Uniform blog/The role of content management in omnichannel experiences
The role of content management in omnichannel experiences
The role of content management in omnichannel experiences
Decades after their invention, content management systems (CMSs) remain the backbone of websites. However, with customer expectations at an all-time high—nearly 90 percent say a unified experience trumps a brand’s product or services—an effective omnichannel strategy now stands as the key differentiator for winning customer sales and loyalty.
So, what is omnichannel experience management, and how does content management contribute? The answer lies in the traditional role of CMSs (hint: it’s not managing experiences) and their unique ability to support content creation and workflows via a visual workspace.
Let’s look at content management and omnichannel experience management, how they differ, and why, with the right visual tools, they can work together to deliver fast, holistic experiences.
How content management differs from omnichannel experience management
Since enterprise CMSs ushered in a new era of content creation and delivery, they’ve played a prolific role in the content production lifecycle. By embedding content management processes into their organizations, businesses are empowered to deliver real-time web experiences through blogs, landing pages, and multichannel campaigns.
Omnichannel experience management goes beyond content management, supporting various systems—commerce, personalization, product information management (PIM), digital asset management (DAM), etc.—that, in addition to the CMS, help brands communicate seamlessly with customers across all touchpoints.
Though CMSs were designed to manage digital content, they’re less than ideal for experiences that traverse the web, mobile apps, brick-and-mortar stores, and elsewhere.
Why experience-first beats content-first in omnichannel experience management
For years, technology has guided the decision-making of companies looking to produce engaging experiences. Yet, as multichannel has given way to omnichannel, the content-first approach has proven outdated and insufficient in a marketplace that calls for speed and agility.
The problem with a content-led experience
CMSs offer obvious benefits, including built-in feature suites and content authoring tools that marketers appreciate. On the other hand, content management software, such as digital experience platforms, tends to be costly and problematic for cross-channel delivery.
And while headless CMSs allow developers to tinker with the latest and greatest front-end frameworks, these developer-preferred platforms add complexity for marketers and slow digital production workflows.
The shift from content-first to experience-first, in effect, prioritizes the preferences of your shoppers, site visitors, and mobile users. For your omnichannel strategy to take flight, empathy toward customers must be the guiding force that steers your brand’s content, design, and channel decisions.
Content will always hold court as king (and queen) in omnichannel. However, your CMS shouldn’t be the sole application that anchors the experience creation and delivery process.
Centralizing your omnichannel experience simplifies content management processes
Executing a unified experience requires unified access to the content and data driving your campaigns. Brands commonly fall into the trap of leading an omnichannel strategy using a content management-based approach, creating siloed systems and data scattered across the organization. Marketers send website support requests to developers, which causes further friction in the experience-building workflow.
The visual workspace embodies an experience-first approach to creating and maintaining fast, immersive experiences. Marketers are empowered to build omnichannel campaigns quickly and independently instead of hunting for files or involving the development team. In the visual workspace:
- Digital teams visually craft experiences via one drag-and-drop interface that connects to multiple systems, allowing you to integrate all of your CMSs, DAMs, PIMs, generative AI, and any other technologies that power your campaigns.
- Marketers have full control over the end-to-end experience, from the look and feel of personalized promos to testing and delivery.
- Content is channel-agnostic, brand-aligned, and reusable across web and devices.
Essentially, your visual workspace unites technologies, content, and data so that your CMS can do what it was designed to do: store, edit, and publish content to be displayed anywhere, anytime. This gives marketers without advanced technical expertise more autonomy in the experience creation process and frees developers to focus on innovation.
Harmonize your content systems in the Uniform Visual Workspace
CMSs can add a wide range of marketing capabilities to your technology stack, but they were never intended to manage end-to-end experiences. To ensure your content management processes support your omnichannel strategy, your CMS should work alongside all other tools inside a front-end experience solution, such as the Uniform Visual Workspace.
Empower digital teams to create experiences that unify touchpoints and see a faster time to market. Schedule a demo to learn how.
