This presentation is an exploratory to further progress conversation on marketing integration as it specifically pertains to Internet channels. This is a reaction to perceived mixed web expectations by both advertisers and vendors alike.
Quite often internet advertisers stare at numbers and pour over data, but forget to connect numbers to behavior and if the trends you’re seeing can be translated into a typical human response. Once we realize that there is more to data than meets the eye, we have to ask ourselves is there a way to harness this trend and refine it?
…Or anything else for that matter. When was the last time you were rushed out of bed to conduct a search? This may seem like a silly concept, but it’s important to digest this baseline when thinking about how we influence consumers.
There are likely thousands, if not millions, of things in this world that can influence people. Sometimes its as simple as someone looking in the mirror and saying I’m fat or a combination of being exposed to a series of ads across many different mediums over a period of time, an overbearing mother, and an old pair of suspenders that brings a person to a resolution. One thing is certain, until consumers have Intel chips imbedded deep in their brains, there will be no way to confidently know how people are influenced and to what degree.
Though we love the space that we are in, it’s understood that the Internet is not an isolated influencer. Meaning; that an entire product/brand education progression does not occur in a single web session. On average U.S. based surfers are spending just over 10 hours per month online and they have tons of other influencing variables between web sessions.
I’ve taken up a lot of digital real estate with influence mumbo-jumbo. But what’s the point? Influence doesn’t keep the lights on or pay employees. No, but influence leads to top of mind presence for brands and products, which manifests as transactions when influence reaches a critical mass. In other words, a consumer remembers you and only you at the time of end-game impulse.
So, let’s now take and apply what we know about influence and apply it to decision making, because this is where the money is made. This is a basic model that illustrates in a very simplified way how people, over a span of time, arrive at the decision to purchase, and some of the complications that may arise. Here’s an example: My mom says Wow, your shoes smell. I have just identified a problem that needs a solution. I wonder if there are any new styles out there that I like and for that I scour the net looking for something that catches my eye. I see a TV ad for Zappos and decide to shop them. Once I find a style, maybe I check my finances and decide ok, cool, I’ll have the funds by next pay period, so in the meantime, let me find a good deal. At this stage, I’m aggressively looking for that particular SKU or style by name, look for any promo codes, hitting up my friends for recommendations. Pay day arrives and I finish the purchase that has been sitting in my cart for a week. After I purchase, I wear the shoes to work, maybe my boss thinks they’re ok but the hot chick in accounting just rolls her eyes. This stage is where we, of course, risk getting buyers remorse and the importance of post-sale mindshare is magnified.
Now, lets take this process one step further and apply it to the tried and true AIDA funnel. Notice when we superimpose these two graphics you can see the emotional aspect of buying intersecting with the influence of advertising. Aligning this graphic with campaign goals you now have the opportunity to ‘plug-in’ marketing channels not only for push or pull effectiveness but consider behavior as a stage in the education process. Data review and analysis is the great revolution in marketing that has been born and raised on the internet, but it must be translated into human activity for its full scope to be realized.
Its critical to realize that because there are so many distractions, including things that happen between internet sessions that we HAVE to be top of mind at every single stage. If you are not actively reaching out and moving people into the subsequent stage of education, you run the risks of losing prospects to competitors or other priorities. And then you get this funny looking out of balance funnel where your collection engines (SEM) are constricted by a lack of prospects entering the Desire phase. We can share industry stories of clients/prospects saying “I’m spending as much as I can in PPC but have reached the ceiling/I’m ranking #1 for everything and need more” or “I have great site visitation from my traffic, but my conversion rate is super low” Both are imbalanced funnels. A well oiled machine will keep influenced people searching for you at many stages and consumers buying your product in a growing trend and telling their friends about you post purchase.
With this in mind, how should we address people at different stages of the funnel? The answer may not be the same for every marketing campaign, but above is an example of what a draft media strategy might look like using this approach. This could be speculative and later refined as a campaign matures but it gives you an integrated testing point.
If you have had the experience of being able to optimize a campaign based on behavior or have feedback on targeting consumers based on their education stage, please share a comment.
