Real-Time Marketing vs. Right-Time Marketing

Marketing blogs are abuzz with the idea of marketing in real-time, as in responding to prospects and customers at the precise moment they take an action: submitting a form on your brand’s website, commenting on a social media post, or responding to an email offer. Automation makes this easier, yet only 7% of marketers admit that they can deliver in real-time, all of the time.

Consumers clearly expect brands to be ever-more responsive. The rise of chatbots is meeting some of this demand. Answering product-related questions quickly and efficiently to keep customers engaged with your brand is a necessity.

But what about reaching new prospects at the right time, the moment they are considering a purchase and weighing their options? How do brands cut through the marketing noise to be seen as the solution to a consumer’s need?

Data. Not BIG Data. Smart Data. Smart data that provides insight into consumers’ interests, behaviors, and emotional drivers.

One form of this smart data is life-event info: data that delineates between basic demographic variables (e.g. 34-year-old college-educated female) and significant life changes that bring emotional responses that elicit striking buying behaviors (e.g. 34-year-old college-educated female who is expecting a baby).

2016 research from Networked Insights revealed 3 specific data points that assist marketers in developing a 360-degree view of their customers and prospects:

  • Consumer interests: The brands, media, websites, TV shows and apps consumers talk about most during each experience.
  • Consumer emotions: The positive and negative emotions expressed by consumers as they discuss relevant topics and experiences.
  • Emotional drivers: The situations and circumstances that drive the broad consumer emotions of excitement, anxiety, love, and hate.

Now add to our 34-year-old female example the behaviors of shopping on Etsy, time spent on Pinterest, and membership with Blue Apron and we have a much clearer view of the types of products and services she will be likely to purchase and the types of messages that will most likely sway her.

How does your brand utilize life-event data to reach new audiences? How does your messaging change for these different prospect audiences?

Contact us today to speak with a data expert who understands how to reach people experiencing all of life’s changes.

Written by Gabrielle Perham, MBA