Are you omnichannel ready?

Omnichannel marketing is a hot topic in animal health, yet the name is slightly misleading. While it may intuitively sound like marketing that appears on all different channels all the time, this isn’t actually the case. So what is it, and what does it mean for you?

Understanding omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel strategies combine insight and technology to provide personalised brand experiences and content that works seamlessly across all user touchpoints.

Of course, we can only ensure customers’ experiences are truly personal if we fully understand who they are and what makes them tick. To do so, we use quantitative and qualitative research such as digital analytics and interviews. This enables us to segment our audience into different groups, meaning we can then personalise each group’s content in whatever way best resonates with them.

To make each segment relatable, we give them a persona. This can be one of the most fun parts of the process – for example, let’s imagine we’re marketing a flea and tick prevention product for dogs. Based on our research, we’d create 2–3 customer personas, such as Busy Beth (a 35-year-old mum of two who loves Amazon, Hello Fresh and Instagram) and Practical Paul (a budget-conscious 59-year-old who thinks vets are expensive and spends lots of time on Facebook). The key thing is to ensure all their characteristics, thoughts, feelings and interaction points are supported by solid evidence, as those elements will be key to shaping how and where we communicate with customers in these groups.

Once our personas are defined, we then create engaging multiformat content for each of them, mapped out to fit their audience journey. Finally, we use technology to deliver this content in an agile, automated way that reaches customers in the right place at the right time, and improves their brand experience!

How to get started

If all that sounds a bit daunting, it’s important to remember that moving to an omnichannel strategy is a process rather than something that happens overnight.

While omnichannel marketing is common in the consumer world, and becoming increasingly popular in pharma, few animal health brands are currently doing it, which provides a great opportunity to those brave enough to lead the way.

If you’re interested in finding out how to move towards an omnichannel approach, we can work with you to explore how omni-ready you currently are. By assessing your current insights, content and technology, as well as the channels you’re using and the ways you’re using them, we’ll be able to understand how best to support you on your journey to becoming an omnichannel powerhouse!