Digital marketing will only be more important in 2018. The fact that any business can now reach a wide range of people without spending millions of dollars on advertising (and marketing in general) means the market is a level playing field. Those who utilize the best digital marketing strategies will be the ones ahead of their competition.
2018 will be an even more interesting year for digital marketing. Customers are more sensitive to emotional messages and their personal journey towards making a purchase decision. This is something businesses can use to fine-tune their digital marketing campaigns for the future.
Information Seeking
Customers always start their journey by seeking more information about products and services or the companies behind them. There are two ways customers at this stage can go. The first group simply seeks information about the products and services online, which is why instruments such as search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing are important.
The second group seeks information about the businesses and where they need to go to visit them. Customers in this group would rather make offline purchases or visit a retail establishment, which is why you have to make sure they can find your location easily through Google Maps, Yelp, and other review sites.
Arousing Customer Engagement
The second important moment in the customers’ journey is when they come into contact with product and brand information, but they don’t know what to do yet. This is the time when your digital marketing strategy needs to focus on boosting customer engagement. The more you can arouse engagement from potential customers, the higher their chances of making a purchase.
There are different ways to encourage customers to engage. Responding to queries on social media or asking questions through social media platforms are great ways to start. You can also sharpen your content marketing strategy to drive more traffic to your site.
This part of the customer journey is so important that many businesses rely on experts and experienced digital marketers to achieve better results. You can, for example, focus on enabling customer engagement with 89 Degrees, a digital marketing agency with years of experience.
The Call to Action
The last part of the customer journey is when they actually make a purchase decision. Your digital marketing focus is helping them get to that point faster – and in a more effective way. Similar to the previous moments, there are specific strategies to utilize at this point.
Promotional offers such as a flash sale often add a sense of urgency that pushes the customers towards hitting the checkout button. Offering discounts and coupons can be just as effective.
The most important strategy to implement, however, is simplifying the checkout process as much as possible. Most checkout process takes 3 to 4 steps to complete; Amazon who is at the top of the online retail market does it in one step.
The sooner customers can reach this milestone in their journey, the more sales you will generate in return. Treating the moments we covered in this article correctly will result in customers having the best journey towards getting the products and services you offer.
