Multi-channel marketing put simply means every way in which your customer can become aware of your business.

It could be from something as obvious as your shop window, or more complex marketing pillars like a re-targeting campaign.

When you’re thinking about ways in which to market your business, think about the places that your perfect customer will be, where they will be most likely to see what you want them to see and how to draw them in.

Some of the key multi-channel marketing pillars for a bricks and mortar retail store would be:

• Store front/window

• In-store feel/experience
• Website & Re-targeting
• Email/Communication
• Social Media

When thinking about the above, it is vital that you view it from your customers eyes, think about your ‘customer journey’ throughout and every single touch point that they may have with you.

Below are some thoughts on how this can work for each element.

Store front/window

This is literally the window into your world.

Is it on brand? Does it feel inviting? Is it drawing your customers attention for all the right reasons? For example, it needs to be clean, and well presented, your windows should be cleaned outside at least every fortnight and monthly inside. Your exterior paintwork should be neat and tidy. This is all subliminal to your customer, they don't even realise they're noticing the cobweb or the grimy window, but they are, and it is forming ytheir opinion of your business. It will affect their decision about whether or not to even walk through your door. It’s that age old expression, ‘first impressions count’!

Also does it reflect continuity of your brand and/or any social media campaigns you're running? For example, if you're featuring a product on your socials...make sure it is in your shop window, it's not rocket science, but the 'thread' should be there.

In store feel/experience

This is vital, but remember your customer may not get this far if your other marketing pillars are not doing their job properly.

Again, follow your customer journey once they arrive at your store, from the moment they walk in. How does it really feel to be a customer walking into your shop?

Never has the way the store looks and feels been so important to our customers, it's now rare for a customer to choose to walk into a shop as opposed to buy online, and so we must make it worth the effort...we must create a destination...an experience for them to enjoy and immerse themselves in, one which they will remember and want to repeat.

Have you created a brand image, a signature theme that runs throughout all your marketing, starting in the store itself? Your brand image should tell one cohesive story and help your customers quickly identify you in your marketing elsewhere and they should be able to relate to it. When they walk in, they should recognise areas of the store that they have seen on your social media platforms and website, it should be believable.

Website & Re-targeting

It has never been more important to have a fully functioning and effective website as almost 100% of your customers will visit your website before they actually walk through your doors and so it is essential that it is doing the hard work for you.

You have approximately seven seconds to grab a customers' attention before they think about moving on.

Your homepage needs to do this before they have to scroll and it must get across these 4 key points;

• who you are
• what you do
• why they should choose you
• and what they should do next (call to action)

When writing your content, focus on the customer and not on you. Avoid using ‘we will’ too often and instead say ‘you will’. This language will engage with your customer and they will begin to believe that they can relate to you.

Does your website allow customers to sign up to your newsletter? Or, is there a means to capture their data so that you can then effectively re-market to them in the form of email or text? This can work really well if you are giving your customer something in exchange for their prized email address, a discount off their first order often works well.

They will then be on your list and so you can keep in touch with them about any events happening in store, any exciting news you may wish to share or just to say hello.

Ever felt like your phone is listening to you? You visit a website to look at a toaster, and then when you next Google something the toaster you looked at before pops up alongside your search, or in your Facebook feed? It’s not witchcraft, it’s re-targeting, and it’s pretty straightforward. If you’re not able to do this yourself then ask your web designer to help you add your Google and Facebook pixels to your website header. Then when a customer leaves your website your paid ads will start to ‘follow’ them.

I have personally found this to be one of the most effective and financially efficient ways to spend my marketing budget.

Email/Communication

Whether you choose to email weekly, fortnightly or sporadically, all your emails should have a consistency to them. Use consistent language, your logo and brand colours, create a template to make it easier for you and make it instantly recognisable to your customer. Don’t overload their inbox but do make them feel valued and nurture them. They may join your list 2 or 3 years before they re ready to buy, but providing useful and interesting content will mean you will more likely be front of mind when they are.

Social Media

It feels a little like a swear word right now doesn’t it? It swallows your time and your energy, it can be exhausting and at times it feels impossible to come up with new and interesting content. But right now, it is one of the most fundamentally important ways to market to your customer. Almost all our customers will be on Instagram, many more on Facebook and many of those will have Pinterest pages, and so for the time being it really is worth all the effort.

There are a couple of things you can do to make it easier on yourself… if you don’t have a business account, switch to one, then you can see your data which is helpful to work out when best to post and what kind of things your customers engage with.

Secondly, use a scheduling tool like Planoly. This way you can sit down for a couple of hours once a week and set up all your posts for the rest of the week… it’s a game changer!

Multi-channel marketing is a huge topic and one that takes a considerable amount of work to get right. There are no magic wands to wave and no quick fixes, but once you get them right, you will begin to see a steady increase the number of sales. In many cases, you are already doing it, like with your  shop window display and your store 'feel', everything else simply enhances that.

It can feel daunting and a llittle overwhelming, so it is worth tackling it one step at a time and if you would like any help or tips on where to start, do just get in touch.