Advancement in technology has given consumers wide access to information and products and that also means that marketers get easy access to consumers via different channels. Although this can’t be looked at as a sign that marketers are in control. In fact, this wide access has made consumers more empowered than ever.
Some of the ways through which technology empowers consumers are by keeping them more informed, consumers are better connected with the world, consumers literally have their world at their fingertips, and consumers have more choices.
Consumers are not restricting themselves to only one channel. No one is spending too much time even on their computer anymore. Apps have offered consumers new opportunities to interact with brands. Point being that marketers have to constantly keep looking for new opportunities to stay within the radar of their consumers – existing or prospective both. Its become very important for marketers to be ready to move according to the movement of the consumers to be on their radar. That is why the marketing plan should be a holistic blend of various methods in an effort to engage with current and prospective customers.
So where does context marketing fit into this picture? Context marketing is about interactions that are pertinent to the consumer and are managed according to the customer’s conditions. Whenever a customer concludes an action and connects with a brand, diligent context marketers respond with the automatic content through an automated system which helps the customer make an informed decision on their buying journey. Marketers should place themselves in the shoes of a customer to get a better understanding of what to deliver to the customer and when.
The basis on which the customer defines its experience with any brand is a sum of all the interactions he had with that brand. And every interaction he/she has is different from the other. Analytics reports generated from these interactions will give only a singular piece of information. The benefits an organization can derive when it utilizes marketing technology that connects data silos and delivers contextual intelligence could be enormous.
The benefits could be such as:
• You can hone in on the right customer
• You can serve them useful content
• You’re in the right place at the right time
• You’re right on schedule
A robust contextual intelligence platform can help with a lot of aspects in this quest.
Here are some data points that make up contextual intelligence:
• Traditional demographics such as name, email address, industry, marital status, and geographic location.
• Stated and implied preferences collected from sources such as web pages visited, emails opened, content downloaded, and the more traditional surveys, questionnaires, and polls.
• Past behavioral trends and purchases.
• Searches made on your site.
• Device type, operating system, and even geographical location.
• Content consumed.
• Products purchased or placed in a shopping cart.
• Campaign interest.
• Current customer activity across touchpoints.
We are listing below some Do’s and Don’ts while investing in Context marketing technology:
• Do adopt a different mindset.
• Don’t invest in technology that adds another application or data silo.
• Do focus on measuring the quality of customer engagement.
• Do look for a content system that separates content management from its presentation.
• Do look for a platform that collects and connects all the data sources.
• Do look for a system that lets you push content out across multiple touchpoints.
• Don’t invest in technology that delivers separate, independent experiences on each device.
• Do know that context marketing is a process.
• Do know that your marketing organization and the roles and responsibilities will likely change.
Be prepared to give a delightful experience to your customers, whenever and wherever possible.
