#ISHOW: The Omnichannel Marketing Secret
Marketers today need to weave together the best marketing channels in order to create the most effective omnichannel strategy. Here's a clever acronym to make your planning easier.
Today’s marketers understand all too well that the days of independent marketing channels have come to an end. In the “Mad Men” days, marketing and advertising consisted of TV and print, and possibly some radio and outdoor. For those times you really wanted to get crazy, you could toss in a direct mail piece.
The marketing landscape is much different today. Marketers are faced with not only choosing the right channels for marketing, but they are now also responsible for weaving them together and creating the best omnichannel strategy; one that drives the most effective results. Success in omnichannel initiatives requires a few key elements:
- A strong integrated strategy (that marries brand and direct)
- A killer team that bridges PR, digital, and traditional media
- An analytics engine and a few smart data scientists
- A partnership strategy to ensure you fill all of the gaps in outreach and,
- An appetite for serious test and learn, innovation, and opportunity marketing
While it can seem overwhelming to determine where and how to get started, it doesn’t need to be. All you need to do is sit down and commit yourself to building a good #ISHOW.
I: In-Store
S: Social Media
H: Home
O: On the Move
W: Work
The #ISHOW will enable you to build a strategic foundation of categories you need to create a presence and begin to build your outreach strategy. This image (taken from a 2013 Sociable Blog) shows a great visual representation of how this is organized.
Starting with the #ISHOW enables you to build a strategy that keeps the customer in mind and works for both B2B and B2C companies. Think about it – in your average work or relaxation day you will be encompassed by at least four of the five situational elements contained in the #ISHOW. As you spend time in each of those arenas, your mindset is different, you process messages differently, and you are inclined to make buying decisions differently. Understanding how to craft messages based on these five situations can significantly enhance your results.
Take the #ISHOW another step further to map out your customers proposed interaction path and see how the omnichannel aspects can really come together and produce even great results. For example:
A stay-at-home parent’s daily routine might look like this: S-H-O-I-O-S-H
A person working in NYC might have a routine like this: H-O-W-O-H-S
A student’s routine might look like this: S-O-S-S-S-S-O
Once you determine your target customers’ primary #ISHOW path, you will enjoy building out ways to communicate and keep the relationship strong.
Try it for your own team and see how much fun you have.
