SEO, ORM, and Today's Omnishoppers

In the past few years, the marketing world has coined a new term to describe the type of consumer who browses and buys services and products across multiple platforms, both online and offline: the "omnishopper."

The term initially referred to consumers who researched products online before shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, but recently the meaning has evolved: As the name implies, an omnishopper is an omnivorous shopper, who uses any resource, online or offline, to make an informed decision.

No matter the form or venue, the omnishopper is motivated by data: Most omnishoppers research products and services assiduously before making a purchase.

The goal, of course, is to buy the best product or service at the best price. Content writers oblige this goal every day by writing top-ten lists. The website Top Ten Reviews, for example, is currently promoting top ten lists for "The Best Egg Cookers of 2018" and "The Best Hotel Booking Services of 2018." And entire Reddit communities, like Buy it For Life and Frugal Male Fashion cater to omnishoppers insatiable desire to discover the most durable or fashionable item at the best price.

What unites all of these diverse queries is an emphasis on reviews--preferably star reviews, with detailed content. In this way, the modern omnishopper is simply the modern shopper. Most browsers browse products and research reviews before making any purchasing decision, online or offline.

The website Retail Dive, which performed a consumer survey on the "psyche of the American consumer," presents the modern shopper's experience as a conundrum for businesses:

"The pre-purchase shopping routine today takes many twists and turns as consumers move from clicks to bricks with relative ease to browse and buy. While convenient for shoppers, it's becoming harder for retailers to know exactly where and when the shopper journey actually begins."

The marketing form Criteo believes retailers need more data on shoppers:

"Data is required on a mass scale and it needs to be granular—not just what shoppers purchased, but what they viewed, on what device, on what day, during what season, how they arrived on that page and where they went next."

Criteo's "data" may help retailers answer the challenge of Retail Dive, "to know exactly when and where the shopping journey actually begins."

Yet for retailers online and offline the fundamental challenge is the same: How do you attract browser's attention? And how do you assure, after initial discovery, your product is viewed favorably?

To discover the answers to these questions, we view the browser's experience as a two-step decision-making process, and qualify how each step is influenced by different digital marketing techniques: SEO (search engine optimization) and ORM (online reputation management).

The modern shopper moves from the online experience to brick and mortar stores and back online seamlessly. The best way to influence this experience is to use both SEO and ORM.

Influence the Experience: SEO & ORM

The omnishopper's buying behavior can be viewed as a two-decision process.

1. The first decision governs the initial search: what product or service to buy.

2. The second decision governs the second search: what website or company to buy from.

To influence the first decision, a website must assure that its product is available on the results page--preferably in the first, second, or third spot. Of course, this is the goal of SEO: to make your website, or your content, more visible to browsers looking for your type of product or service.

With special reference to your industry/niche business, your core products and services, and your location, SEO's use keywords to rank your site on the first SERP (search engine results) page. If successful, your SEO campaign will yield a variety of top results for different keywords.

For example, if a browser searches for "raw denim jeans" (another popular Reddit community), he/she will confront a variety of informative websites as well as a few buying decisions. If your company sells raw denim jeans, SEO will help your product appear on the first page of the search results.

Read: SEO 101: Industry-Specific Keywords

Once a browser discovers your product, however, he/she will likely want more information--and possibly information from a third-party about your product.

How often have you discovered a product and then immediately Googled reviews for the product? For the example above, for raw denim jeans, the first product result is a company called DSTLD. In this scenario, a browser might Google "DSTLD jeans reviews."

To influence this second decision, which may lead ultimately to a conversion, a business must assure that its product reviews are uniformly positive. Of course, this is the goal of ORM: to monitor and improve (or repair, when needed) the reputation of businesses, products, and services online.

The Difference Between SEO & ORM

SEO governs the work on-site (although off-site optimization is also a viable SEO practice that mirrors certain functions of ORM).

ORM governs the work across the Internet, influencing both internal and external images of your brand.

ORM often uses SEO (as well as other digital marketing tools) as part of a comprehensive campaign to improve your online image.

Read: SEO 101: On-Site and Off-Site Optimization

To succeed online (and offline), you need both SEO and ORM. In the following weeks, we will explore SEO and ORM in depth with a special emphasis on driving conversions with ORM.

SEO That Improves your Online Reputation with Stepman's SEO 

Stepman's SEO understands how to effectively promote websites and manage your ORM. To learn more about how Stepman's SEO combines traditional marketing methods and organic SEO--with an emphasis on natural website optimization--to design thoughtful, inspiring, and effective ORM marketing campaigns, call: 215-900-9398.