Omnichannel: It's Always Been the Same
Holistic targeting. Omnichannel advertising. Full service marketing.
Call it what you want but in reality it’s always been the same.
Be everywhere. Expand your demographic. Fulfill the consumers essential need.
In the early 2000’s the thought process was similar to the current marketing trend cycle. Networks were segmented from coast to coast. You had to build intricate logs to track your targets from origin point to the final action they initiated. Depending on your niche, this could easily have meant working with 6 or 7 Networks, tying all the different traffic into one hub. Different Networks had different traffic inventory. You had to sit there and study the websites, collect data on the incoming traffic, sometimes you even had to create multiple personas on hundreds of websites to understand the way the Network served it’s inventory to users based on profile information. It was a lot of grunt work to understand consumer behavior.
As the recovery began in the economy between 2005-2010, smartphones began to dominate the scene and provided a lifeline for consumer economies. Apple took the lead in the smartphone market. Soon followed by Google through it’s purchase of Android. Tablets were in the mix; which Amazon took over.
As the physical sales were occurring and the software was being built up for consumers - the online advertising ingenuity was becoming stagnant. You had 3 pigeon carriers throughout the 2000’s and early 2010’s.
Display
Email
Data feeds were around - however companies such as Pricegrabber were never able to put together a profitable model due to internal growth challenges.
Fast forward to 2018. We have smartphones, voice assistants, self driving cars, computers in the forms of USB’s, tech wear, and other devices that provide touch points to individuals every day actions. These are your networks. This is what you have to tie into your hub.
Instead of 3 pigeon carriers, you now have social, video, chat bots, podcasts, dynamically changing billboards, push notifications, product feeds incorporated into search engines, server based RTB auctions, dynamically changing ads based on previous interactions and SMS — or soon to be RCS.
Similar to crafting an old school sales funnel - today’s approach requires leveraging tracking technology in the form of software such as cookies and session unification passed on by properly tagged properties (your hub). Once you understand what ‘Network’ your user is coming from, it becomes easier to identify the method of messaging. Choose your pigeons wisely.
As advertisers, our goal has and will be to match the clients products and/or services with the proper demographic. Minimize wasted spend. Increase activity. Increase lifetime value. Increase brand loyalty. Be there when the consumers need you or look for you.
So while ‘omnichannel’ might be a new word to explain an ever fragmented internet - the industry of marketing as a whole has always been the same.