Attention: Omnichannel is changing your world, No matter your industry
For clarity, this article contains the information all marketers, hotels, and travel companies need to understand. I guess I can say it again, the game has changed or evolved and it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall if you look at it. Amazon, Disney, Marriott, and more have seen this for years and now with past and current events, the rest of us need to catch up. The good news is there has never been a better or more affordable time to be able to execute a multichannel, solution, one that can leverage existing investments to provide the most ROI. Below I will discuss 3 primary things that every marketer needs to know. But first, let me introduce to you “Omnichannel” – the breakdown and of course, why it matters to your organizations. Channel: Any medium where a brand can interact with a customer. Simply put, a channel facilitates a customer touchpoint. It can include physical touchpoints, such as lobbies, visitor centers, or digital touchpoints such as Interactive Kiosk, Mobile application, Digital Signage, Website, Chat, or Social Multichannel/Strategy: Using multiple channels to sell merchandise through. The goal of a multichannel strategy is to identify which channels to invest in. Channels are approached independently. Omnichannel: Customer phenomenon where all sales and marketing channels are all looked at as one entity. Omnichannel Strategy: Optimizing key metrics (such as sales) by creating seamless experiences across all channels. Omnichannel strategies take into account all touchpoints involved in successfully selling through channels simultaneously. Omnichannel strategies assume customers move between channels. Let’s start easy and with a focus on the areas where we have the most experience. Travel, Hospitality, and Retail and how each can provide a more connected option for their customers. The great news about these industries is they are very much connected, with distinct areas of expertise. Retail has likely done the most research in how customers buy, how to display, and advertise. Hotels are masters in guest experience, ensuring space is complementary, comfortable and lends itself toward people feeling great about the place they are at. Travel has the highest knowledge of their product likely better than any other industry, the people employed at centers and destination organizations not only love their state or city, but they know almost everything there is known about it. So how do you combine these core sets of knowledge and experience? How does this play out in a digital world? Well, if you don’t know by now, it starts with the Omnichannel and it continues to discover your customers better and the ways they want to connect. Once you know this, you will open a world of data and information that will help you drive more personalized information and value to your customers. Let me now share the 3 Key Things that Omnichannel and Multi-Device engagement can provide your organization, and why it matters to you: Visitor, Guest or Customer Experience is king. You must provide a consistent, well-thought-out plan to ensure that if someone engages, they feel convenient, connected, and safer now more than ever. In the new world, this is connected directly from digital to Mobile devices, Interactive Touch & Digital Signage – connecting different mediums to provide consistent experiences. Reach out and I can recommend some good reading material. Revenue & Awareness it doesn’t really matter what you call it or how you do it. If you have great content, imagery, and advertising on your website, you need to connect to other devices and mediums. We understand most organizations focus on responsive design, but it’s not just about the design, it’s about the interface and the experience. Most sites are great for exploration but fall short on true engagement the way their users want it. The key is to ensure content and key information freely flows to all other channels and devices uniquely. If you are selling advertisements on your website or other mediums, you have the opportunity to increase revenue and awareness not only online but through physical locations. If you want to get a little deeper, read our blog on media networks. Data & Analytics however you want to call it, these are the new gold for your business. Knowing what your customers want, how they want it, their preferences, desires, location, etc. will allow you to build deeper connections. I understand we are all concerned with privacy, but let’s be honest if there are value, convenience, and ways to save money, most people will share some points of information to accomplish this goal. That 80% of us that use social media may say we care about security but Google, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and more say otherwise. If you use the omnichannel correctly you will see dramatic increase in: Emails and Phone numbers from sharing Navigation flow where they went on your screens What they clicked on and shared Physical and Digital Location tracking, or where they went Age, ethnicity, gender, language data What they purchased, or interest areas What coupons they used, what was most important This is the start of the next generation of connected experiences and of course, there are many other areas that you need to know and consider. Such as once you get the data how do you manage it? Luckily most of you have CRM systems and Google Analytics and that is a great place to start. I will save the deeper dive for the next blog and reach out, happy to help. So now the shameless pitch, well not really. This is more about education because I can’t say we are the only game in town, I just know we have the best-connected software solution in the game, with a focus on travel and retail and the ability to leverage the partners you use and love. Now as you look toward the omnichannel, you need to find a software solution to truly connect and leverage your systems to provide multi-device experiences. Here are things you need to consider and know. You have a website CMS, maybe a CRM, maybe
New Jersey Wine
Do you know that the New Jersey wine’s history dates back to as far as 1758? Back in the day, Great Britain’s Royal Society offered a reward to any colonist who can create wine at par with France’s. And so two William Alexander and Edward Antill from New Jersey succeeded and were given £200 which is about $10,000 today! New Jersey now, has proven to be one of the largest wine producers, nationwide. Back in 2016, they produced over 2 million gallons of wine totaling to a retail value of about $30 million! Products Used Native App Enviroment Remote Year 2021 Key Goal: As NJ continues to produce quality wine, the number of visitors on a yearly basis is increasing. In fact, they grow over 40 varieties of grapes throughout the state making them one of the most sought-through places for wine lovers, couples, friends and families. Due to the increase of demands in accessing their locations or wine trails, they wanted an upgraded mobile experience that would provide tools and education and new ways to enjoy and document the wine lovers’ experience. Some key user-friendly contactless approach True Omni implemented: Easily schedule and book wineries they want to visit and document the experience Promoting loyalty options by rewarding visitors who have visited a certain number of wineries Convenient options for visitors to find nearby attractions, food, and accommodations Providing local information to tourists, such as upcoming events and places to visit Wine or food tasting reservations and note taking to drive online sales of wine Solution: True Omni worked closely with IGM Creative Group to provide New Jersey Wine Growers Association the overall mobile solution for both their iOS and Android user visitors. From design to functionalities, True Omni enhanced the previous app version to ensure it matches the current branding with more features for the users to enjoy. Here are the included functionalities deployed for NJ wine Core Functionality: An easy to navigate and connect by region of the wine territory making it convenient to plan and connect by area Virtual tasting card that enables users to take notes, take photos, and list any essential wine documentation needs Passport Program – rewarding visitors as they check-in and visit different wineries Itinerary builder that allow visitors to organize the user trip and experience Mobile notifications to keep the users updated with current offers and deals Mapping option with the ability to find nearby restaurants, accommodations, and wineries Reservation and ticketing options through Point of sale Systems and OpenTable Software support, monitoring, and 24/7 remote assistance Ready to modernize your current services with TrueOmni?