“How can it be September already?” The question on everyone’s mind… The year 2020 will go down in history (obviously), but it also feels like the quickest year I’ve ever had. 7 months ago, there was talks, and by talks we’re talking memes, about World War 3, and now it’s the world against the invisible. The point I’m leading to is my belief that time moves too fast because we’ve let it; we’re constantly changing, as people, as a race, as companies, businesses, markets etc. and If you don’t keep up you fall behind…
Speaking as a future marketer (hopefully), these final few months of the year are crucial for retailers- despite the circumstances we find ourselves in, the golden quarter is approaching, and business are getting ready to yield their way through. Up against a recession and fears of a second spike in cases (as we are starting to see), the restrictions given out are having a massive impact.
With this information armed it seems that The Drum believe that’s new in-store experiences and high-profile sales events could be the way forward to get the attention and sales they’re looking for. As companies look at how operations are working for them, they can make assumptions about their own customers and the decisions they’re making on what to buy, when to buy etc. This can lead to creating new campaigns targeting this and finding out whether the original market has changed from what is known as the usual.
The problem with this? Are we shopping normally? Is this really the new normal for us all?
During Lockdown, everyone changed, people started exercising, a lot more online shopping happened, people saved and spend their money in a completely different way… has this leaked into normalcy? I’ve found that I’m shopping different to how I used to- in general, my customer profile has been shifted in just a couple of months.
While businesses are probably expecting this, it doesn’t help them, and by ‘working from home’ they can’t access the wide range of tools they have to keep on top of the changing waters. But this doesn’t mean that brands are ‘helpless’ or stuck in the dark. It’s just a shift, most customer attributes remain, we are still the same people after all…
For brands, they must adapt their systems, their campaigns and tactics to the ‘new normal’; they can start by embracing new models and modernise themselves while they still can.
One thing that has definitely changed is the customer journey. The best example of this is within the sports industry, games are now played behind doors, and so the customer journey is heading from one room to a room with a TV to watch the game, rather than to the stadium (Unless your that England fan who travelled to Iceland, Quarantined for days, and then watched the game from outside- a true commitment.) What I am trying to say is that companies are now moving to creating online experiences for fans who just aren’t satisfied with the fake crowd noise. One-way brans can offer marketing in this environment is social commerce.
First off, Social Commerce is making a purchase off of a third-party company within social media. To put it simply, it's browsing through Facebook and purchasing a product straight through and from Facebook; it’s not Facebooks product but that’s the medium in which you’ve bought the product or service.
For companies now, they are wanting to bring their products to you, so social commerce seems like a good place to start, by jumping onto social media sites and getting their products out there, customers are buying products and having them delivered. Social Media sites now are tailoring their sites to accommodate this and keep updating their shopping options as the months pass.
Snapchat in particular has started to introduce a frictionless experience within multimedia social networks. It makes it easier for retailers and brands to sell products relevant to those on Snapchats platform. Dynamic Product Ads (or DPAs) will allow business to upload essentially their catalogue of products to Snapchat before automatically set into a temple and shown to users. If any changes to price or availability are needed, the ads automatically update themselves in real time so their less admin is needed (and we can all use a little less admin.) This new technology could lead to the collapse of the length of the (sales) funnel between Awareness and Purchase is something that is starting to seem obvious.
However, creating more personalised ads and customised marketing experiences has become an expectation for customers- it feels more relevant and genuine. We now expect brands to speak to us in a human way- like talking to your next-door neighbour Nike equipped with a quiff. People want authenticity, especially now we are less likely to trust brands.
One way I’ve found brands (mostly American) seem more ‘authentic’ or at least ‘real’ online is memes. We see every now and again a brand trending for a quirky jab or ‘meme’ they’ve posted- a real human way of connecting with an audience. This is just a simple way brands are genuinely connecting with their audience, and people online seem to lap it up.
For brands now, they have the opportunity to close the gaps between planning and measuring campaigns by bringing them together- we’re more aware of how the world works and how customers (or the population in general) is going to react to a campaign or tweet. Brands can jump on this too- assess what is happening in real time, make changes in real time if somethings not working, processes and respond to feedback, in real time, make quick adjustments before people realise something has gone wrong…
The world is constantly changing, so why can’t campaigns? Why can’t brands? The upcoming golden quarter will bring out the most innovative brands and stick them on centre stage and watch them make big strides into the new year; leaving behind a disastrous 2020 and any other brands too scared to make big moves (I was only slightly tempted to quote Cardi B and her “money moves”.)
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