The core objectives of many digital marketing campaigns often relate to a business’s brand. This can either be to create a new brand from scratch or to boost a brand that has been in the doldrums. The success of digital marketing campaigns which focus on branding will be heavily influenced by their ability to meet the expectations of online consumers who are exposed to that campaign.
The way individuals use the internet, and their expectations of it, have changed greatly as the internet has evolved. From just sending emails, we have moved through the period where video became popular (and remains so) and now we are at a stage where the internet can influence, impact, and assist in just about every aspect of our lives.
That fact means that today’s online consumers expect a lot more from those businesses they interact with online. This leads us to the inescapable fact that any business which is pursuing an online promotion and using digital marketing to boost its brand must provide its online audience with what its behaviours are telling us what they want.
To simplify this we have identified three distinct expectations that internet consumers demand which can also heavily influence how well a business can market its brand online to them.
Consistency
If dealing with a customer face-to-face, we assume that you would be respectful, courteous, and crucially, making their decision to purchase what you have to offer as easy as possible. The reason for this is simple…that is what customers expect you to do. So, if that is the case offline, it follows that it should be likewise online.
This is why you must make your online marketing funnel as seamless as possible, whether your customer is interacting with your brand on a PC or a mobile device. Online consumers do not want surprises, to have to jump through hoops, nor do they want each purchase to follow a different process each time.
Engagement
Given the advances in technology concerning internet speeds and devices, today’s consumers expect a lot more when they go online than just a page of text as was the case 20 years ago. Now, they want to interact, be heard and be spoken to. This means businesses have to do far more to engage with their audiences for their brand to be recognised.
An obvious example of how to engage your audience includes media such as videos, but even that can be enhanced. How about a live Zoom call to hear the views of your customers? Live chat is also far preferable where a customer can get real-time solutions to their problems or queries, rather than via contact forms that may take more than 24 hours for a reply to be received.
Personalisation
Today, it is no longer enough for brands to provide an awesome experience for their audience. In addition, it needs to try to make that experience as unique and as applicable to each individual as it can. This is where personalisation comes into play and there are many ways this can be achieved.
The simplest of all is asking for a name as well as an email address in opt-in boxes. Taking this further you can have quizzes or a series of questions that allow an individual to indicate their personal likes and wants so that the solution offered is tailor-made for them. This can also be used to generate content that is personised too, which is certain to resonate more than generic content.