Brands need an 'Always On' approach for the New Year
Content that is driven by an ‘Always On’ approach is the future of digital marketing and without this, brands could be missing out on the call to action of our time.
- ‘Always On’ is a new marketing method that has been developed for the digital era where brands make a promise to tell epic and engaging stories to build a valuable, two-way conversation with their audience.
- Moving into a new era of digital marketing, where audiences are more savvy and selective about the content they consume, there is no time for interruptive advertising.
- ‘Always On’ will provide continuous rapport, increased engagement and other benefits outlined below.
Why ‘Always On’?
The advertising industry has been affected by heavy disruption and displacement due to three key factors:
Evolution of technology and platforms
Technology and platforms are advancing at an astronomical rate. Social media giants like Facebook and Instagram are set to monopolise the advertising industry, coupled with the increased digital spend, there is now less attention towards print and TV.
Changes in consumer behaviour
The habits of consumers are always evolving and with the current market seeing Instagram as the number one social channel - with TikTok fast approaching - many western millennials now choose mobile as their device of choice. In addition, consumer awareness of data privacy is resonating more throughout the industry, with more social channels taking an active interest in enforcing these policies for their users.
Legacy business models
When a business considers the continually changing consumer habits, coupled with evolving technology, an issue occurs with a business’ ability to innovate and adapt in line with these changes. Each advertising business has its legacy of how they do things, and the age of the business will affect how they make these tactical changes to stay in line with current and future changes.
What does ‘Always On’ mean?
‘Always On’ is a new marketing ethos that has been developed for the new era of digital marketing and is being used by more and more brands. They have acknowledged that continuous engagement is a key focus and method to overcome the competition, along with the ability to incorporate authenticity.
‘Always On’ is a promise for brands to engage with the channel that their target audience populates. It’s a promise to tell stories that invite consumers to become part of the conversation, not interrupting or bombarding their experience.
With new algorithm developments, social can filter and reject nonsense advertising by de-prioritising it in the feeds. When an ‘Always On’ method is adapted, brands would begin by assessing their data so that they focus on ‘usable data’ which will increase personalisation and relevance for their audience.
Campaign vs. ‘Always On’
The campaign will continue to play a large part in a company’s B2B and B2C marketing strategy and it can be very effective in driving sales, creating easily measured ROI and generating spikes in engagement. However, this spike in engagement is generally followed by a drop, which can lead to periods of little or no engagement. There is where ‘Always On’ driven content comes in, in this quiet period, competitors can win your audience’s attention as they have been marketing consistently.
As we mentioned previously, the advances in technology have caused disruption and displacement to the industry - it has changed the rules of the game. While the importance of social has not gone unnoticed, brands not adapting their strategy to incorporate ‘Always On’ must acknowledge that not only can consumers now respond to a business’ content, but they can access information about the business through many mediums. Therefore, an individual campaign that is designed for a short-term win can easily get lost in the noise.
The brands that are winning are those who use multiple channels to ensure that all points of their consumers’ journey are addressed - this establishes that a long-term relationship of value is built with consumers. This marketing strategy also creates and maintains these relationships because it uses a better method of communication between brands and consumers by reflecting a real-time nature of online conversations.
While campaign marketing will always have a place in the industry, ‘Always On’ needs to be considered as we move into the new year to ensure that brands are building long-term relationships with their consumers, as this strategy will result in continuous levels of engagement, which provides a stronger sense of community and brand awareness.
How has CLICKON used an ‘Always On’ approach?
Here at CLICKON, we have been using an ‘Always On’ approach to help develop the business into one that knows how to create, test and deliver content at scale.
To take this a step further and keep us ahead of the game, we have developed a new software called iQ that allows brands and clients to always be in conversation, they can ‘take back control’ of the process with full transparency. In a nutshell, it establishes an end-to-end process which creates, provides feedback and distributes global campaigns at speed.
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