With the onslaught of new technology and new marketing strategies, comes a wave of terminology with which marketers need to become acquainted—and quickly. Two definitions that are becoming more and more important in today’s digital age are multi-channel marketing and omnichannel marketing.

The differences between multi-channel and omnichannel

The lines are so blurred here, and the debate so frequent, that we have written about it several times to ensure marketers are clear on the differences. At their core, however, the definitions are similar. Let’s take a look:

Multi-channel marketing

Multi-channel marketing refers to the ability to interact with potential customers on various platforms. A channel might be a print ad, a retail location, a website, a promotional event, a product’s package, or word-of-mouth.

Omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel refers to the multi-channel sales approach that provides the customer with an integrated shopping experience. The customer can be shopping online from a desktop or mobile device, via phone, or in a brick-and-mortar store, and the experience will be seamless. It may seem, upon first glance, that these two approaches aim to interact with consumers through an assortment of various channels, but although the terms may appear to be only subtly different, the true meanings and resulting strategies go down two very different paths.

Omnichannel and multi-channel marketing are two very distinct and separate marketing strategies, even though both focus on the use of multiple channels to reach consumers and potential consumers.

Marketers must make the shift to focus on the superior omnichannel concept and focus efforts there in order to increase customer retention and in turn, revenue. To stay ahead of the curve, read more in our whitepaper covering this topic in more detail: Omnichannel Marketing Automation