Very few companies get omni-channel marketing right. Online retailers (eTailers) and most online services tend to focus predominantly on online marketing, and most brick & mortar/offline services are still struggling to market effectively online. Mixing it up isn’t easy when you’ve been doing business the same way for a while (read: too long).
That’s why I’ve been so impressed by Netflix. I expect to see their adverts online, instead I see their crazy installations (below) downtown, and read about the exciting things they’re doing at local cafes. It’s different and it’s a jolt that reminds me that things in my online world are still real. It’s not just an app icon on my tablet. How effective are their offline stunts? My wife watched an entire season of ‘The Crown’ in a weekend after seeing the jeep (at Raffles Place). She’s hooked and is already scouring Netflix for more to watch. I’d say that’s effective.
They’re not the only one’s clued on to this tactic though. HootSuite recently held the first (of an annual series) of events for digital marketers at a city hotel. There was a fairly wide mix of people, but what was evident was that everyone was (drinking, networking & …) talking about HootSuite. Sure loads of companies host cocktails, but they aren’t usually SaaS companies – nor do they usually have branded cocktails & cupcakes.
So if you’re an electronic business, start looking at what you could do to get your marketing offline. It doesn’t fill the typical boxes of “scalable” & “low touch”, but when done right it can certainly help to get you organic content coverage and sticky mind share. All the same rules apply, define a target audience, be clear and concise and remember to measure everything.