Whilst “haddock” may not get a regular mention at B2B marketing meetings, “prospect” and “loyalist” certainly do. 

As the restaurant has discovered, omnichannel strategy puts brands ahead of competitors and it’s becoming increasingly relevant in B2B. McKinsey reports B2B customers are interacting with suppliers on at least twice as many channels as they did eight years ago (i) reflecting their desire for the same level of choice in their business buying journeys that they enjoy in their personal ones. 

The omnichannel approach creates much more than a rolling buffet of engagement opportunities with customers. It ensures the buying journey is easy to understand, pleasant to travel and, perhaps most importantly, happens on their terms. Once marketing teams accept that customers jump when they’re good and ready and can’t be pushed down the sales funnel, an omnichannel approach ensures they’re caught with just the right message at just the right time. 

That said, many B2B businesses find it tricky as “they treat channels as silos (“multichannel”), rather than as a set of interconnected tools” (ii). So how brands show up on those tools and in those buyer journeys matters. From decks presented on Teams to owned media and paid campaigns, it all has to come together consistently. 

And let’s face it, building consistency largely relies on how well internal teams work together. Astonishingly, McKinsey reports that 57 percent of B2B decision makers say their sales teams do not fully utilise “and often ignore” content created by their marketing teams (i) - ouch. If teams don’t set Torvill and Dean standards when it comes to synchronisation, omnichannel quickly becomes scatter-channel. 

And, how do you know when sales and marketing are working well together? 

One measure for certain is the quality and effectiveness of the marketing and communications assets an organisation produces – an area where complex B2B businesses fall short in great numbers.

We all know that whenever there’s a sense that businesses are falling short, there’s an opportunity to tweak what you’re doing to gain a competitive edge. 

Marketeers that remember B2B customers are in control of their final purchase decision, (whether they’re in the search of battered fish or not) have made the first step to creating an omnichannel strategy that will deliver a relevant, consistent and memorable story for their brand.

Sources
(i) https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/b2b-sales-omnichannel-everywhere-every-time

(ii) https://hbr.org/2022/01/how-b2b-businesses-can-get-omnichannel-sales-right