Touch has Taken Over. How Your Customers are Using the Internet to Find You
The way people are using the Internet to find things they need and want to buy, has changed pretty drastically. Gone are the days when we exclusively sat at our desktop computer and Googled what we were looking for. Today, ‘touch’ has well and truly taken over. Every other person has a mobile phone which accompanies them everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE (do you realise how many people use their phones while they are in the toilet? Between 38% and 75%, in case you were wondering) . People carry their devices with them, and refer to them sporadically all day long (and not just the kids!).
So what does that mean for you?
By understanding how people are using their devices and the internet, you can develop your messaging and strategy accordingly. This is what it looks like in 2019*:
33% of people who show an interest in an ad on a mobile device, eventually convert on a desktop
67% of adults start browsing and shopping on one device, and continue on another
60% of adults have two devices &;
25% of those, have three
the average person is exposed to 194 media channels, from which they consume - so their exposure is extremely fragmented
Facebook and Instagram account for more time spent on mobile than the next ten platforms combined
Knowing that this is how people behave, you have to find the most effective way to quickly and clearly communicate what you have to offer.
Because of the way people use their devices and the Internet, you are going to need multiple ‘touch points’ before you get a conversion.
The days of running a single campaign are long gone. Your sales funnel needs to be a collection of your marketing assets working hand in hand with each other to get the end result you are after. You want leads, conversions and sales, and your customers want a solution or relief from a problem they have.
In order to match the three phases of business:
Awareness - before people know about you
Relationship - trust building and conversion
Loyalty - repeat sales and referrals
Your advertising also needs to happen in three phases:
Acquisition
Re targeting
Loyalty
Remember, because of the way people are using the internet and their multiple devices, they are not spending large chunks of dedicated time, they are spending it in segments. Re targeting and loyalty is where the bulk of online conversions happen (the 2nd or 3rd touchpoint). When you create a tight sales funnel, you will find that 60% - 80% of your revenue will come from beyond the first touchpoint.
So what is the best marketing asset to have sitting at the top of your funnel? What will most effectively make people aware of you and get them to engage with you?
An article.
New advertising needs to be contextual. Think of it a bit like flicking through your favourite magazine. People are not necessarily actively looking for a specific product when they pick up their favourite magazine, but the publishers know a LOT about their target market, and the target market is what attracts advertisers. If you drop an article about how to grow organic vegetables in Vogue magazine, you are really wasting your money. However, if your article is about how to combine classic pieces of clothing with new season styles, you are likely to experience interest and a high degree of engagement from the reader. It’s all about the context, and whether you are sharing information that is interesting and useful to the reader (that’s the other part of the equation. Your information has to be useful and interesting to your target).
If you can write an article that solves a specific problem for your target market, and place it somewhere they are most likely to see it, you have a much better chance of getting their attention than if you “pitch them an offer”.
From there, you build out your funnel to re target them, and capture their contact details so you can continue the conversation via email. It is actually a very respectful way of doing business with people who are not aware of you yet.
*Figures are from the US - in Australia, we follow closely behind