How AI enables you to target the right consumer at the right time
The proliferation of web-enabled devices we experience today enables us to be online all the time via multiple touch-points. Users no longer use a single device to complete a task, but shift from one screen to another throughout the process. Forbes found that 87% of millennials use between two to three tech devices at least once on a daily basis. This constant interaction with online devices means there are more and more ‘I want-to-do’ or ‘I need-to-fix, watch, and see’ decision making moments during which a user is susceptible to advertisements that sway the decision making path. This constitutes a colossal opportunity for brands who understand just how important it is for their ads to be there for the right person, at the right time, every time.
Use growth marketing techniques to find the right places for ads
There are three billion smartphone users around the world. Each of these users experience dozens of moments on a daily basis that cause them to turn to their phone for assistance. The data collected from these inquiries tell us not only what device a user is using, but also at which time of the day and what it is that they wanted or needed at that moment. Marketers with access to this information are able to connect with consumers in far more powerful ways than ever before. 75% of consumers in the UK have taken action after seeing messages from a brand that is relevant to them.
So what does it take to be that brand that does its target advertising well?
Experiment with growth marketing. Growth marketing refers to the process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels to identify the most effective and efficient ways to channel messages to customers. Through using metric-driven data to establish opportunities, marketers are able to test, test, test, and test some more. Below are a few places where having an ad can provide tremendous value.
Connect with users through Online videos
Youtube enjoys a 60% year-on-year increase in watch time which shows how viewers are becoming increasingly engaged. Finding ways to tap into the youtube communities can drive awareness about your brand and service. Google found that 23% of consumers discover new products or brands while watching videos online.
In 2012 the Dollar Shave Club created a short video ad that became viral being viewed over 22 million times. Packed with humour, the video promised a unique customer experience and became a piece of branding that users could share with friends. Today we see a number of brands approach vloggers with large numbers of followers to sign deals for product exposure. Since launch, Top 100 Global Brands have published a total of 258,000 videos across 1,378 YouTube channels attracting over 9.5 billion views.
Be there when they need to find something
Only 6% of consumers looking things up on a smartphone have an idea of the exact brand or product they want to go with when they start their search queries. This means that being there at the right moment can guide their brand discovery and shape their preferences early in the journey. Be there on their searching journey with search ads, online video ads or display ads.
In 2015 Premiere Inn was able to reach out to potential travelers looking for a place to stay by leveraging the search signals of their queries. They used data about the length of stay, device the user was searching from, and what country they were visiting in order to have their ads pop up at the right time. By connecting to users with the right message at the right time they increased their bookings by 40%.
Be there when they want to buy something
Constant connectivity has provided consumers with an infinite amount of choices at their fingertips. 66% of UK smartphone users have thought about purchasing from a brand they would not normally consider because of relevant information available on their device at the time of search. This phenomenon translates over to in-store-purchases as well. When faced with a difficult decision customers search for advice online, and 83% of US smartphone users use their device in a store helped them choose what to buy.
Right Time Marketing
Right time marketing looks for the right time to engage, and decides which channels to engage on. It boosts customer acquisition, retention, and ensures seamless customer experiences. Today’s mobile application and services use the concepts of the 4 R’s to personalize and time their ads: Right Person, Right Channel, Right Moment and Right Answer.
1) Right Person
Brands are able to identify the right person based on a combination of internal customer and prospect data as well as in-market purchase signals. They can also use the help of third party demographic and firmographic (descriptive attributes of firms that can be used to aggregate individual firms into meaningful market segments) data.
2) Right Channel
Once the right person is identified, marketers should use a growth hacking approach to finding the right channel. Since consumers go from device to device and use an average of eight channels or more for researching and purchasing, multi-channel targeting is a must.
3) Right Moment
Consumers today are constantly bombarded with marketing messages and advertisements. If you looked up from your device now you would likely see at least 3 or 4 logos of brands staring back at you. Most consumers are able to pass these by without consciously thinking of them. Cutting through the clutter requires that you serve your messages and advertisements when the consumer needs you.
4) Right Answer
Customer expectations are increasing as they are presented with an infinite number of options. Brands need to integrate the data gathered across multiple channels to understand a consumer’s behaviours to ensure they are providing them with the most accurate answer they can.
By integrating these 4 R’s into your sales process brands are able to target the right person through the right channel and at the right moment. Each positive interaction with customers serves to reduce churn, boost revenues and strengthen customer loyalty.
Employ a digital advertising platform
If you or your marketing team don’t have access to all this data, or know how to use it wisely, consider employing a team that does. Some companies have dedicated data teams that track and collect every interaction between a customer and their business in order to inform their decisions. When this is done extremely well this information can be used in near real time to influence marketing campaigns.
Pretio Interactive combines machine-learning and real-time consumer interaction to serve personalized ads that help marketers excel at customer acquisition through highly-engaging mobile, display and video formats. Pretio’s automated performance DSP, Apollo, analyzes dozens of key demographic and behavioral attributes to accelerate media-buying decisions, maximize ROI and provide complete transparency to advertisers.
A data-driven, customer acquisition platform for B2B. Metadata amplifies your content marketing campaigns to your target audience via omni-channel marketing. Metadata provides B2B marketers with simple prospect database enrichment using over 150+ data signals to give businesses greater insights into their current prospects, and easy to implement micro-targeting strategies for prospective new customers.
SaaSquatch is a leading Growth Automation Platform. With SaaSquatch, marketers gain the power to rapidly create omni-channel incentive campaigns to provably increase customer lifetime value. With SaaSquatch campaigns marketers can improve every stage of the customer lifecycle from acquisition, to revenue optimization, to referrals and reviews to retention.
SAS helps organizations anticipate business opportunities, empower action and drive impact. They do this through advanced analytics that turn data about customers, performance, financials and more into meaningful information. The result? Fact-based decisions for undeniable bottom line impact – this is how they transform the way their customers do business.
Whatever you choose, don’t sleep on your metrics
Collecting and utilizing data is the backbone to driving user engagement and customer acquisition. A survey by VB insight looked at tools used by over 3000 marketers on 3 million websites and found that the average ROI can be 224% when the right data informs marketing strategies. Right Time marketing calls for an optimal mix of this data to ensure marketing investments are producing the highest ROI and that your brand is there for the right users, at the right time, and on the right channel. All the time.