Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Zane McIntyre, Co-Founder and CEO at Commission Factory. 

Did you know that over 50% of consumers will look for a company’s mobile app on their phone while shopping in a store? Marketing has evolved as shoppers’ behaviors and expectations have changed.

Why? Because customers are looking for coupons and discounts. They often will first look for affiliate sites to find special offers because they are already familiar with them from their social media pages and blogs. Since many affiliate marketers are also influencers or bloggers, they’re already interacting with potential customers in the same niche.

Affiliate marketers provide a value to omni-channel strategies by:

• Building brand awareness
• Reaching a wider audience
• Increasing consumer trust
• Driving targeted traffic
• Building and enhancing relationships with potential customers

It’s no longer enough for brands to only have a desktop, mobile, or physical store location in isolation. Companies that are keeping up with this trend know the importance of providing cross-device promotions to their potential consumers.

What’s necessary to keep up with the consumer today is to have an integrated approach to marketing that takes into consideration every touch-point along the buying process.

What is Omni-Channel Marketing?

The omni-channel strategy represents a significant shift away from push-marketing and mass advertising towards consumer-centric, personalized, and multi-channel promotions on multiple devices. Consumers expect to be able to engage with a brand on their website, in a physical store, through a mobile app, on social media, and through a catalog. They want to have access to products andservices on whatever device they are using. This includes their smartphone, landline, computer or tablet.

Source: Pinterest.com

The omni-channel approach focuses on the customer experience by providing a seamless shopping experience across all possible paths to purchase. Every step of the consumer journey should be consistent, smooth, and accessible. Omni-Channel marketing strategies provide opportunities to increase sales by enabling consumers to make purchases where it is most convenient for them.

If your business is not focusing on the consumer buying process and offering multiple ways for customers to buy from you, your competitors are. It’s time for you to catch up!

The Consumer Experience

Today’s consumers expect to be able to purchase what they want, where they choose, and when they want it. To provide a seamless shopping experience, you should be promoting your products or services everywhere, both online and offline. Don’t forget online and print catalogs, mobile apps, and social media.

Consumers want a cohesive, single brand experience at every touchpoint along the way to making a purchase. Keeping the consumer experience as the focal point of all your marketing activities will help nurture relationships with your customers and build trust.

Extend Your Reach Using Affiliates

Consumers have an inherent distrust of new brands and advertising. Using affiliates enables brands to expand their audiences through trusted sources.

Affiliate marketers extend the reach of brands and are a valuable addition to their omni-channel marketing initiatives. They play a vital role along the path of the consumer journey, using their blogs, websites, and social media accounts.

Consistency is Important

Omni-channel marketing takes retailing to a higher level by optimizing the consumer shopping process. It provides a consistent manner in the way offers, products, and brands are presented to potential customers.

As an example, consider the process a consumer goes through before purchasing an electric mixer. That person will likely search online for different company websites, videos, blogs, product reviews, brand comparisons, and social media posts and comments.

Their next step might be to go to a few stores to see what the mixer looks like in person and then decide on their top choice. The shopper might buy the product on the spot or go back online to find the best price.

Companies that use affiliates to help promote their brand should communicate and equip them with the resources and tools they need to deliver a consistent brand message to potential customers.

Coupons and Discounts

Brands that embrace omni-channel strategies understand consumer shopping behaviors. According to Business Insider, affiliate marketing drives an estimated 15% of the digital media industry’s revenue.

Source: businessinsider.com

Affiliates play a significant role in driving traffic and converting leads into sales. While consumers are on their buying journey, they expect some type of discount or special offer. They often look for affiliate sites first, primarily because of the accessibility of comparison, cashback, and deal sites.

Consumers Trust Affiliates

People trust what others say about a brand more than what the company says about itself. This is one of the reasons customer testimonials are so powerful and valuable in helping consumers make purchase decisions. Successful affiliate marketers are often bloggers or influencers who already reach your potential customers in their niche. Companies can increase trust by using affiliates to help sell their products and services.

Build Better Relationships

When companies have affiliates promoting their offerings, they help nurture relationships with others in the same niche. Affiliates target publishers, bloggers, and social media influencers to attract highly engaged audiences. An essential aspect of focusing on the consumer is to be where they are online in places such as social media platforms and community forums.

One of the challenges of omni-channel marketing is to stay on top of all interactions. Affiliate marketers already have strategies for interacting with the audiences they influence. People read their blogs and follow them on social media because they are already interested in what the affiliate is writing and posting, and it is relevant to them.

For example, an influential blogger who writes about healthy food is not going to promote unrelated products such as wallets on their site. Instead, they will educate their audience and write relevant, helpful, and valuable posts about the products and services related to the healthy food niche.

When they promote relevant products on their site, their audience already trusts them as a credible source of information and will be more likely to make a purchase.

Increase Sales and Boost Growth

Affiliate marketers drive more traffic to a company’s website by building brand awareness and reaching a wider audience. Many people, especially millennials, trust the opinions of influencers they follow and affiliates are brand ambassadors for companies that utilize them.

Affiliate marketing is cost-effective for brands because they only pay for results. Additionally, they have experience creating copy and reaching their target audience. Trying different omni-channel marketing solutions is time and resource-intensive so tapping into these channels can help brands remain competitive in today’s marketplace.

Zane McIntyre is the Co-Founder and CEO of APAC’s growing affiliate network, Commission Factory. He is passionate about helping online retailers achieve their potential and maximize their ROAS.