In today’s world, digital media it’s a way of life. Virtually everyone has a smartphone, and most individuals have multiple smart devices, including tablets, phones and computers. This, coupled with the rise of Big Data, digital marketing tools, and social media, has given marketers the power to pinpoint specific audiences with advertising messages.
But while advertisers continue to pour money into digital media, consumers are so saturated that they’ve begun ignoring ads or actively avoiding them. So, to connect with consumers today, marketers need to re-think their strategy and focus on creating quality brand experiences, rather than on high-volume ad exposure. They need to put people first!
Can we have your attention?
People today are more distracted than ever, with multiple screens and devices being used at all-time high rates, often at the same time. Nowadays, consumers have an average attention span of just eight seconds.
The way forward is all about marketing in the moment, based on individual intent. While a complex combination of factors drives a person’s behavior at any given moment, it’s possible to predict behavior by using the variables we can identify, including which device and site they’re on, time of day and recent purchases. With the right technology, marketers can anticipate consumer behavior based on the available data and past behavior and automate the best responses.
By combining traditional ad tech, which uses third-party data to enable audience segmentation at scale, and marketing automation which focuses on rich profiling and one-to-one personalization, marketers can deliver dynamic brand experiences in the moment.
The power of personalization!
This offers a strategic way to cut through the noise, overcome consumer saturation and make meaningful connections that will help you both acquire new customers and retarget existing customers.
In a world where digital is so omnipresent that it’s become a way of life, consumers are so saturated with digital ads that they often ignore or actively avoid them. With mobile device use at an all-time high and consumer attention spans at an all-time low, marketers need to shift their focus in order to break through the digital noise and be heard. The volume of ad exposure can no longer guarantee acquisition of new customers or increased conversion rates.
Instead, it’s time to focus on quality. The rise of AI and new marketing tools offers smart marketers a new approach: combine personalization and predictive analytics to understand consumer intent in the moment. Delivering the right message, to the right person, at the right time will enable marketers to create quality brand experiences, increase customer lifetime value, and acquire new customers more efficiently. Putting people first is the way of the future.
Understanding intent
The missing link for many marketers is understanding customer intent. While some may fit the prospective buyer bill perfectly, targeting them at a time when they have no intention of buying is a waste of money. At the same time, tools that focus on demographic information alone can overlook consumers who don’t fit your profile but who are actually ready to buy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be used to analyze billions of clicks and differentiate between a browser and a buyer, even before the consumer makes their intentions known. AI-driven marketing tools can automate responses based on predicted intent, so if it looks like a consumer is likely to buy, marketers can present an offer to close the deal. If it looks like a shopper is going to abandon their cart, additional content or customized options can be delivered to prompt them to complete the purchase.
At the same time, AI-driven technologies can take traditional demographics to a whole new level, identifying highly specific individualized aesthetics based on billions of previous interactions. By tailoring colors, copy, images and other elements to give people creative they respond to, the brand experience becomes more meaningful and more effective.
Quality over quantity
Gone are the days of assuming that more ads = more customers. So what’s the new paradigm for acquisition? Smart marketers are abandoning the sales funnel concept and instead focusing on individual customer journeys, which can be complex but are also often predictable.
To guide customers down the path from casual interest to completing a purchase, marketers need to evolve to a journey-based approach that cuts across channels and focuses on creating quality experiences.