Author: Prabhu Sharma

It’s quite obvious that a decade or two ago, we couldn’t have imagined that we would shop on phones, through social media on our conveniences.

Deloitte State of Consumer Tracker, states,  ”73% of Indian respondents are willing to spend more on convenience”.

Nowadays, we can expect quite a less brands being adopting the single-channeled approach. Brands especially have been gearing their growth through the multi-faceted approaches, multi-channel and omnichannel strategy.

Let’s talk about the MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH.

When it comes to multi-channel marketing, we actually speak about two channels viz. online as well as offline channels

Multichannel strategy implies being having presence on various touchpoints, as the name goes ‘multi(many)-channels’, being present at multiple channels. It powers interacting with prospective customers at nuanced platforms. Platforms such as social media, physical location i.e. a specific brick-and-mortar store, word-of-mouth, online web presence, e-commerce store such as Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, etc.

There happened to be several challenges faced by retailers because of the Multi-channel retailing approach:

• There was an unstructured & inconsistent experience for customers.
• The prices across the channels seemed to vary
• Order Management System lacked integration.
• Returns & refunds were complex & inefficient.
• Real-time information was also not available for customers.

It is OMNI-CHANNEL MARKETING that has proved to be highly capitalizing nowadays. Let’s check out what is Omnichannel marketing and why has it been the most sought priority for several brands, especially in the retailing industry.

The prefix ‘omni’ backing the word channel means (not the Maruti Omni, lol :P) omniscient, being present everywhere. Omni-channel strategy means serving the customers across various touchpoints, like brick-and-mortar stores, other direct marketing channels like mail order, door-to-door sales, through the website, and yes through e-commerce store such as Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, etc. Revolutionary, isn’t it?

Well, well, well!! That’s exactly what Multi-channel has been resembling to?

Well, there happens to be a considerable difference between the two.

Omni-channel strives a bit more ahead to help create a personalized experience.

The most significant difference between the two is ‘integrated shopping experience’. This implies, Omnichannel marketing strives to make a connected, an integrated shopping experience for a long-lasting user experience, from a brick-and-mortar to internet browsing and everything that prevails between them. There’s an alignment between various touchpoints.

The other most significance which could be seen from the customer’s perspective is ‘Seamless shopping experience’, at a complete ease for the customers.

Fact-check

Harvard Business Review studied the shopping behaviour of 46,000 customers back during 2015-2016, this helped them gauging the impact omni-channel has had on the retail experience. Through the study, they sought to the above consensus:

7% were absolute online-shoppers.

20% were store-only shoppers.

73% preferred using multiple channels.

Let me take you through few Indian brands who’ve adopted this approach, this will make it easier for you to sort a fine difference between the both

Pepperfry

Pepperfry pepperfly high above the sky, letting its omnichannel simply exemplify ;P

Pepperfry believes that retail and online services need not compete with each other, they need to be corresponding instead, to provide a seamless customer experience

Shopping furnitures online at times can be very tedious and skeptic. Interaction, and trustworthiness is what is been lacked buying online. Pepperfry leaves no stones unturned in sorting out this loophole.

They launched their own concept store. Here, the customer can select online the product he prefers to buy. Later he can visit the “Studio Pepperfry” to see how exactly the products he selected looks in person, have an interaction, get consulted with the architecture as well as with the interior designer at his complete ease.

The interior designer’s expertise helps take customers through various designs exhibited at the studio and moreover online as well. This helps the customer to choose the furniture suiting their taste and preferences. Moreover, through their assistance he also gets the opportunity to customize the design of the furniture.

As he’s all good to go, he/she can buy the product in-store or return home to place the order online. This surely creates a hassle-free and totally undoubtable experience.

“To my mind, the same customer could be online, offline, and on mobile. Therefore, all businesses need to think omnichannel”

– Ambareesh Murty, Cofounder and COO, Pepperfry.

Around 10-15% of the sales came through these studios, this definitely paid-off in the end for Pepperfry.

It now has 65+ studious across the country.

Van Heusen

Van Heusen’s omni-channel fusion!!

Premium fashion and lifestyle brand Van Huesen launched it’s first digital flagship store in Bangalore, called VAN HUESEN STYLE STUDIO. It has redefined retail to an another level through its immersive shopping experience, enabled by cutting edge technology.

The brand is morphing more into as a tech-savvy brand at such times when the internet has created a huge uprising.

It has revolutionized apparel shopping in a brick & mortar store into a whole new personalized shopping experience by bridging the barriers customer face while buying online such as the right product size, fit, appropriate size suited to their personality.

They have designed a ‘Style Bar’ digital display that recommends appropriate fits & size depending on someone’s body type. The customers gets the choice to virtually preview the particular apparel he has selected through the Virtual Trial Mirror without even having a go into the trial room. On top of that, the team has trained consultants and style recommendation apps to help provide personalized suggestions.

To develop this store, the brand partnered with FITCH – Singapore and Experiencial Design Lab – Delhi.

Anurag Sehgal, Managing Director and Principal Interaction Designer, Experiential Design Lab Pvt. Ltd. said,

“Our effort for Van Heusen includes bridging the online and offline retail paradigms in the fashion segment. Creating a seamless omni-channel retail solution gets the best of both the universes – convenience and variety of virtual and online retail with the touch & feel; try & decide experience of physical and offline retail.”

Raymond

Raymond’s got the omni-channel, for also the layman’s in the house ;P

Raymond has been vouching to connect with its young audience as much as possible. The Indian fashion retail giant, known for its formal outfits, have been powering it’s success through its enormous retail prowess

Just as in the case of Van Heusen, Raymond too is trying to create a pleasant experience amongst its shoppers by targeting the young audience who prefers shopping online, and connecting with them through its “Custom Tailoring”.

Here, the customer can book an appointment online according to his convenience, once confirmed, the stylist will visit for the consultation which will be a free of cost.

He will assist the customer according to his size, style, preferences he has. He will take the measurements to ensure the customer gets an absolute tailored fit.

Cherry on the cake, they provide lifetime warranty on alteration of your apparel

That is it, the stylist will then get back to their work to help get the customer the exact product they had demanded, and it will then be delivered to their doorstep as per the schedule.

Surreal enough, isn’t it?

 

In times of the pandemic, there has been a bizzare shift towards digital. The pandemic for sure has created a huge ruckus, but the offline element can’t be simply neglected and excluded.

What’s more considering is that the brands shall go on to create an integrated user experience, i.e. being multi-channel during pre-covid to omni-channel, post-covid.

According to Kantar’s Covid-19 barometer, during the pandemic:

“70% think Local is more important – for practical and emotional reasons”.

For sure, the online environment will keep booming. In order to gain traction through it’s offline ecosystem, a brand will surely need to create an interconnected, seamless and hassle-free shopping experience. Being present at various touchpoints integratedly will ease it for the customers in the end. As we know, under such times, the customer’s will want to remain at ease as much as possible.

Hence, a brand shall focus on adding value towards its customer by providing a long-lasting “OMNEASED” (Omni-eased) experience, not just through the digital zone, but through its offline wave as well. This would seem possible for a brand considering they bank their significances towards providng safety as well as maintaining hygiene. As small things do matter the most in the end.

 

Thank you, hope you enjoyed reading the blog! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Guerrilla”, doesn’t the word seem to be a bit alien or sheepish to what the content of the topic should actually be? You might think of me talking about some animal or a blog on wildlife. Now, I add the word marketing next to guerrilla and it gets to this “Guerrilla Marketing”. Now you must be like, eh? What is he upto?

Guerrilla is a Spanish word. It is the diminutive from of “Guerra” i.e. “war”.

Guerrilla marketing dates back to the ‘guerrilla warfare’. It’s important to consider guerrilla warfare as well, as this is where the term “guerrilla marketing” has been signified from.

Guerrilla warfare is a type of irregular warfare. Those involved in a guerrilla warfare mainly obligates as a group of combatants or high-mobile antagonist individuals who are up against larger groups, such as the military or officers of the law. The strategies mainly included in it are ambushes, sabotage, raids.

Well let me brief you up with some of the nuances of Guerrilla Marketing :

1.Street Marketing:- Street marketing as the word says, implies promoting products or services in unconventional ways, generally non-traditionally and is confined to the streets and other public places.

2. Ambient Marketing:- This type of marketing refers, promoting a product, mainly with the motive of captivating the audience’s attention through some message

3. Event Ambush Marketing:- It implies leveraging the audience in an event, to advertise the product or service by one company, where the same product is already being advertised by another company or the competitor.

4. Experiential Marketing:- It is a tactic with the motive of getting customer engagements through branded experiences. It’s also called as “Engagement Marketing”.

5. Viral Marketing:- It’s a tactic where a brand or a company is able to generate interest amongst the consumers, leading onto the increase in the word-of-mouth of the brand or the company.

 

Fact: An Average person sees around 5000 marketing impacts a day,

A fact even bigger: While they tend to remember only 4 of those.

 

They say that, “Anywhere the eye can see, it’s likely to see an Ad”.

 

While guerrilla warfare is about the strategies or the tactics including some elements of surprise, nothing different is there when it comes to guerrilla marketing.

Regardless of the terminologies, the term was brought into the vogue by Jay Conrad Levinson’s book Guerrilla Marketing.

It’s considered to be a cost-effective marketing mechanism that helps yield maximum result.

This type of marketing moreover creates humongous unconventional sort of campaign which leaves the people in awe of the moment while they’re busy with their daily routine.

It’s generally a tactic eliminating which involves more of energy and creativity and fairly less amount of expenses involved.

We actually happen to come across such campaigns daily, done in shopping malls, parks, urban cities and considering the impact created by social media, the ROI brands are getting, do I really even need to talk about that? We’ll know how favourable has the outcome been for the brands!

Basically, when an emerging startup out of nowhere hits the headlines with a radical marketing approach leaving everyone astounded, that’s what you call they got the guerrilla tactic done right.

Few examples of how the tactic created a buzz amongst peeps

 

McD’s Guerrilla Marketing in Zebra Crossing

McD got their GM done right with the French Friese’s playing a significant role of the zebra crossing. Well, that’s a mouth-watering tactic, isn’t it?

 

Bus Stops which really makes us stop for a while

We all know how adverts are been greatly promoted through Bus Stops, isn’t it? Stop and save the thirst, don’t just burst!

 

Ambushed!

In 1996, Coca Cola acquired the rights of being the official sponsor of the cricket world cup held in India. However, Pepsi launched a campaign named – “Nothing official about it’ and stole the limelight from Coca Cola. The Pepsi-Coca Cola rivalry you know right! The campaign perhaps marks the most famous example.

 

Elevating the mammoth Swiss Skydive experience

The sticker inside the elevator was placed just to make the people know how joyful powered by terrific could their experience be with Swiss Skydive!

 

NIKE being NIKE

Pic Courtesy: Moosend

Well, here I should consider saying Guerilla Marketing has always been owed by Nike, isn’t it? Lol!

 

Engagement triggered

Vijay Sales sailing through the heat

 

DHL pulling its rival’s leg (FedEx)

Until one day the escalator stops working 😛

 

Due to the Coronavirus Outbreak, we all know how extensively has the pandemic led to a huge loss for the brands out there!

 

How Guerrilla Marketing can be implemented by a brand amid such pandemic?

 

Amid the lockdown, Indians has switched towards the social media to pass their time and there’s been a record 87% increase in social media usage.

 

Brands are well-aware of how cost effective the guerrilla marketing tactic is! It includes a low cost on successful implementation, moreover it also helps in establishing a direct-connections through social media platforms. All a brand need is, a robust and attractive campaign which could steal the interest of the people so much that the people cannot stop sharing and spreading the word out there.

 

With Covid-19 just being a catastrophe for the brands out there causing store closures, the online shopping sales has gone all south (downwards) followed by an immense decline in the fashion retail.

 

So how can brands remain intact by maintaining their customer interaction base?

Being creativity-driven, and unique in your tactic can help your brand communicate well with the customers during the pandemic.

 

Brands have still got the opportunity to go off the shoe and spread their word through social media platforms using the tactic.

 

So what if the exemplary or the masterpiece strategy you planned isn’t working? You must send in the guerrillas to notch you the battle.

 

Thank you, everyone, take care! 🙂

 

 

 

 

You might believe it or not but the traditional marketing funnel is now fragmented, as possibly as it could.

The Traditional Marketing Funnel

The traditional marketing approach by Elias St. Elmo Lewis, at the end of 20th century, elucidates the journey of a customer from the point of awareness to the point of conversion. The traditional one had an outlook from awareness to interest, followed by desire, and finally to the point of action.

 

Businesses would rate their marketing on the basis of this hierarchical view from the traditional marketing funnel.

But now the question arises, do you know that the traditional marketing funnel has become obsolete?  Yes. Few of you must be aware of these. But, unfathomably, we’re still been taught about the traditional marketing funnel, us being unaware of the fact that it’s of no use for the current business aura. It is not being practiced now. Businesses nowadays are mounting far from the funnel i.e. the traditional one.

Well now you must be thinking how the modern marketing funnel would be, and how has it got the eruption as compared to the former one.

Evolution in Marketing

 I think this report on the direction of marketing in 2020 will surely help you know that how everything is panning out digital. Yes, you heard it right “digital”.

Image Courtesy: Smart Insights

These stats clearly show from the past few years how the aeon of marketing has evolved. How extremely consumers looks to search online for their queries or anything they desire for!

Earlier marketing was quite of like a mythological circle, you got your products or services sold to the masses and done. But now, people actually want to know the facts. Rather than just buying it, they actually want to benefit the ROI acquired from the product and to be understood by the brand. This is the reason there’s been an evolution in marketing.

56% of consumers believe businesses need to have a deeper understanding of their needs.

 Modern Marketing Funnel

The modern marketing funnel is kind of vague. While the prime focus during the traditional marketing was only the customer’s purchase, no customer retention strategies as such were highly considered.

Now, customers can usually enter and exit the funnel at any stage, while this was at instance not possible in the traditional marketing funnel. However, no particular model is universally accepted by any companies these days.

Today you can expect more service than just an order delivered to you. Haven’t you got in touched with the favourite brand of yours after they receive some kind of leads from you regarding your interest towards their product or service?

Well this is why we say that you can literally hop, skip and jump the modern marketing funnel anytime.

Let me now make you familiar with the omni-channel nurtured marketing funnel.

Image Courtesy: Campaign Monitor

I found the funnel quite legitimate because as you know that marketing today has a lot to offer even after the point of conversion as compared to the traditional one.

Let’s have a quick look what the funnel has to offer:-

1. Creating Brand Awareness similarly like your precursor

2. Discovering the pain-points and through that taking advantage of the situation.

3. Impress with what you have to offer, targetedly and advantageously by benefitting them.

4. Simplify purchasing so that you don’t lose the sale or conversion.

5. Engaging and building relationship knowing them demographically.

6. Expand your sale with how much beneficiality can you provide to your customer by staying updated with the new trends.

7. Generating brand advocacy and by considering your customers as your brand’s ambassadors so that you get a great amount of word-of-mouth.

 Conclusion

To conclude, it is how you streamline your marketing efforts, will reap you the benefits. The consumer behaviour is quite volatile but it’s on the marketer how he anticipate the challenge. Approaching the funnel in the right way can get you tick the boxes right accordingly. Moreover, the approach towards the funnel should be correct considering pre-conversion, during conversion, post conversion.

 

Thank you.