Fast-food giants, fashion titans and household brands are all looking to digital engagement for success. It doesn’t work to bombard consumers with paid advertising and overstated claims about how you're the best in the business anymore. You need to innovate.
Marketing has evolved into a softer, more persuasive means of attracting consumers’ attention. Utilising the opportunities digital engagements presents should be a core part of your business strategy. Here’s why.
- Consumers Have Become Disengaged From Direct Advertising
- The Demand for Valuable and Relevant Information
- Digital Alignment Increases Customer Loyalty
- Utilise Chatbots to Conquer the Digital Space
- Hyper-Personalisation Is a Necessity
- The Funnel Is Dead
Consumers Have Become Disengaged From Direct Advertising
The ongoing digital revolution means companies need to constantly optimise their digital engagement strategy to stay ahead of the game.
Since customers' expectations for new and compelling experiences continually evolve, the marketer’s role is to keep up with the pros.
Most millennials just don’t respond to direct advertising anymore. Although Forbes wrote in their article that millennials “consume and share content like crazy - but it has to be good - innovative and cutting edge” a couple of years ago, it’s still relevant to this day.
The huge rise in video as a digital engagement tool is no secret – creating engaging visuals is paramount for digital success. Soon we’ll see video creation become far more personalised, alongside the growth of 360 video and, of course, VR and AR.
The Demand for Valuable and Relevant Information
Brands have recognised that some sort of value exchange needs to take place. Rather than simply directing consumers towards a purchase, they need to provide insight, inspiration and advice. Something that customers can take away.
A great way to increase digital engagement through marketing is by regularly writing targeted, well-researched and relevant blogs. You’ll give your existing customers a reason to keep coming back and it’s an opportunity for you to market to prospects too.
A whopping 72% of consumers prefer that businesses use email to communicate with them. This gives people a sense of control that makes them more comfortable signing up for your emails and buying from you. If they don’t like what you send them, they can unsubscribe.
But when you send them highly-relevant content, they stay on your list and continue to buy again and again. You can see where the importance of digital marketing lies in a repeat customer.
Digital Alignment Increases Customer Loyalty
Your digital engagement strategies should always align with your brand vision. This helps in creating an impactful brand narrative that ultimately leads to increased customer loyalty and retention.
Strong relationships are at the heart of customer engagement, retention and loyalty.
With an ever-growing number of engagement platforms available, it’s easy to get lost in the labyrinth of our digital landscape. It’s increasingly important to examine all customer touchpoints and ensure your message is relevant, in the right place and at the right time.
Utilise Chatbots to Conquer the Digital Space
Many businesses have a problem with keeping their customers engaged because they don’t respond to messages and comments on their social media accounts.
If you find a lot of potential customers have questions or unanswered concerns, it might be worth hopping onboard the chatbot hype.
Chatbots are a member of your team that never sleeps. Fantastic, right? Here are some more stats if you’re not convinced:
- With a colossal projected worldwide market size of more than $1.3 billion by 2024, it’s predicted chatbots will be the driving force for business communications.
- Platforms equipped with chatbot functions can boost brand awareness, lead generation, engagement and customer support.
- The use of virtual assistants can lead to a 99% improvement in response times.
Chatbots are the technological bridges between businesses and consumers. This can help you provide faster, improved online experiences to your customers.
Hyper-Personalisation Is a Necessity
There are basic programs that will allow you to add a person’s name or certain information automatically to an email. But we’re talking about a much more advanced approach that’s proven its ability to get results.
We encourage you to go beyond just the first name. For personalisation to be truly ‘hyper’, it requires technology and data to come together and adapt the customer experience specifically for each customer. It needs to meet them right at the point where they’re engaging, buying and experiencing your service.
Given how quickly consumers have embraced personalisation by services such as Netflix, we know the demand exists.
Duolingo is an amazing example of effective and personalised onboarding. The brand does an excellent job of removing the friction of learning a new language by directing new users through tailored onboarding funnels depending on experience. Ultimately, this makes the app a great fit for a wide range of users.
Speaking of funnels, did you get an invite to the funeral?
The Funnel Is Dead
We don’t mean to be morbid but what you might not know is the ‘death’ of the marketing funnel is good news for marketers. At least for those of us who can adapt to a new way of looking at the funnel.
Here’s a simplified version of how you’re probably used to seeing it.
- Awareness – the customer becomes aware of your product or service.
- Interest – the customer actively expresses an interest in your product or service.
- Desire – the customer aspires to have the product or service.
- Conversion – the customer purchases the product or service.
However, now leads can enter the new marketing funnel at any stage. They no longer walk through a series of linear steps as the buyer’s journey is now a choose-your-own-adventure.
Someone in the awareness stage might be a couple of clicks away from that all-important purchasing stage or they could engage in a public way like through social media. While that might make it sound like key stages of the buyer’s journey are now out of marketers’ hands, it’s the opposite.
You no longer have to obsess over acquisition and can instead focus on a dynamic approach that can engage customers at all stages. Converting followers into customers and keeping your existing customers engaged is an ongoing process.
The only way you can truly remain competitive and ensure your customers remain loyal to your brand is to deliver the very best service you can. Keep a close eye on your competition and research into the latest customer service and marketing trends. In the digital landscape, you have to be proactive if you want longevity.
At its core, digital engagement is about creating as many channels and touchpoints as you can. The rewards for investing time and energy in improving engagement are real. Highly-engaged customers are more likely to pay more, promote more and support your brand. So why not give them a campaign worth pioneering?
Use Our Campaign Budget Calculator to Increase Engagement for Your Brand
All marketers want results. Budgeting to get the most bang for your buck can be a little tricky, especially when we’re wizards at marketing rather than finances. You can use our handy little budget calculator so you can justify concrete ROIs and solidify your future branding budgets.
It’s easy to use and gives you clear figures to take away. Click the link below to get access.
