Our fourth episode of Quark’s “Close the Content Loop” webinar series ‘What is Omnichannel Publishing and Why Should I Care? discussed the basics of omnichannel publishing, how it differs from multichannel publishing, and the role it plays in supporting enterprise success in today’s digital era. This topic followed our most recent episode’s discussion on content compliance, reinforcing there are many elements to a successful content management strategy.
What is omnichannel publishing?
Before we get into the definition of omnichannel publishing, let’s peel back a layer and talk about the word “omnichannel”. It can mean different things to different people, depending on what organization you operate. For example, in the retail industry, omnichannel could refer to sales channels, instore and online channels, and partner channels.
When it comes to publishing content, omnichannel has a very specific definition. Omnichannel content publishing supports a customer-centric message delivery and produces the right content output for customers, regardless of what technology is used to access and view the content. It allows for the creation of a dynamic, aligned experience across all parts of an organization, eliminating error-prone silos of communication and content that can result in outdated or worse, inaccurate content, being delivered to targeted recipients. In short, it’s about delivering the right information to the right audience in the right format and at the right time for optimal consumption. We call this the 3Rs.
Today’s digital era has put customers and prospects in the driver’s seat, controlling how and when they search and consume content, finding the information they want and making decisions fast. As such, organizations must create and deliver content in a way that it’s most likely to engage their audience. There is no one-size-fits-all to content delivery.
Take a financial services organization, for example, that routinely delivers an automated financial summary or fund commentary forecast which is scheduled to be delivered before the market opens. A fund owner may be commuting during this time and not at their desk to receive it so having the ability to deliver this content in mobile-responsive HTML5 is ideal for optimal consumption.
Omnichannel = personalized delivery = customer satisfaction
Personalizing content is the key to successful customer engagement. Omnichannel publishing leverages content automation to deliver this personalized content experience to individuals or groups regardless of its original source and based on unique customer data and behaviors. This personal relationship is created through content and without requiring extra effort from content authors and designers – which is a huge productivity enhancer. These personalized relationships increase customer service and satisfaction, building trust and generating buyer confidence, while also safeguarding regulatory compliance and ensuring content is approved and validated before it goes out of the door.
We dug deeper into the role content plays in customer satisfaction in a recent webinar featuring guest speaker Lisa Gately, principal analyst with Forrester.
Where’s the complexity in omnichannel publishing?
The beauty of omnichannel content publishing is that it provides a dynamic response platform, so you can create, manage and message content effortlessly and in real time. As the organization realizes new customer information and insights – using content intelligence and data analytics – you can flex your content and automatically update it across your entire content repository instantly using XML metadata tags. You don’t need to know XML, the publishing platform generates it for you. It’s a global update from one single source, rather than a one-by-one process for each piece of content.
Omnichannel vs. multichannel
Omnichannel publishing and multichannel publishing are similar, but fundamentally different, and there are two separate aspects to consider here: creation and delivery.
When creating content in a multichannel process, many organizations have different teams producing the content for each output type. You may have internal teams writing for print and web, an external agency writing content for the mobile app, and another design team producing the content for a PowerPoint presentation. The effort to produce the content via a multichannel process is taking place in multiple places and is ultimately costing organizations time and money. This equates to a 1:1 effort process.
An omnichannel process allows a single person or team to create a piece of content only once in one place in a universal format. It is then ready for publishing to all desired output channels via one click. This equates to a 1:many efforts process.
Additionally, an omnichannel approach extends your orgs publishing across a wider ecosystem, connecting with other applications and workflows in operation, optimizing workflows, increasing productivity and delivering more value across your content operations. When your content delivery platform communicates to all application and repositories, it simplifies and lowers costs for all the diverse channel outputs and audiences. Personalized customer experiences are created based on their past interactions and behavior with your organization’s content which adds a new layer of intelligent automation.
Omnichannel publishing in action
A global market research organization that provides analysis for industries including aerospace, chemicals, energy, supply chain management and more had grown through acquisition, inheriting a roster of disparate and disconnected content platforms. They needed a centralized content operations platform that reduced content production complexities and supported their ability to deliver content across multiple different channels and devices. After deploying Quark Publishing Platform, the company has improved the delivery of content to clients – reaching them when, where and on what device they are most likely to consume it – providing a better customer experience. A successful omnichannel strategy is based on a strong corporate vision. It’s critical to share the vision and embrace a new way of creating and managing digital content. Omnichannel publishing is a single effort that supports the successful, personalized output of content to any channel. It will help your organization get the maximum engagement, resonance and consumption – directly contributing to your business ROI.
Quark Publishing Platform (QPP) NextGen helps organizations realize successful omnichannel strategy. It supports the capability to author and manage modular, componentized content that delivers the diverse set of channel outputs and makes the process super easy.
If you’d like to learn more about QPP NextGen and how it can support your omnichannel strategy, you can request a demo.
Mark your calendars for our next episode of “Close the Content Loop” series coming in December.