A lot is happening in the world of video marketing, and an infographic by explainer video company Breadnbeyondcaptures much of what's been going on in the recent past and what marketers can expect this year.
For instance, livestreaming—which we posted about just recently—will become even bigger in 2018: 82% of consumers prefer live videos over other types of social posts, the infographic claims.
It also points out that short-lived content, such as videos on Snapchat and Instagram, may have a narrower reach, but that type of content comes with greater urgency—and so it can still show strong results.
When you are creating videos, consider using a square format for Facebook, which has more reach and more engagement, the graphic reports. And remember to letterbox and caption so viewers can read the content instead of hearing it, if they so choose.
The graphic goes on to give tips for marketing videos across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and even LinkedIn, as well as for ensuring your videos render well on mobile, and many more tips.
To see the overview of what's happening in video, check it out:
If you've read any 2018 SEO-trend articles, you know that voice search is the wave of the future. Though it may not completely eradicate screen-based searches, it will change the way users interact with content and the way search engines crawl, index, and retrieve website information.
When a user interacts with his or her voice assistant, the device reads back a single, definitive answer to the query. The equivalent for a screen-based search is the featured snippet—the answer box at the top of the search engine results page (SERP)—which shows up for about 30% of searches, according to a 2017 study. And to be the single result for a voice search, your content has to be the featured snippet result.
Note: If you work in marketing, I highly recommend tuning into our Pro Webinar series, where we often go over tips, tools, and examples of how to use data to inform your marketing strategy.
What Is a Featured Snippet?
Also referred to as an "answer box," a featured snippet is the box at the top of a SERP with an answer to the searcher's question. That answer is pulled from the organic listings of Google's first-page results, extracting the summary from the site's content. Google cites the source by linking to that site and displaying the title of the page from which the information was pulled:
Gaining and retaining a query's featured snippet builds credibility. It not only increases visibility and exposure but also inspires a sense of authority and trust as Google's chosen source of information.
There are three types of featured snippets:
Paragraphs. This type of featured snippet most often appears in question-based queries and it is the most common of snippets. To ensure that this type of snippet doesn't diminish your clickthrough rate (CTR), answer the question within the first paragraph of the page and include information that entices the user to click through to learn more.
Lists. List snippets often feature results such as how-to content, recipes, ranked lists (e.g., top schools in an area), or unordered lists (e.g., things to do in a specific destination). The plus side to this type of snippet is that users must click through to see all of the information.
Tables. Table snippets are more popular than you might think. They often appear in search results for lists, pricing, rates, and data. With tables, Google gives itself the freedom to format the table by pulling only the specific information the user is searching for. To rank for this featured snippet, bigger is better: By having more than four rows to your table, you'll increase the likelihood of clickthroughs. Table data is harder to extract for voice search, however.
Optimizing for Voice Search and Featured Snippets
According to Google estimates, by 2020 fully half of searches will be voice-based. The widespread acceptance of Amazon Echo, Google Home, and the like has increased massively over the past two years as homes become more automated and voice search becomes more fine-tuned. In fact, it's estimated that smart speakers will be in 55% of US households by 2022.
The rise of voice search means that marketers need to place a high priority on long-tail keywords and focus on natural, spoken language and a conversational approach.
Although Moz's Dr. Pete recommends that SEOs and content marketers not focus on voice search alone or throw in the towel on their other efforts, he also explains that focusing on writing content for the kind of questions users ask in your industry can benefit both voice- and screen-based searches.
Focus on Long-Tail Searches and Q&A
Many featured snippets come from question-based searches, and most voice searches are being phrased in the form of a question. For your new content to rank well enough for a featured snippet, focusing on writing content for long-tail keywords can bring the best results.
Often, long-tail keywords bring in less traffic, so marketers shy away from them. However, the traffic they do generate is in pursuit of something very specific; if you have the exact answer the user is looking for, he or she is more likely to convert.
So focus on answering the specific questions that people ask about your product, service, business, or industry. To figure out what people are asking, think about the FAQs that you get from both potential and current customers that could be answered in long-form content on your website.
You can research what people ask online through Answer the Public, listen to call recordings to determine what questions aren't currently being answered by your website, and check your Search Console to determine what queries you have impressions for but not clicks.
Writing content to answer those questions can help you be the "answer zero" in SERPs. For example, a fitness center could write a series on how to do various types of exercises:
It's Not About You! Write Tangential Content
Another beneficial tactic is what Moz calls tangential content. By playing down the direct promotion of your own products or services, you'll reach a wider audience, and the content will have a higher chance of getting inbound links, Moz has shown.
If a pool company writes a blog post on summer pool safety tips, more people are likely to share that with their friends and family than a post about how great the pool servicing prices are. People searching for pool safety information are also more likely to come across this blog post in voice search and featured snippet results because it's not about the company as much as it is an answer to an important question.
To learn about new ways to research potential long-tail keywords and tangential content ideas, check out this keyword research article on Marketing Profs.
Remember the Skyscraper Technique: Revamp Existing Content
If you already have content created in hopes of having it featured, but it's remained stagnant, it may be time revisit and revise that content. Most marketers refer to that method as the skyscraper technique, but because I was raised as an artist I refer to it as a Picasso technique: Steve Jobs attributed the quote "good artists copy, great artists steal," to Pablo Picasso.
I don't mean disrespecting copyright, of course. When good content creators copy, they make sure the reader is reminded of the original work and can easily trace the work back its origin. Though that approach may have success, it lacks original thought. Great artists, however, steal: They take the information, but they breathe new life into it—making it their own.
Because the skyscraper/Picasso technique means adding to old content and making the new content better than the original, it makes that content the authoritative word on the matter.
If you're revamping existing content, ask yourself the following:
Do you answer the key question quickly and concisely within the content?
Are your statistics current?
Are your images current?
Are there new and relevant articles on your site that can link to the older piece of content?
Are you thinking evergreen?
Is your content the most thorough answer to the user's question?
When aiming for featured snippets, circle back to your understanding of core practices: Continue a methodical practice of technical SEO, create shareworthy content, and monitor metrics for success.
With keyword research that's based on an understanding of user queries and voice search nuances, you can get planning and creating content that's worthy of "position zero" down to a science—and reach your target audience.
This week's 'Skim: How brands can switch up their social strategy in the wake of Facebook's big algorithm change; WhatsApp officially launches its business-friendly app in six markets; just how angry Snapchat users are about the app's redesign; Facebook's plans to become more local, and to declutter Messenger in 2018; why micro-influencers could be a goldmine for your business; Facebook introduces interactive Watch Parties; top marketing tips for livestream videos; and much more...
Skim to stay with the pack!
1. Here's how marketers can adjust their Facebook strategy in wake of the algorithm shakeup
Last week Facebook announced its most disruptive algorithm change in years, deciding it would send less traffic to publishers' content and instead prioritize content that users' friends and family engages with. For brand pages and publishers, that likely means plummeting organic reach numbers, and probably higher advertising costs.
If you want to maintain your reach, the change probably means spending more money on ads, which isn't a surprise, considering that Facebook's ad rates have climbed 35% in just the last quarter.
It also means training your digital team to not only execute campaigns and push buttons as before but also constantly optimize and deliver quality content, especially as Facebook continues its witch hunt for "engagement bait".
A bright side to all this? Facebook will likely find new ways for brands to engage with users, just not in the News Feed. It might pull a WeChat and give brands new access to Messenger, all while holding fast to its insistence that Facebook isn't a media company. Prepare yourselves for the apocalypse.
2. WhatsApp officially launches its business app in select markets
Marketers in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the UK, and the US were last week treated to an official releaseof the WhatsApp Business App, before the Facebook owned platform makes itself available worldwide.
The free app is currently Android-only, but it will serve as WhatsApp's path to new revenue streams when it starts charging large businesses for advanced ways to reach consumers.
For now, though, the app is positioned as a free way for small brands to build an official presence on the platform and take advantage of new tools, such as quick replies, greeting messages, away messages, and more.
In fact, 83% of user reviews on the App Store are negative, with many active Snapchatters complaining that the app no longer makes sense as their feeds no longer present snaps in chronological order.
Probably an a gesture to prove the app's attractiveness to investors on Wall Street, Snapchat also decided to mix a higher number of advertisements into users' feeds with the facelift. The social network anticipated the redesign would be disruptive to the business, but it's confident that the changes will "settle in" and business will carry on as usual... eventually.
4. Facebook aims to be more local with news section aimed at communities
The social network is hoping to make your community a little more accessible with the test of a new section that brings city-specific events, local news, and announcements to users.
Dubbed "Today In," the machine-learning tool will help a Facebook team deliver local content to six American cities—New Orleans, Little Rock, Billings, Peoria, Olympia, and Binghamton—and provide users in those towns a new way to connect with their neighbors and to access news through approved Facebook local news publishers.
The test was born out of Facebook's Journalism Project, which vowed to curb the spread of fake news on the platform.
5. Micro-influencers are getting lots of attention, and here's why you can't miss out
Sure, the influencer you hired to review and relay your brand's name might have garnered a million impressions and 300,000 video views, but how many of those were bought and paid for bots, and how engaging did the operation prove?
With engagement rates for influencers who have more than 5,000 followers racing downward to 3.3% compared with the 9.6% earned by influencers with fewer followers, brands are taking a serious look at micro-influencers. And rightly so. Social media marketers are increasingly seeing the value in engagement rather than pure reach. Targeting hyper-specific audiences is proving key to effective marketing in more ways than one.
Forbes shows us how getting consumers involved with your efforts, finding influencers with rich, niche followers, and finding new ways for consumers to create UGC are all ways brands can stop overpaying for impressions and instead focus on building better brand experiences.
6. Facebook aims to remove clutter from Messenger for better UX in 2018
Users who think Facebook Messenger has become a bloated platform with lots of extra gadgets might soon be singing a different tune. Facebook's head of Messenger last week posted a plan of goals for 2018 that included making the platform a more simplified, streamlined experience.
Despite the promise, Messenger is expected to receive some new features, including some form of real-time communication tool similar to Facebook Live, and improvements to the visual abilities of the platform, such as emojis, and live video chat, all while making the app more suitable for customer care and support.
Will Messenger's promise to slim down hold true throughout the year? We're not so sure, considering that ambitious agenda.
7. Here's the state of social media as we move into 2018
eMarketer has released its latest statistics on the state of social media around the world, figures that would shock if you went back just a short while ago and took a look at the online ecosystem of 2004.
Some 2.48 billion people—or one in three humans on the planet—used a social network in 2017, and 82.5% of them used a mobile device at least once to access them. The massive growth in 2017 is much in thanks to emerging markets, including in the Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
Facebook still holds the No. 1 spot, with 1.54 billion users, but Facebook's Instagram has made headway and now counts 594 million users among its ranks. Wow.
8. Get ready for Facebook Watch Parties
Facebook is constantly trying to find new ways to engage users with video, and the next endeavor might come in the form of co-viewing from afar, with other Facebook users. The social behemoth is testing a new feature called Watch Party that lets users in groups view videos together, as well as react and comment in real-time.
Facebook's motivation for such a test could be that Facebook Live videos enjoy six times higher rates of interaction than regular videos, as well as the potential for monetization down the road when Watch Parties could be, for example, hosted by influencers paid for by businesses.
Facebook's goal continues to be encouraging interaction over passive consumption, and Watch Parties seem to deliver just that.
9. Marketing tips for livestreaming on social media [infographic]
If the market for livestream video is any indication, marketers who perhaps didn't pay much attention to it in 2017 might finally want to take note: The livestreaming industry is expected to reach $70.05 billion by 2021.
Encouraged by the fact that Facebook Live videos view times are three times longer than for nonlive videos, more companies are hopping on board. But which livestream platform should you invest in?
Filmora has the answers in an infographic built to answer that question. Covered in detail: which audiences brands can reach on what platform, what type of content users are watching live, the benefits of livestream video, how brands can make good use of it themselves, and much more!
10. We'll wrap with one company's promise that's making noise on social media
CVS Pharmacy, the primary retail consumers of which are women, nabbed headlines on social media last week in a big way when it announced it would no longer touch up images of people used in advertising materials for beauty products.
That means no more altering the shape, size, skin tone, eye color, or wrinkles of models, and that includes of images posted in stores, on websites, and on social media.
CVS Health Corp. cited dangers to the mental health of young girls and women as a motive for the change, and said any touched up images will carry a label to indicate the alterations.
Needless to say, the social interwebs were overwhelmingly pleased with the announcement.
Consumers are moving outside the marketing funnel by changing the way they research and buy products. Here's how marketers should respond to the new customer journey.
If marketing has one goal, it’s to reach consumers at the moments that most influence their decisions. That’s why consumer electronics companies make sure not only that customers see their televisions in stores but also that those televisions display vivid high-definition pictures. It’s why Amazon.com, a decade ago, began offering targeted product recommendations to consumers already logged in and ready to buy. And it explains P&G’s decision, long ago, to produce radio and then TV programs to reach the audiences most likely to buy its products—hence, the term “soap opera.”
Marketing has always sought those moments, or touch points, when consumers are open to influence. For years, touch points have been understood through the metaphor of a “funnel”—consumers start with a number of potential brands in mind (the wide end of the funnel), marketing is then directed at them as they methodically reduce that number and move through the funnel, and at the end they emerge with the one brand they chose to purchase (Exhibit 1). But today, the funnel concept fails to capture all the touch points and key buying factors resulting from the explosion of product choices and digital channels, coupled with the emergence of an increasingly discerning, well-informed consumer. A more sophisticated approach is required to help marketers navigate this environment, which is less linear and more complicated than the funnel suggests. We call this approach the consumer decision journey. Our thinking is applicable to any geographic market that has different kinds of media, Internet access, and wide product choice, including big cities in emerging markets such as China and India.
Interactive
The consumer decision journey—an interactive
Consumers are changing the way they research and buy products. Here’s how marketers should respond.
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Exhibit 1
In the traditional funnel metaphor, consumers start with a set of potential brands and methodically reduce that number to make a purchase.
We developed this approach by examining the purchase decisions of almost 20,000 consumers across five industries and three continents. Our research showed that the proliferation of media and products requires marketers to find new ways to get their brands included in the initial-consideration set that consumers develop as they begin their decision journey. We also found that because of the shift away from one-way communication—from marketers to consumers—toward a two-way conversation, marketers need a more systematic way to satisfy customer demands and manage word-of-mouth. In addition, the research identified two different types of customer loyalty, challenging companies to reinvigorate their loyalty programs and the way they manage the customer experience.
Finally, the research reinforced our belief in the importance not only of aligning all elements of marketing—strategy, spending, channel management, and message—with the journey that consumers undertake when they make purchasing decisions but also of integrating those elements across the organization. When marketers understand this journey and direct their spending and messaging to the moments of maximum influence, they stand a much greater chance of reaching consumers in the right place at the right time with the right message.
How consumers make decisions
Every day, people form impressions of brands from touch points such as advertisements, news reports, conversations with family and friends, and product experiences. Unless consumers are actively shopping, much of that exposure appears wasted. But what happens when something triggers the impulse to buy? Those accumulated impressions then become crucial because they shape the initial-consideration set: the small number of brands consumers regard at the outset as potential purchasing options.
The funnel analogy suggests that consumers systematically narrow the initial-consideration set as they weigh options, make decisions, and buy products. Then, the postsale phase becomes a trial period determining consumer loyalty to brands and the likelihood of buying their products again. Marketers have been taught to “push” marketing toward consumers at each stage of the funnel process to influence their behavior. But our qualitative and quantitative research in the automobile, skin care, insurance, consumer electronics, and mobile-telecom industries shows that something quite different now occurs.
Actually, the decision-making process is a more circular journey, with four primary phases representing potential battlegrounds where marketers can win or lose: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching potential purchases; closure, when consumers buy brands; and postpurchase, when consumers experience them (Exhibit 2). The funnel metaphor does help a good deal—for example, by providing a way to understand the strength of a brand compared with its competitors at different stages, highlighting the bottlenecks that stall adoption, and making it possible to focus on different aspects of the marketing challenge. Nonetheless, we found that in three areas profound changes in the way consumers make buying decisions called for a new approach.
Exhibit 2
The decision-making process is now a circular journey with four phases: initial consideration; active evaluation, or the process of researching potential purchases; closure, when consumers buy brands; and postpurchase, when consumers experience them.
Brand consideration
Imagine that a consumer has decided to buy a car. As with most kinds of products, the consumer will immediately be able to name an initial-consideration set of brands to purchase. In our qualitative research, consumers told us that the fragmenting of media and the proliferation of products have actually made them reduce the number of brands they consider at the outset. Faced with a plethora of choices and communications, consumers tend to fall back on the limited set of brands that have made it through the wilderness of messages. Brand awareness matters: brands in the initial-consideration set can be up to three times more likely to be purchased eventually than brands that aren’t in it.
Not all is lost for brands excluded from this first stage, however. Contrary to the funnel metaphor, the number of brands under consideration during the active-evaluation phase may now actually expand rather than narrow as consumers seek information and shop a category. Brands may “interrupt” the decision-making process by entering into consideration and even force the exit of rivals. The number of brands added in later stages differs by industry: our research showed that people actively evaluating personal computers added an average of 1 brand to their initial-consideration set of 1.7, while automobile shoppers added 2.2 to their initial set of 3.8 (Exhibit 3). This change in behavior creates opportunities for marketers by adding touch points when brands can make an impact. Brands already under consideration can no longer take that status for granted.
Exhibit 3
The number of brands added for consideration in different stages differs by industry.
Empowered consumers
The second profound change is that outreach of consumers to marketers has become dramatically more important than marketers’ outreach to consumers. Marketing used to be driven by companies; “pushed” on consumers through traditional advertising, direct marketing, sponsorships, and other channels. At each point in the funnel, as consumers whittled down their brand options, marketers would attempt to sway their decisions. This imprecise approach often failed to reach the right consumers at the right time.
In today’s decision journey, consumer-driven marketing is increasingly important as customers seize control of the process and actively “pull” information helpful to them. Our research found that two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase involve consumer-driven marketing activities, such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family, as well as in-store interactions and recollections of past experiences. A third of the touch points involve company-driven marketing (Exhibit 4). Traditional marketing remains important, but the change in the way consumers make decisions means that marketers must move aggressively beyond purely push-style communication and learn to influence consumer-driven touch points, such as word-of-mouth and Internet information sites.
Exhibit 4
Two-thirds of the touch points during the active-evaluation phase involve consumer-driven activities such as Internet reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family.
The experience of US automobile manufacturers shows why marketers must master these new touch points. Companies like Chrysler and GM have long focused on using strong sales incentives and in-dealer programs to win during the active-evaluation and moment-of-purchase phases. These companies have been fighting the wrong battle: the real challenges for them are the initial-consideration and postpurchase phases, which Asian brands such as Toyota Motor and Honda dominate with their brand strength and product quality. Positive experiences with Asian vehicles have made purchasers loyal to them, and that in turn generates positive word-of-mouth that increases the likelihood of their making it into the initial-consideration set. Not even constant sales incentives by US manufacturers can overcome this virtuous cycle.
Two types of loyalty
When consumers reach a decision at the moment of purchase, the marketer’s work has just begun: the postpurchase experience shapes their opinion for every subsequent decision in the category, so the journey is an ongoing cycle. More than 60 percent of consumers of facial skin care products, for example, go online to conduct further research after the purchase—a touch point unimaginable when the funnel was conceived.
Although the need to provide an after-sales experience that inspires loyalty and therefore repeat purchases isn’t new, not all loyalty is equal in today’s increasingly competitive, complex world. Of consumers who profess loyalty to a brand, some are active loyalists, who not only stick with it but also recommend it. Others are passive loyalists who, whether from laziness or confusion caused by the dizzying array of choices, stay with a brand without being committed to it. Despite their claims of allegiance, passive consumers are open to messages from competitors who give them a reason to switch.
Take the automotive-insurance industry, in which most companies have a large base of seemingly loyal customers who renew every year. Our research found as much as a sixfold difference in the ratio of active to passive loyalists among major brands, so companies have opportunities to interrupt the loyalty loop. The US insurers GEICO and Progressive are doing just that, snaring the passively loyal customers of other companies by making comparison shopping and switching easy. They are giving consumers reasons to leave, not excuses to stay.
All marketers should make expanding the base of active loyalists a priority, and to do so they must focus their spending on the new touch points. That will require entirely new marketing efforts, not just investments in Internet sites and efforts to drive word-of-mouth or a renewed commitment to customer satisfaction.
Aligning marketing with the consumer decision journey
Developing a deep knowledge of how consumers make decisions is the first step. For most marketers, the difficult part is focusing strategies and spending on the most influential touch points. In some cases, the marketing effort’s direction must change, perhaps from focusing brand advertising on the initial-consideration phase to developing Internet properties that help consumers gain a better understanding of the brand when they actively evaluate it. Other marketers may need to retool their loyalty programs by focusing on active rather than passive loyalists or to spend money on in-store activities or word-of-mouth programs. The increasing complexity of the consumer decision journey will force virtually all companies to adopt new ways of measuring consumer attitudes, brand performance, and the effectiveness of marketing expenditures across the whole process.
Without such a realignment of spending, marketers face two risks. First, they could waste money: at a time when revenue growth is critical and funding tight, advertising and other investments will be less effective because consumers aren’t getting the right information at the right time. Second, marketers could seem out of touch—for instance, by trying to push products on customers rather than providing them with the information, support, and experience they want to reach decisions themselves.
Four kinds of activities can help marketers address the new realities of the consumer decision journey.
Prioritize objectives and spending
In the past, most marketers consciously chose to focus on either end of the marketing funnel—building awareness or generating loyalty among current customers. Our research reveals a need to be much more specific about the touch points used to influence consumers as they move through initial consideration to active evaluation to closure. By looking just at the traditional marketing funnel’s front or back end, companies could miss exciting opportunities not only to focus investments on the most important points of the decision journey but also to target the right customers.
In the skin care industry, for example, we found that some brands are much stronger in the initial-consideration phase than in active evaluation or closure. For them, our research suggests a need to shift focus from overall brand positioning—already powerful enough to ensure that they get considered—to efforts that make consumers act or to investments in packaging and in-store activities targeted at the moment of purchase.
Tailor messaging
For some companies, new messaging is required to win in whatever part of the consumer journey offers the greatest revenue opportunity. A general message cutting across all stages may have to be replaced by one addressing weaknesses at a specific point, such as initial consideration or active evaluation.
Take the automotive industry. A number of brands in it could grow if consumers took them into consideration. Hyundai, the South Korean car manufacturer, tackled precisely this problem by adopting a marketing campaign built around protecting consumers financially by allowing them to return their vehicles if they lose their jobs. This provocative message, tied to something very real for Americans, became a major factor in helping Hyundai break into the initial-consideration set of many new consumers. In a poor automotive market, the company’s market share is growing.
Invest in consumer-driven marketing
To look beyond funnel-inspired push marketing, companies must invest in vehicles that let marketers interact with consumers as they learn about brands. The epicenter of consumer-driven marketing is the Internet, crucial during the active-evaluation phase as consumers seek information, reviews, and recommendations. Strong performance at this point in the decision journey requires a mind-set shift from buying media to developing properties that attract consumers: digital assets such as Web sites about products, programs to foster word-of-mouth, and systems that customize advertising by viewing the context and the consumer. Many organizations face the difficult and, at times, risky venture of shifting money to fundamentally new properties, much as P&G invested to gain radio exposure in the 1930s and television exposure in the 1950s.
Broadband connectivity, for example, lets marketers provide rich applications to consumers learning about products. Simple, dynamic tools that help consumers decide which products make sense for them are now essential elements of an online arsenal. American Express’s card finder and Ford’s car configurator, for example, rapidly and visually sort options with each click, making life easier for consumers at every stage of the decision journey. Marketers can influence online word-of-mouth by using tools that spot online conversations about brands, analyze what’s being said, and allow marketers to post their own comments.
Finally, content-management systems and online targeting engines let marketers create hundreds of variations on an advertisement, taking into account the context where it appears, the past behavior of viewers, and a real-time inventory of what an organization needs to promote. For instance, many airlines manage and relentlessly optimize thousands of combinations of offers, prices, creative content, and formats to ensure that potential travelers see the most relevant opportunities. Digital marketing has long promised this kind of targeting. Now we finally have the tools to make it more accurate and to manage it cost effectively.
Win the in-store battle
Our research found that one consequence of the new world of marketing complexity is that more consumers hold off their final purchase decision until they’re in a store. Merchandising and packaging have therefore become very important selling factors, a point that’s not widely understood. Consumers want to look at a product in action and are highly influenced by the visual dimension: up to 40 percent of them change their minds because of something they see, learn, or do at this point—say, packaging, placement, or interactions with salespeople.
In skin care, for example, some brands that are fairly unlikely to be in a consumer’s initial-consideration set nonetheless win at the point of purchase with attractive packages and on-shelf messaging. Such elements have now become essential selling tools because consumers of these products are still in play when they enter a store. That’s also true in some consumer electronics segments, which explains those impressive rows of high-definition TVs in stores.
Sometimes it takes a combination of approaches—great packaging, a favorable shelf position, forceful fixtures, informative signage—to attract consumers who enter a store with a strong attachment to their initial-consideration set. Our research shows that in-store touch points provide a significant opportunity for other brands.
Integrating all customer-facing activities
In many companies, different parts of the organization undertake specific customer-facing activities—including informational Web sites, PR, and loyalty programs. Funding is opaque. A number of executives are responsible for each element, and they don’t coordinate their work or even communicate. These activities must be integrated and given appropriate leadership.
The necessary changes are profound. A comprehensive view of all customer-facing activities is as important for business unit heads as for CEOs and chief marketing officers. But the full scope of the consumer decision journey goes beyond the traditional role of CMOs, who in many companies focus on brand building, advertisements, and perhaps market research. These responsibilities aren’t going away. What’s now required of CMOs is a broader role that realigns marketing with the current realities of consumer decision making, intensifies efforts to shape the public profiles of companies, and builds new marketing capabilities.
Consider the range of skills needed to manage the customer experience in the automotive-insurance industry, in which some companies have many passive loyalists who can be pried away by rivals. Increasing the percentage of active loyalists requires not only integrating customer-facing activities into the marketing organization but also more subtle forms of organizational cooperation. These include identifying active loyalists through customer research, as well as understanding what drives that loyalty and how to harness it with word-of-mouth programs. Companies need an integrated, organization-wide “voice of the customer,” with skills from advertising to public relations, product development, market research, and data management. It’s hard but necessary to unify these activities, and the CMO is the natural candidate to do so.
Marketers have long been aware of profound changes in the way consumers research and buy products. Yet a failure to change the focus of marketing to match that evolution has undermined the core goal of reaching customers at the moments that most influence their purchases. The shift in consumer decision making means that marketers need to adjust their spending and to view the change not as a loss of power over consumers but as an opportunity to be in the right place at the right time, giving them the information and support they need to make the right decisions.
