.

To summarize, you should note that modern marketing usually uses one of two approaches to interact with consumers and promote products. Both strategies are effective and have their peculiarities. Judging by the omnichannel vs multichannel example, you can conclude what promotional strategy is more suitable for your business.