The pandemic has changed the way we look at and approach brands. However, even before that, the revolution to provide the customers with 24X7 services had started, and the digital platform served as a boon. Customers today want & expect personalized, tailored service from the brand of their choice if and when needed. This means brands need to be available for the customers simply with a few clicks.
In the year 2020, about 40 percent of customers in the U.S. stopped dealing with the brand due to a lack of good-quality customer service. However, this is an improvement when compared to the 54 percent statistics seen in the year 2017. This reduction has been possible due to always-on marketing techniques. [Source: Statista]
But, what are they? How do they impact your brand funnel positively?
Understanding Always-On Marketing
Traditional marketing didn’t allow brands to reach out or answer the queries of their customers. Moreover, the services were delayed and led to the loss of customers. However, the onset of a digital marketing experience has made it possible for brands to invest in continuous marketing.
Always-on marketing involves brand promotion efforts that continue 24/7/365. This allows companies to be available to their customers regardless of the time, date, or place. It helps with faster and better customer acquisition and retention.
These marketing strategies are an amalgamation of:
When your brand is unknown or has little online/offline presence, you depend vastly on paid media marketing strategies. This involves the use of print, display, search PPC, content marketing, SEO, influencer marketing, and whatnot. Now, one might assume that SEO is a free practice, but it definitely isn’t. There are several verticals that require you to invest in talent, tools, or even in terms of time.
Simply put, always-on marketing can be condensed into steps that include:
Throughout this cycle, if there is a lag at any step or if there is a delay, the customer might lose interest and stop the connection then and there. So, always-on marketing helps retain the customers and convert them into repeat ones.
Optimization Of Marketing Strategies
However, always-on marketing requires brands to evolve in terms of content and strategies. You simply cannot keep repeating the old techniques or content and expect the results to spike. The key is to experiment and optimize while understanding the audience. Only then can you achieve sustainable results with always-on marketing.
So, constant optimization is the driving force behind always-on marketing. Optimization can follow through different campaigns but is majorly practiced on digital media, content, outbound messaging, and digital experiences.
Here is a graph explaining the optimization done for always-on marketing techniques.
Source: https://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Screenshot-2020-08-24-at-15.23.27.png
Among these, the highly optimized portion is content. Sure, content is the king and the customers today respond better to fresh content as opposed to old content. Although digital experiences aren’t as optimized, it is just as important. Imagine a customer finding out about your brand through your social media page, they visit your website to get more information, and the website is all wonky.
If your company’s digital experience isn’t up-to-date as compared to your competitor, the customer is not going to stay at your website for long. So, it is important to focus just as much on digital experiences with an adaptive website design that caters to users from different platforms.
With such high statistics for users on a different platform, a brand with an adaptive website will serve better. Adaptive websites can serve customers on different platforms and serve the brand for the long term without the need for frequent change.
This, in turn, serves the brand funnel over time.
Test, Analyze, Adjust, & Repeat
In order to positively impact your brand funnel, it is important to follow a thorough protocol. Remember, just one strategy isn’t going to work for all brands. So, it is important to test, analyze, adjust, & repeat what works for you. This is applicable for anything ranging from brand positioning to social media posts. For businesses to be highly successful, it is important that you embrace the need for revision. Ultimately, you should aim for providing your customers with an experience that they can respond to.
How Does Always-On Marketing Help Your Brand?
From enhanced video content to interaction over social media channels, always-on marketing provides your customer value. This is something your audience can relate to. Make sure you have in place the best tools that will help you optimize and scale the always-on strategy. Whether it is the implementation of AI technologies or massive chunks of customer data, the key is to think smart when you have a plethora of information available at hand.
The biggest and best option available to initiate your always-on marketing strategy is through social media channels. Whether it is YouTube or Facebook, these channels often serve as the first point of contact between the brand and the potential customer. As per Statista, in the year 2020, an average of 145 minutes was spent on social media on a daily basis. Starting from here, the strategy can vary, but the end goal is to keep optimizing these strategies to keep the brand on top for the long term.
References:
https://www.hellosocial.com.au/blog/what-is-always-on-marketing-benefits
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/always-on-content-marketing-works/
https://www.westmonroe.com/perspectives/point-of-view/building-an-always-on-marketing-model
https://qualifio.com/blog/en/what-is-always-on-marketing-why-essential-digital-strategy/
https://leadfamly.com/learn/knowledge-base/customer-engagement/the-benefit-of-always-on-campaigns/
https://divvyhq.com/content-marketing/what-is-always-on-marketing/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/always-on-marketing/426483/