Your customer journey is omnichannel. There I've said it; not many marketers will admit to that. As for business owners, I'm convinced most won't even know what omnichannel is. 

Unhelpfully, businesses with external and sometimes internal marketing teams will bury their clients' heads firmly in the sand. Most are religiously wedded to particular stand-alone tactics with no strategy or data to drive their reasoning or spending. 

I call it the field of dreams syndrome - we all remember the Kevin Costner film - If you build it, they will come. Sadly in business and marketing - they don't. 

Usually, the conversation goes something like this.  

Client: I've been doing Facebook ads

Us: Great, and what else? 

Client: Err, just Facebook

Us: So, nothing else?

Client: No

Us: Ok 

Client: It's not working; sometimes it does, but not always.

So I've kept the ads going. 

or 

The person running the ads shows me info, but I need help understanding it better, and I'm getting some customers. So that's good.

You can imagine what comes next. 

Being omnipresent is a big takeaway from a recent Uberall survey on expectations and buying behaviours in a post-Covid era. 

Meaning that e-commerce's recent rise in popularity does not necessarily come at the expense of brick-and-mortar businesses as previously thought. 

The internet has revolutionised buying things, and Google takes it one step further. They call this moment in decision-making before purchasing "ZMOT," which stands for Zero Moment of Truth when consumers do their research before purchasing. On average, consumers consider 10.4 sources of information before they buy!

A whopping Ninety-six per cent of those Uberall survey respondents said they start their purchasing path online, regardless of whether they intend to buy online or locally. I'd also bet a hefty percentage of those searches were locally focused. 

Today in a post covid age, an online presence and a tight local marketing strategy have become integral for local businesses to connect with their customers.

• Trust is a significant asset for a brick-and-mortar business. Eighty-eight per cent said it's important to trust businesses they frequent, and nearly 70% said they trust a brick-and-mortar and local business more than an online-only seller.

• Customers feel more connected to local businesses and expect more from them. Fifty-five per cent said they feel more "emotionally connected" to brick-and-mortar stores; as for their expectations, 41% said they expect the most from local businesses; only 20% said the same about e-commerce sellers.

• Fifty-eight per cent of consumers said the pandemic made them more loyal to local businesses. It's worth wondering whether this legitimately contradicts the pandemic e-commerce boom that showed consumer focus on convenience and less on loyalty.

After all, when a product from Amazon is two clicks away, businesses should capitalise on this trust and connection they can command with their customers. 

Numbers indicate that a robust online presence is paramount for even "local" businesses, as customer journeys are integrated into online search and selling.

So How Can You Be Omnipresent? 

'omnipresent', according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means to be 'present or having an effect everywhere at the same time.' 

While you can try and be everywhere, it's almost impossible to do 'everywhere' on the internet. But you can be everywhere on your specific audience's internet.

Let's take Coca-Cola as the perfect example of Omnipresence and ask yourself, how far away from a can of Coke are you right now? or some branded Coke merchandise?

I bet that 95%+ of you are within half a mile (max) of a can of Coca-Cola. If you need a drink, Coca-Cola is right there, whether it's a shop, restaurant, vending machine, bar, deli, fast-food chain or food market. They are omnipresent. And they reap the rewards of it. 

When you are omnipresent, your clients and customers think of you FIRST. This is powerful since most people need help to think past the first option. Take Amazon. Amazon is so omnipresent that many people don't CONSIDER other places to buy online. People think of Amazon; they go to Amazon and purchase from it. In our house, Jeff Bezos is known as Uncle Jeff. 

When you are omnipresent, prospective ideal clients recognise you. They know your "brand." and how you differentiate yourself from others. This is so important in Local Marketing when your bricks and mortar and online high streets have multiple options for the same offering.

You are trusted and often paid more for your goods and services when you are omnipresent. 

When you are omnipresent, you're seen as the expert, the authority in the room. When you're the authority, people listen. 

If you'd like help with your Omnipresence, we can connect you to local customers like no other. 

Local Marketing Made Easy is a full-service local marketing agency based in Greenwich, London. We can show you how a good marketing strategy can increase sales - ultimately putting more money in your pocket.

To see how we can help your business, call us on (0203) 303 0625 or book a callback request via the form below.