- Reading time: 3 mins
- Topics:
- Marketing Strategy
These days, consumers don’t go online; they are online, all the time. With continuous connectivity, the distinction between consumers’ online actions and their real, geographic behaviors is rapidly blurring. Marketers need to be aware of how “living in the moment” is changing audience expectations, and driving a bigger demand for convenient, personalized services.
Mobile networking puts users in a perpetual marketplace. They have instant access to a universe of digital information, and they’re able to make decisions with the touch of a button. As a result, they’re less tolerant of unsolicited or irrelevant messages. To score real returns from this dynamic arena, businesses need to focus less on promotion, and more on discovering – and providing – the information consumers value most on a personal level.
Personalized web experiences.
With instant, continuous access, consumers have come to expect online businesses to know who they are, regardless of the device they’re using or where they’re searching from. Most desktop websites already tailor experiences to individual users (for instance, Amazon’s “you might like this” recommendations or Google’s account recognition). The next step is to carry that personalization to mobile web experiences by looking harder at your visitors’ geography, access channels, and on-site behavior.
Personal conversation.
A study by Adobe and Edelmand found that 65% of US consumers considered retargeted ads (tracking ads that follow users across any other websites they visit) as an invasion of privacy. Since unstable browser cookies also make it hard to track consumer preferences across channels, marketers must turn to consumers directly to find out what messages they want to hear. “Listening” platforms like Crimson Hexagon, Meltwater Buzz, or ViralHeat can help determine who’s engaging on social media, blogs, and websites, what they’re saying, and where the dialogue is occurring. There’s also countless other software out there for influencing and managing that discussion. The best platform depends on the needs of each business – but the more personalized your online conversation, the more engaging it will be.
Big data – in person.
Location-based mobile data has opened up a world of consumer insights right at marketers’ fingertips. Coupons based on local search, for instance, don’t just drive sales: they also shed light on where customers redeem those coupons, how long it takes, and what they buy. To market more effectively through mobile devices, smart businesses should pay attention to how their mobile and non-mobile channels interact, and ways they can integrate data across those channels for a more comprehensive approach.
With consumers tapping into the internet through devices that fit into a pocket (or a wristband, a pair of glasses, or even fingernails), personalized marketing is the key to breaking through the digital noise. Marketers have to look past large-scale analytics and plunge deeper into what consumers are doing and saying across channels, honing in on the information they most value as individuals. By providing that value where and when consumers expect it, businesses can foster more productive engagement, and stronger customer relationships for the future.
