What is 360-degree marketing?
When searching for a definition of 360-degree marketing, we most often come across an enigmatic description along the lines of “integrated marketing activities” or “a holistic approach to marketing.” Beyond sounding pleasant, however, these terms do not provide the most important thing – an answer to the question asked. Let us therefore try to formulate a practical definition.
360° marketing is a concept in which we use all possible communication channels to create a consistent promotional message for customers. This approach is based on two key elements:
- The first is combining activities on many marketing fronts (both offline and online). However, what is very important: the goal is not to bombard customers with ads everywhere at the same time. Such an approach may prove ineffective.
- The second element, without which we cannot speak of 360-degree marketing, is integration. It is not just about acting simultaneously on many levels, but about ensuring that these activities are integrated with each other and take into account the right moment, the customer’s current needs, and the brand’s capabilities.
Important!
The goal of 360-degree marketing is to reach as many potential customers as possible through integrated activities in every medium they may use, and to act at every stage of the customer journey they may be at.
What benefits does 360-degree marketing bring in e-commerce and in what circumstances does it work?
To decide whether comprehensive marketing is something your company should be interested in, it is worth getting to know the benefits it can bring. Here are the most important ones.
Higher sales and conversion
On one hand, it is hard to find a marketing strategy that does not promise higher sales; on the other hand, it is not difficult to imagine that acting simultaneously on many marketing fronts will actually bring your company more customers, increase conversion, and boost sales.
The key question remains: will your e-store’s revenue after launching 360-degree activities increase enough to justify the costs incurred?
The answer to this question may be difficult, however – it is not easy to directly translate increased interest in a brand into store revenue.
Increased brand trust
The presence of a consistent marketing message from your brand in many places at the same time builds trust. Customers who notice that your store advertises both in search networks, social media, and outdoor advertising are more likely to trust your brand.
Brand positioning
Let us be honest: 360-degree marketing is not cheap. The ambition to run marketing activities simultaneously across dozens of available channels requires investing significant funds.
However, by taking this step, we build the perception that the brand is large and can afford such marketing. This instantly boosts its significance.
How to prepare for launching 360° marketing?
Launching 360-degree marketing in e-commerce is much more than just starting activities on social media, enabling paid ads, and creating a new store website. If you want to seriously prepare for delivering a powerful marketing punch from all sides, proper preparation is necessary – consisting of at least 8 steps.
1. Define what your brand is
One of the pillars of 360-degree marketing is sending a consistent marketing message out into the world. You cannot do this without first establishing:
- what language your brand should speak,
- what its values are,
- what it promises its customers,
- what its value proposition is.
Only once you have concrete answers to these questions can you attempt to create consistent marketing content.
2. Define your brand’s target audience
It has been said time and again how important it is to create a marketing persona (or multiple personas). However, that alone is not enough. To harness their potential, you must also understand exactly who these personas are and optimize them based on collected data. Creating personas is not about gathering the traits of a random customer, but about building a picture of the ideal customer.
Data on customer behavior, shopping habits, preferences, and the problems they are looking to solve will help you with this.
Remember that a consistent marketing message does not mean sending the same message to all your customers. On the contrary – use your knowledge of different personas to create personalized content, based however on a consistent brand vision.
3. Analyze the customer journey
Having data about your customers at your disposal, you are able to trace how they go through their customer journey. Mapping out the individual stages will help your company plan marketing activities with the customer in mind.
4. Determine which channels you want to start with
The answer “all of them” will almost always be wrong. Even if you ultimately plan to have your brand present absolutely everywhere, trying to catch all the birds at once right from the start will result in nothing more than a few sorry feathers in hand.
Choose the channels that have the greatest potential for your brand and naturally integrate with each other. The choice here is very wide and depends largely on the specifics of your brand, your customer base and their demographics, but also on the range of products you offer your customers.
5. Prepare the right team
360-degree marketing involves multi-channel activities that require combining competencies within a team. You will need creative people, data analysts, as well as people who will ensure the proper functioning of the technical backend. A good practice is to prepare the team for the challenges associated with 360-degree marketing – and well in advance of launching specific activities.
6. Verify the company’s technological capabilities
Check what systems you currently have and which ones may still prove useful. Verify whether your current CRM will meet the expectations you have before implementing 360-degree marketing. Check whether the currently subscribed tools allow for straightforward A/B testing and whether they are suitable for personalization at the expected level.
7. Plan your marketing activities
Before you start, create a visual identity and think about what formats you want to explore. Establish a framework for the chosen formats and determine which elements should remain flexible and which should not be altered.
8. Rely on data
Good marketing is based on data, not assumptions. Once set in motion, the 360-degree marketing machine should not remain on the same tracks throughout the entire period of operation. While working with this approach, monitor its results on an ongoing basis. Set goals, check how their implementation is progressing, and plan regular optimization activities.
What does 360-degree marketing consist of and how does it work?
It is easy to say that the possibilities in this approach to marketing are endless, but what does that actually mean? Here are the elements you can include in your version of 360-degree marketing.
Content marketing
There is little chance that you are not running any content marketing activities at all – most companies in the e-commerce industry operate in this area, even if only to a minimal extent.
In content marketing, the most important thing is that the content produced is valuable – in other words: that it is useful to someone for something. Content marketing is not just blog posts, however. It is also knowledge condensed in infographics, industry e-books, high-quality podcasts, and educational video content (including both longer and shorter forms, such as those known from TikTok or YouTube Shorts).
Content marketing has two goals – both closely connected. First: you want to create content that brings real value to your customers’ lives. It answers their questions, dispels doubts, provides the knowledge they need, and helps them solve problems. Second (equally important): you want to build an image of your company as trustworthy, knowledgeable, and authoritative.
Content can be the best in the world, but what good is it if nobody notices it? Building brand visibility online is a standard you cannot neglect. Organic traffic does not appear on its own. Behind everything are algorithms that need to be helped to notice your brand’s content.
All of this supports building relationships with customers, but also increases your brand’s visibility, making it easier to find. And when someone, drawn in by search optimization techniques, finds reliable, high-quality content associated with your brand, the path to purchasing the products it offers becomes significantly shorter.
Email marketing
One of the oldest forms of online marketing is still going strong. Although it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd of other promotional emails, email marketing can still bring tangible benefits.
Marketing messages can be automated, personalized, subjected to advanced A/B testing, and after sending, campaign results can be closely monitored. This means that email marketing continues to enjoy great interest and can be an important part of 360-degree marketing in your company.
Digital ads
Ads displayed on websites in the form of banners, ads in search engines, ads on social media. As users, we often seem to no longer notice the thousands of ads we are flooded with from almost every direction while browsing the internet, using Facebook, or watching video content on YouTube. The more ads appear on the internet (and it is already difficult to estimate their number in any way), the harder it will be for you to break through with your ad to interested users.
As part of 360-degree marketing, it is good to take advantage of the possibilities offered by advertising almost everywhere on the internet – precisely because there are so many ads. When a user encounters your brand’s ad again (first while browsing the news, then on Instagram, and a third time in a search engine), the chance that they will recognize and remember the brand increases significantly. The chances are greater the more consistent (both in terms of content and visual presentation) the message is.
Ads in traditional media
Digital marketing offers many possibilities that are hard to find in traditional advertising – such as advanced analytics, the ability to optimize content in real time, or make corrections. Traditional advertising – in print, radio, or television – still finds its audience, however.
Will such advertising work for your company? It depends, among other things, on the target audience and reach, but also on costs. Advertising on a local radio station can be a great idea for a store with a local reach, but in the case of e-commerce, this principle does not apply. On the other hand, a spot on a nationwide radio station may prove too costly to be worth airing – especially when it is difficult to estimate its effectiveness.
Event marketing
Do you run an online store targeting a specific audience? Perhaps it is a hobby store – for athletes, gamers, or sailors? Exhibiting your brand at events bringing together fans of a given activity is an excellent opportunity to build brand recognition and gain customers. Be prepared, however, for the need to pay for a booth and promotional materials tailored to a specific event. Direct interaction with potential customers can bring measurable benefits to your brand and will offer a chance to build an image that you simply cannot get by only running ads online.
Loyalty programs
Creating a loyalty program that rewards regular and returning customers is also an element that fits into the vision of 360-degree marketing. It is not just about acquiring new customers, but also about building long-lasting, strong relationships with those who have already made a purchase in your store at least once.
A well-planned and executed loyalty program is a way to keep customers satisfied and eager to return. By giving them valuable benefits for repeat purchases, you secure a powerful competitive advantage.
Summary – how to run 360-degree marketing so that your company benefits from it to the fullest?
360-degree marketing is based on many factors, of which the most important is using multiple marketing channels simultaneously, but also skillfully selecting channels taking into account the current needs of customers and the brand’s capabilities.
Remember: before you start acting on many fronts, make sure that the brand message is consistent and in line with the image you want to build.
Do not forget to adapt the form and language of content to the channel in which you publish – you will speak differently to viewers on TikTok and differently to blog readers.
Finally, focus on acquiring customers and building relationships. Neglecting either of these aspects will mean that the effort put into implementing the 360-degree marketing strategy for your brand will be largely wasted.
