This presentation was given at the 2016 Business Communicators Summit (BCS) hosted by the Kansas City chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). The summit took place on February 9, 2016.

1. Rise, Consumer…Rise!
Understanding Omni-Channel Marketing And The Six Critical Questions
That Must Be Answered In The Age Of The Empowered Consumer
Sean R. Nicholson
@socmedsean

2. Who Is Sean?
5 Things You Should Know About
Me:
•I AM NOT a guru
•I have very little formal
marketing training
•I AM a customer
•I am an introvert
•I want to help people

3. Why Would You Listen To Me?
Because…
•I AM NOT a guru
•I have very little formal
marketing training
•I AM a customer
•I am an introvert
•I want to help people

4. Before We Start
1. There is no rocket science
2. I expect you to question my ideas
3. I encourage dialog and live-tweeting
4. I hope to learn something from you
5. I love post-presentation engagement
@socmedsean
sean@socmedsean.com
linkedin.com/seanrnicholson

5. Just what the session description said:
What’s The Topic Of Discussion?
Understanding Omni-Channel Marketing
And The Six Critical Questions That Must
Be Answered In The Age Of The
Empowered Consumer

6. But Beware….

7. What Are We Going To Focus On Today?
Omni-channel marketing
also known as
“marketing to human
beings”

8. What Aren’t We Going To Focus On
Today?
• Relationship marketing
• Content marketing
• Email marketing
• Mobile marketing
• Guerilla marketing
• Search engine marketing
• Event marketing
• Point-of-sale marketing
• Just-in-time marketing
• Social media marketing
• Agile marketing
• B2B marketing
• B2C marketing
• Cause marketing
• Channel marketing
• Closed-loop marketing
• Word-of-mouth marketing
• Direct marketing
• Inbound marketing
• In-app marketing
• Loyalty marketing
• Performance marketing
• Re-marketing
…or any of the other various
forms of marketing.

9. So, Before We Start….
Stare into the void and clear your mind of all that marketing clutter

10. Let’s Start From The Beginning
Marketing 101 says that to engage your
audience, you should deliver your message:
To the right ____________.
At the right ____________.
Via the right ____________.
With the right ___________ .
person
time
channel
frequency

11. Simple. Right?

12. Unfortunately, No.
The competition for eyeballs and brains is fierce!
• Every day, humans create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data
• Over 27 million pieces of content are shared every day
• In 2014, Google indexed more than 67,000,000,000 pages
• 90% of the data in the world was created in the last 2 years
Your content had better be good…or unique!

13. But It Doesn’t Stop With Data
The volume of potential marketing channels is overwhelming

14. And Then There’s The Process

15. But What’s Missing?

16. We Need To Resist The TTR And Ask
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How

17. These Six Questions Are Key
Instead, we need to take a deep breath and ask a few
questions:
1.Who is our target audience?
2.What do we know about them?
3.Where are they engaging?
4.When should we send our message?
5.Why would they choose our product/service?
6.How can we provide them with value?

18. Why Are These
Questions So
Important?

19. Jim Morrison Said It Best

20. Understanding The Consumer Is Key
• People today are bombarded with marketing
messages
• Our minds have developed the ability to avoid
information overload
• We filter out non-relevant messaging
• We turn off filters at different times of our lives
• We use different channels for different reasons

21. So How Do We Predict Their Behaviors?

22. The Same Concept Applies To Humans
To catch a human, sometimes you just have to ask…
…and listen.

23. Integrated, Multichannel Is A Good Start
Understand The Operational Flow Of Your Marketing

24. But The Magic Happens Building
Relationships
How will our audience experience our message?
Source: Whitepaper: The future of retail

25. Let’s See An Example Of
Omnichannel Marketing
In Action

26. Who Should We Target?
Who is our target?
What do we know about them?
Where are they engaging?
Middle-aged white guy from the suburbs of Kansas City. Internet savvy, conducts
online research before he purchase. Uses email and Facebook and likes to travel
Conducts quite a bit of research before making travel decisions. Generally, there
are 3-4 different channels that influence their decision. Price and value are
important in their choice
Google search, social channels like Facebook and Twitter, and potentially email

27. What Makes Us Different?
When should we send our message?
Why would they choose our product or service?
How can we provide them with value?
Because there are multiple steps in the journey and the user engages in multiple
channels, it would be ideal to place marketing messages in environments where
he might be thinking about travel (e.g. travel sites, Facebook, etc…)
Our differentiating factor is that we have a pool that is often reviewed as one of
the best pools in Las Vegas
By providing access to one of the best pools in Vegas, at a rate that is not only
competitive, but perceived to be of high value

28. Let’s Go To Vegas!
This was where it started….

29. But Let’s Not Break The Bank
…and this is where it ended.

30. …And The Relationship Continues
Value continues to be provided via multiple channels

31. Another Effective
(albeit strange)
Example Of Omnichannel
Marketing In Action

32. It Started With A Survey

33. The $5 Million Question
Before answering this survey, were you aware of this product?
My answer: Definitely Not.
Would you consider purchasing ________________?
My answer: Definitely Not.
They were working hard to determine
whether I was their target demographic

34. Three Things Combined Must Be A Good Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7uY36-LwA

35. The Response To The Ad Was…Conversation

36. And The Conversation Grew

37. Creating Brand Awareness

38. Best Or Worst…It Was Talked
About

39. Did They Understand The Audience?
Who is our target?
What do we know about them?
Where are they engaging?
110 million people who know our brand, but probably have never heard about our
new product
During this particular time, they are about the most diverse audience you can
identify, yet those paying attention have high expectations of something unusual
that entertains them
Primarily watching television, however, a significant element of our product target
audience will also be using mobile devices and posting on Twitter and Facebook

40. Did Their Messaging Have Impact?
When should we send our message?
Why would they choose our product or service?
How can we provide them with value?
Introductory messaging can be sent leading up to the Superbowl, primary
messaging is a Superbowl advertisement, and follow up messaging after the ad airs
Primarily because it is a Mountain Dew product. Secondarily because it offers a
combination of Mountain Dew, Juice, and Caffeeine
Through the introduction of a new product that competes with other energy drinks

41. Did They Accomplish Their Goal?
• Do you remember the product or just the creepy mascot?
• Did it grab national attention and become a trending topic on
Twitter?
• Were people talking about it the day after the Superbowl?
• Did it actually move the needle in sales?
• Did they put their message in front of large audience to raise
awareness of an unknown product?
• Were they thinking of their potential customer first?

42. A Quick Wrap Up

43. Omni-Channel Marketing In A Nutshell
• It’s not rocket science and there is no secret sauce.
• Understanding your audience is the key.
• Remember…to catch a human, you have to think
like a human. You’re a human.
• The six questions can help you get off on the right
foot in developing your campaign, messaging, and
target channels.

44. Bonus: 5 Tools That Can Help
• Acxiom – Understanding your audience and find
more people like your current audience
• Brandwatch – Keyword listening and trend analysis
• Hootsuite – Social media engagement
• Optimizely – A/B testing for your digital messaging
• Google Analytics – Measure. Measure. Measure.

45. Questions?