OMNI-PRESENCE AND CONTENT CREATION: Be seen and heard
Through an omni-assessment, we discover how the omni-channel revolution is impacting your category, and identify what strategies you should pursue to get an early-mover advantage (if that still exists).
While it may be an accurate statement that 97% of your sales still come from brick-and-mortar stores, three scenarios likely exist:
- You are missing the opportunity to reach an existing audience already consuming content that influences their purchase decisions today.
- You don’t know what your competition is doing with their omni-strategy, and it is probably already stealing your sales.
- There is a day when online sales will be a critical part of your business.
As a quick reminder, here is why the omni-channel revolution matters so much:
In addition to the fundamental ability to actually afford a purchase, two factors have historically constrained how shopping habits form and change. And both of these are experiencing significant and permanent shifts:
Access to information: It is faster and easier than ever for shoppers to find the information they want and answer the questions they have as they pursue more informed purchase decisions across almost all categories.
Access to product: There is now more virtual shelf space available to gain ‘distribution’ as more online retail platforms appear. Shopping is no longer limited to local stores. At the same time, there are more avenues through which shoppers can complete the purchase transaction, and there are more (and more timely) ways to take possession of the purchase.
The shopping experience used to predominantly begin and end in a controlled, in-person, in-store environment. It is now an ongoing exposure of both physical and virtual stimuli that constantly alter perceptions outside the walls of any store.
Technology is enabling this new reality, but it is really about how that technology is creating new and better ways for shoppers and companies to connect:
Companies can more easily discover, communicate with and appeal to the unique needs of different (and often neglected) shopper groups.
It is more convenient (that is, less painful) for shoppers to find and absorb information that changes old habits related to what they buy and where they buy it.
However, all this access to information and product is still just a means to an end:
It is only useful to shoppers if they are rewarded with the benefits and satisfaction of having a better experience buying a better product to meet their needs.
It is only useful to companies if their efforts result in sustained increases in awareness, trial and repeat purchase, and it ultimately lowers new customer acquisition costs in the process.
Companies that master more elements of the shopper experience will realize more of this sustainable business growth. Companies that get their products distributed through the right channels or platforms first will reach shoppers that never even notice key competitive items.
It is no longer enough to just offer a quality product, at an affordable price, in attractive packaging, at the dominant retailer for your category. More knowledge is needed to be successful:
Do you know how your category’s omni-shopper differs from the bricks-and-mortar shopper?
How confident are you that you’re providing the right information on your product pages?
Do you know what types of content shoppers are searching for? Or what format they are more likely to consume that content?
Think it is finally time to address these topics?
Contact us to develop an omni-strategy that gives you a distribution and content plan to eclipse (or at least keep up with) the competition.