How Digital Marketing Impacting Customer Engagement

How is digital marketing impacting customer engagement Customers are more tech-savvy than ever before, and marketers have a huge arsenal of tools available for lead generation. However, consumers’ demands are growing more sophisticated. They want personalized marketing content and to be able to interact with a brand through whichever channel they choose. Using data to refine your marketing efforts improves your ability to maintain engagement with current and potential clients. Data-driven marketing created a number of new opportunities, according to Forbes and Turn’s “Data Driven and Digitally Savvy: The Rise of the New Marketing Organization” report.

It’s hard to create meaningful customer engagement without the personalization capabilities of data. Leaders in data-driven marketing are more likely to report they have a competitive advantage and experience an increase in revenue. Although some companies have been implementing customer data points into their marketing efforts for some time, it’s becoming more important than ever before to maintain relevance and ensure individuals are getting valuable content.

Truly personalized communications don’t always come easily
There are a number of data points marketers can use to create more relevant email marketing campaigns and content. Because of social media, companies have more access to consumers’ preferences and purchasing habits. People are exposed to a larger number of ads than just a few years ago. However, some organizations run into problems with their data-driven campaigns because they implement this approach in a haphazard fashion. Marketers may target based on the wrong information, and the result is usually an irrelevant, or worse, offensive campaign.

While data-driven marketing can create new levels of engagement, many companies are dealing with internal siloes. There is very little cross-department collaboration, even though marketing, sales and customer support often need to utilize the same consumer data to provide consistency across different interactions.

Data Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is more important.

“Effective data-driven marketing draws on resources from across the enterprise, not a single department,” said Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer and head of the CMO Practice for Forbes Media. “And without data, marketing is not based on customer intelligence.”

Marketers need to prioritize customer experience
Although they used to be seen as two separate functions, marketing and customer experience are starting to converge. In the past, data-driven campaigns were a competitive advantage, but they are becoming a necessity. As more companies implement data-based engagement campaigns, customers are coming to expect this offering from every business they interact with. Marketers need to recognize there are intersections between every channel they offer, from the in-store experience to email to social media to the website, The Guardian reported.

It costs more to attract a new customer than retain an existing one, and marketers are finally starting to emphasize long-term customer satisfaction. Citing data from Bluewolf, The Guardian said 64 percent of marketing teams now place more value on current clients than acquiring new ones. These businesses are using analytics to turn captured data into meaningful insights that allow them to build the relationship with their audience.

How will data-driven marketing influence changes in the industry?
Not only do marketers need to do more to encourage engagement, but they also need to focus on the mobile experience. Eighty-five percent of people said their smartphones are an important part of life, and the average individual spends 3.3 hours per day interacting with one of these devices, according to Salesforce data cited by The Guardian. While it’s clear that users love their devices, smartphones are great for companies as well. Seventy-three percent of mobile searches lead consumers to take immediate action. Marketers need to focus on creating a seamless customer experience to accommodate this trend, and mobile should be the first piece in this strategy.

In addition, a seamless customer experience will eliminate differences between business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing. It no longer matters whether an individual or large corporate entity is the target. Marketing needs to focus on delivering a personalized experience. In fact, many retailers and travel companies excel at delivering unique experiences, the Forbes report pointed out. B2B marketing teams may need to shift their mindsets to target individual buyers. Sophisticated data analytics are key for eliminating the barrier between different industries. Customer preferences should drive marketing strategies forward.

At Prestige Marketing, we can kick start digital marketing for your business as well as provide analysis of key metrics that are critical to measuring success. Contact us by email or call 855.577.1139 (toll free) to learn more.