Keys to engaging the perpetually connected customer
We’re surrounded by the cyber-sphere today almost as much as we are surrounded by the air we breathe. And, for many, maintaining a constant connection to this digital reality is almost as important as inhaling and exhaling.
While this is true for members of every consumer demographic, it’s especially true for today’s younger consumers…and they’re the folks who will be your “bread and butter” customers and clients in the coming years.
For these reasons, it’s important to have a marketing strategy that includes all the digital avenues through which you can engage prospects and customers. Consider these eight components of the digital ecosystem:
- websites,
- social media,
- email,
- content (words, visuals, video),
- mobile,
- apps,
- search, and
- pay-per-click and other online advertising approaches.
How many of these are included in or addressed by your current marketing program? I won’t say that you have to do all of these all of the time – although some of you should. However, it’s critical that you at least consider each of these, prioritize them, and then experiment to find out which deliver the best return, staying aware that what works with your prospects today may not work as well tomorrow.
I suggest that you look at all of the items on the above list, “unpack” them, and then grade yourself on your current status. Let’s look at the first item: website.
Some small business owners might convince themselves that they are fine in this category because they have a website, but it’s important to dig more deeply. Here are some website questions worth asking yourself:
- Is my website in keeping with today’s design standards and aesthetics?
- Am I using landing pages and squeeze pages to convert visitors?
- Is my user interface clear and navigation easy?
- Are vital website elements, such as contact information, clear and obvious?
- Am I collecting the visitor information I need?
- Is my content engaging enough to get visitors to stick around or do they quickly bounce?
You need to ask yourself these kinds of questions for each of the eight components of the digital ecosystem that I listed above. In other words, you must conduct a critique of each of them. Bring in others to help you with this. This is the kind of brainstorming exercise where you benefit greatly from having people with different points of view contribute their questions and ideas.
This process starts out as a “high altitude fly over” but evolves into an examination by microscope. See all the elements here as great opportunities, always keeping in mind that the consumers you want to develop are perpetually living in the digital realm. That fact gives you thousands of opportunities to discover, connect, and engage with your prospects.
Don’t miss an opportunity.