5 key benefits of an omnichannel marketing approach for B2B

An omnichannel approach is more than just a strategy — it’s a fundamental transformation in how companies conduct sales and marketing.

Because it’s become so effective, mid-level and enterprise companies now need omnichannel marketing to stay competitive.

Disagree? 

Consider this report by McKinsey that shows B2B customers use more than 9 channels (up from 5 a few years ago) on their buying journeys.

It also shows that 70% of businesses won’t even consider you if you can’t meet their core requirements during the buying journey or if that experience is a poor one.

Do you really think relying on a single channel (or simply barraging clients on multiple channels) will compete against an omnichannel strategy that tailors interactions at every stage of the buyer journey?

If you want to keep up with your clients’ rising expectations, this article explores 5 key benefits that make omnichannel marketing a must in B2B:

1. Seamless alignment of sales and marketing teams enables a personalized customer experience across all touchpoints.
2. Unification of data and tech tools creates a single source of truth.
3. Leveraging data-driven insights increases engagement and conversion rates throughout the buyer journey.
4. Improved customer retention grows revenue.
5. Greater efficiency reduces costs over the long term and increases ROI, positioning companies for growth.

Let’s delve into each of these to understand how an omnichannel marketing strategy could transform your business.

Why omnichannel marketing is the new imperative for B2B

The short answer is that omnichannel marketing is simply the next evolution of how to survive in B2B. Last year’s playbook is outdated. You need more than fresh tactics; you need a strategic overhaul.

While factors like COVID-19 and remote work accelerated things, several factors have made omnichannel marketing the only viable path forward for B2B organizations.

Single- and multichannel limitations

For startups and SMBs, single- and multichannel approaches can land you those first clients, get your company off the ground, and let you play the referral game for some time. The reason is because, relative to larger firms, you’ve got fewer employees, less overhead, and are less reliant on consistency in leads (or quality) and operational efficiency.

If your organization is small enough, you can survive, for now, without omnichannel.

However, if you aim to scale up, you’ll find that traditional strategies won’t sustain your company’s growth.

Only omnichannel marketing offers the level of strategic alignment and efficiency needed to compete in B2B today. Below are the 3 main reasons why.

1. Market saturation challenges

The mass proliferation of marketing messages has led to:

• Decreased response rates across channels
• Higher customer acquisition costs
• Increased difficulty in standing out from competitors

2. Algorithm changes impact reach

Social media, email, and search engine algorithm updates have:

• Limited organic reach and email delivery rates for businesses
• Throttled visibility on posts and content
• Increased sophistication, expertise, and the number of tech tools required to maintain visibility

3. Data privacy and spam regulations

Recent changes in spam and data protection laws have:

• Restricted data collection methods and mass email/text campaigns
• Limited targeting options for advertisers
• Forced marketers to find new ways to understand and reach their audience

All of these forces continue to converge and create an environment where single-channel or even multichannel approaches are — and have been — falling short.

Omnichannel marketing is not just a new strategy; it’s the natural evolution and solution to the earlier- mentioned challenges. It addresses them by providing a cohesive, customer-centric experience that adapts to buyer preferences and behaviors.

Increased effectiveness and efficiency lead to growth

Companies that adopt an omnichannel marketing strategy have the upper hand when it comes to scaling, hence outpacing their competitors.

The big advantage comes from an integrated customer experience across every touchpoint. This is something unique to omnichannel.

Competitive advantage through integration

Omnichannel’s power lies in its ability to create a cohesive customer journey, which means:

• Consistent messaging across all platforms reinforces brand identity and value proposition.
• Real-time data sharing between channels allows for personalized interactions at every touchpoint.
• Integrated analytics provide deeper insights into customer behavior, enabling more effective targeting and resource allocation.

Industry trends reveal impressive results

In terms of buyer preferences and expectations in B2B sectors, recent data paints a compelling picture of omnichannel’s impact:

• Companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement retain 89% of their customers.
• Brands with omnichannel customer engagement see a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue.
• Omnichannel campaigns demonstrate an engagement rate of 18.96%, compared to just 5.4% for single-channel campaigns.
• Nearly 80% of B2B customers prefer omnichannel strategies for seamless communication.

Belkins case in point

One of our clients, a leading startup investing platform in the U.S., hired us to implement an omnichannel strategy that resulted in the following:

• 222 appointments booked over 11 months of collaboration
• 100% increase in monthly meetings, from 15 to 30, after just 4 months 
• 9% lead conversion rate, tripling the 3% rate achieved by other vendors  
• 13 closed deals with top-tier clients, generating approximately $150K in revenue  
• $434K of projected value added to their pipeline from pending deals  
• 125% ROI, surpassing the industry average of 107%-110%

Success stemmed from a sophisticated multi-touchpoint campaign that aligned marketing and sales efforts across email, LinkedIn outreach, and intent-based calling. As a result, messaging resonated strongly with the target audience, which consists of series A and seed-stage startups.

Companies clinging to single or multichannel approaches will fall behind because they cannot provide the seamless, integrated experience buyers now expect.

So, B2B leaders should ask themselves: Can your current strategy meet these new demands?

5 benefits of omnichannel marketing for B2B companies

Omnichannel marketing marks a paradigm shift in B2B strategy. While implementing these strategies requires significant investment in time, resources, and expertise, the rewards are transformative. Understanding common challenges in omnichannel marketing can help you prepare for success.

1. Aligns sales and marketing teams for a seamless and personalized customer experience

For most sales and marketing teams, an omnichannel strategy brings an unprecedented level of collaboration. The result is a (finally) unified sales and marketing front that works together at every touchpoint in the customer journey.

This alignment is made possible through several key initiatives.

Shared goals and KPIs

Sales and marketing teams unite under common objectives. Here are some of the metrics that we use at Belkins. Each allows sales and marketing to focus less on departmental goals and exclusively on what is meaningful to the business as a whole:

• Pipeline created: Tracking the total value of qualified opportunities generated
• Booked appointments: Measuring direct engagement with potential clients
• New closed revenue: Ultimately assessing the impact on the bottom line

Consistent messaging across all channels

By aligning communication strategies, companies create a more cohesive brand experience:

• Website copy, sales scripts, and email campaigns all reinforce the same key messages.
• Prospects receive on-brand information regardless of how they interact.
• Consistency builds trust and reduces confusion in the buyer's journey.

Coordinated campaign execution

To paint a better picture of how sales and marketing times have to collaborate in an omnichannel campaign, consider this scenario of how we at Belkins might carry out a multi-touch experience:

1. Marketing team promotes an upcoming webinar through targeted ads and email campaigns.
2. Sales team reaches out to high-value prospects with personalized invitations.
3. During the webinar, both teams monitor engagement and identify interested participants.
4. Post-event, marketing sends tailored follow-up content based on attendee behavior.
5. Sales conducts timely outreach to engaged prospects, armed with insights from their webinar participation and follow-up content interaction.

You can see how a campaign like this requires a high level of coordination that’s challenging to achieve when sales and marketing operate in silos.

Additionally, a multichannel campaign lacking this coordination wouldn’t be able to maximize the impact of each interaction and guide prospects smoothly through the sales funnel.

Breaking down silos between departments allows for a more customer-centric approach, one that resonates with modern B2B buyers who expect personalized, relevant experiences at every stage of their journey.

2. Unifies data and tech tools into a single source of truth

An effective omnichannel strategy requires better, more unified data management and tech integration. By creating a single “source of truth,” businesses enhance decision-making processes and make more personalized customer experiences possible.

Integration of CRM with marketing and sales tools

A customer relationship management (CRM) system, such as HubSpot, is the backbone of any successful omnichannel strategy. However, it doesn’t work if you enter conversions or appointments manually. You need to fully integrate your other tools, such as  Salesforce, Reply, LinkedIn Ads or Google Analytics, with your CRM.

By doing so, you’ll be able to leverage things like historical data and create a seamless flow of information along with a 360-degree view of customer interactions.

Creating a comprehensive data lake

To achieve a single source of truth that provides formatted, uniform data for easy retrieval and backup, businesses need a data lake to serve as a centralized repository for this valuable information. Using a data lake provides the following advantages:

• Aggregated data from various sources, including website analytics, social media interactions, and offline touchpoints
• Data cleansing and normalization processes to maintain data quality
• Opportunities for advanced analytics tools to extract even more meaningful insights

By unifying your data and tools into a single source of truth, you establish a tech command center for sales and marketing. This not only helps bring the operational efficiency needed to scale but also facilitates personalized and timely interactions with customers.

3. Leverages data to increase engagement and conversion rates

Harnessing unified customer data is the key to significantly improving engagement and conversion rates throughout the buyer journey. Building an effective omnichannel lead generation strategy from the ground up helps you achieve this.

Insights gained from data include things like past interactions and industry benchmarks, which not only inform your messaging but help you set KPIs to continuously optimize marketing campaigns.

Enhancing conversions across the buyer journey

Omnichannel strategies enable businesses to optimize conversions at every stage of the customer journey. Here’s what they help you do better:

• Analyze touchpoint data to identify key conversion opportunities.
• Implement personalized content and offers based on customer behavior and preferences.
• Continuously test and refine your approach using A/B testing and multivariate analysis.

Utilizing industry benchmarks and KPIs

Gathering data on past customers and industry trends helps establish meaningful benchmarks and KPIs. Here are some ways in which we use data to establish KPIs:

• Analyze historical data to identify patterns and trends in customer behavior.
• Compare our client's performance against industry standards to set realistic goals.
• Regularly review and adjust KPIs to align with changing market conditions.

Hyper-targeting and segmentation

Unified customer data allows for more precise targeting and segmentation. Here’s how:

• Create detailed customer profiles based on demographic, behavioral, and psychographic data.
• Develop micro-segments to deliver highly personalized experiences.
• Implement dynamic segmentation to adapt to changing customer needs and preferences.

Tailored messaging across channels

Customer data also helps you create personalized messaging that resonates with your audience. Here’s how you can use data to achieve messaging that’s always relevant:

• Analyze past interactions to understand customer preferences and pain points.
• Develop customized content for different segments and stages of the buyer journey.
• Ensure consistency in messaging across all channels while adapting to the unique characteristics of each platform.

📌 Example: Tailored email nurture sequence

Putting everything we’ve mentioned in this section together, imagine a B2B software company that implements a tailored email nurture sequence based on website behavior and sales interactions:

1. Initial engagement: A prospect visits the company’s website and downloads a whitepaper on industry trends. The system automatically tags them as interested in thought leadership content.
2. Follow-up email: Within 24 hours, an automated email is sent thanking them for their interest and offering related content, such as a case study relevant to their industry.
3. Omnichannel ads: A couple of days later, the prospect starts seeing targeted ads on LinkedIn and Google, reinforcing the messaging from the email sequence.
4. Behavioral trigger: The prospect clicks on a link in the email about a specific product feature. This action updates their profile, indicating a potential pain point or area of interest.
5. Personalized offer: Based on this interaction, the next email in the sequence includes a personalized demo offer focusing on the feature they showed interest in.
6. Sales team alert: If the prospect engages with the demo offer, the sales team is automatically notified of the prospect’s interaction history, enabling them to follow up with relevant talking points.
7. Continuous optimization: The marketing team analyzes the performance of this sequence, comparing it to industry benchmarks. They use A/B testing to refine subject lines, content, and timing, gradually improving open and conversion rates.

Using integrated data in this way to create highly personalized and tailored campaigns can only increase engagement and conversion rates.

4. Improves customer retention to drive revenue

Increased retention rates lead to the increased revenue you need to make scaling possible. One of the keys to keeping customers longer is maintaining a seamless and consistent brand experience across touchpoints.

Consistent brand experience enhances loyalty

When your customers encounter a unified brand message and experience across every channel they interact with you through, you establish expectations in dealing with your company. Consistency also builds trust and familiarity, making customers more likely to remain loyal to a predictable brand.

For instance, when a B2B software company maintains consistent messaging and user interfaces across its website, mobile app, and customer support channels, it builds the confidence that translates into brand loyalty.

Personalized post-purchase communications

Data can be used to deliver personalized post-purchase communications and support, such as:

• Follow-up emails and support messages to address specific customer needs
• Proactive assistance based on usage patterns or potential issues
• Relevant resources and training materials to maximize product value

This level of personalization shows a commitment to customer success, builds long-term relationships, and reduces churn.

Enhanced cross-selling and upselling opportunities

A holistic view of customer behavior and preferences data lets companies identify strategic cross-selling and upselling opportunities. Here are a few examples of how:

• Recommend complementary products or services based on purchase history.
• Suggest upgrades or additional features that align with customer usage patterns.
• Time promotional offers to coincide with customer life cycle stages.

Omnichannel strategies leverage data that grants insights to increase your customer lifetime value while also providing genuine value to your clients.

5. Increases efficiency to keep costs down and ROI up

Omnichannel strategies not only improve customer experiences but also offer a huge uptick in operational efficiencies. Over the long term, this greatly reduces costs, in turn increasing ROI.

Reduced redundancy in marketing efforts

By integrating different marketing channels, companies eliminate redundant efforts and produce more cohesive campaigns through the following:

• Repurpose content across multiple platforms.
• Coordinate messaging and timing across channels for maximum impact.
• Streamline workflow by centralizing content creation and distribution.

Less redundant, more intelligently employed marketing efforts means less waste.

Data-driven resource allocation

Having access to rich performance data across all customer touchpoints leads to informed decisions about resource allocation. Here are a few examples:

• Identify high-performing channels and allocate more budget to those areas.
• Recognize underperforming initiatives and adjust or eliminate them.
• Optimize marketing mix based on customer preferences and engagement patterns.

By continuously analyzing this data, companies can refine their strategies and focus resources on the most effective channels and tactics.

Long-term cost reduction strategies

Omnichannel marketing strategies lead to significant long-term cost savings through:

• Lower customer acquisition costs due to improved targeting and personalization
• Reduced customer service expenses through more efficient self-service options
• Decreased marketing waste by eliminating ineffective channels or campaigns

Focusing on the benefits of omnichannel marketing, B2B companies create more engaging customer experiences while simultaneously improving their operational efficiency and bottom line.

The key to success lies in careful planning, consistent execution, and ongoing analysis of performance data across all channels.

Which industries are poised for omnichannel disruption?

The omnichannel revolution is here and it’s transforming B2B industries, with the following sectors standing to gain the most from embracing it.

Manufacturing, logistics, and construction

These more traditional industries stand to gain significantly from omnichannel strategies because most companies have historically relied on outdated, siloed sales processes that are inefficient and limit growth potential.

Omnichannel approaches allow them to tap into new markets and customer segments previously unreachable through traditional methods.

Moreover, the complex nature of their products and services benefits greatly from integrated online and offline touchpoints, providing customers with richer information and smoother buying experiences.

Lastly, implementing omnichannel strategies tends to dramatically improve their operational efficiency, reducing costs and increasing competitiveness in these often margin-sensitive industries.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry stands to gain significantly from omnichannel strategies because systems often struggle with fragmented patient communication and disjointed care experiences across different departments and touchpoints.

Improved patient engagement and satisfaction come from providing consistent, personalized interactions across various channels (e.g., in-person visits, telemedicine, patient portals, mobile apps).

Similar to manufacturing, the healthcare industry comes with complex services and information that could benefit greatly from an integrated approach, allowing patients to access and better understand their health data, treatment options, and care instructions.

Implementing an omnichannel strategy also improves operational efficiency for healthcare organizations by reducing administrative burdens and helping with resource allocation.

Tech and SaaS companies

Tech and B2B SaaS companies often have access to vast amounts of product usage data, which can be leveraged to create highly personalized marketing campaigns.

Their products, which tend to come with a lot of educational content, require multiple touchpoints and interactions before a sale. This makes an integrated approach necessary for guiding prospects through the buyer's journey.

Customer retention and upselling are also critical for SaaS business models. Omnichannel strategies have the advantage here by providing a more seamless post-purchase experience than single- or multichannel marketing.

The B2B tech industry is known to be fiercely competitive and innovative. Companies in this sector need to differentiate themselves through superior customer experiences, which omnichannel approaches can deliver better than any other.

Ready to integrate an omnichannel approach into your current marketing strategy?

Consider partnering with one of the top omnichannel marketing companies to guide you through the process.

However, know that embracing an omnichannel approach requires a fundamental shift in mindset and a willingness to transform your entire marketing ecosystem.

At Belkins, we guide you through this transition by:

• Cultivating a growth mindset that embraces change and continuous learning
• Building momentum with early wins by identifying low-hanging fruit and showcasing quick successes
• Providing seamless integration and coaching to align with your existing processes and facilitate collaboration
• Leveraging existing campaigns by analyzing performance data and identifying cross-channel synergies

When you partner with us at Belkins, you invest in adapting to your customers and growing your business. 

Talk to us, and we can discuss tailoring an omnichannel strategy to your unique needs and goals.