Thursday, July 10, 2014

3 Online Consumers You’ll Encounter and How to Market to Them


3 Online Consumers You’ll Encounter and How to Market to Them
Typically, one of the hardest problems of any company is continuous brand engagement. While there is no cookie-cutter solution to reaching more people and converting them into customers, here are the three most common types of online consumers you’ll find and how you can shift your marketing strategy to fulfill their needs.
The trendsetter. They are usually the ones you go to for recommendations of the best restaurant in the city, the bar with the coolest scene, or the best mobile app for your buck. Reaching trendsetters is tricky, because they’re not so easily bought with shiny labels and discounted products. However, that doesn’t mean that you should give up on gaining their business, because when you market to them correctly, they can become your most loyal brand advocates. So how exactly do you gain their attention and – more importantly – their trust?
Use social media to live in their world. Social media is one of the most powerful tools that we have to gain valuable audience insights, like current obsessions, interests, habits, likes, and dislikes. Take advantage of trending topics by “newsjacking,” or using current news to market your brand. When you tap into the power of trending topics, you not only show that you are culturally savvy but you also gain the attention and trust of trendsetters. In fact, real-time marketing statistics show that businesses that newsjack have an 81 percent increased customer engagement and 59 percent increased conversion rates. Therefore, write a blog or a post that ties in the trending topic with your business.
The busy bee We have all either met one or been one. Always on the go, the busy bee relies on smart phones and tablets to stay connected to the world. It’s hard to catch their attention, because they’re hardly ever at home, so how can you get them to notice your brand? Optimize your Web content and advertising for mobile. According to recent mobile marketing statistics, 71 percent of smart phone owners have used their device to research branded products or services.
Creating a mobile optimized marketing campaign that leads to valuable consumer engagement requires cross-channel marketing, which tracks a single user across multiple devices. If your consumers research your brand on your mobile site but don’t purchase anything until they’re on a desktop, you need to know. Therefore, to reach the busy bee, analyze your audience’s behavior across multiple platforms and strategize your content accordingly. Remember that when people are looking on mobile devices, they want to find the information they are looking for as quickly as possible, so don’t make them go on a wild goose chase to find what they need.
The skeptic
The skeptic: the most difficult to persuade. This type of consumer scrolls past all of your social media ads and remains completely disinterested in what you have to offer. You try to tempt them with deals, but they’re either one-time customers or don’t bother visiting your brand at all. What can you do to entice them to your brand?

Write engaging content. Writing well-written content for your target audience requires deep analysis and research on their personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyle before you can craft any piece of content for your company. When your site and ad content are written with your audience in mind, 90 percent of consumers will find this custom content useful. Therefore, your site content should be easily understandable to your target audience. Have a blog on your site and regularly publish articles that answer a question or solve a problem for your readers. When you provide value to your audience, they will value your brand in return and will sway even the most cynical of skeptics to your side.

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