Every marketer knows ‘Always On’ is the future of digital marketing, but where do you start and what do you need to do first, before embarking on the call to action of the new digital era.
- ‘Always On’ is a new marketing method where brands promise to tell great and engaging stories that build a two-way conversation of value with an audience.
- This new approach hinges on a deep understanding of consumer behaviour where brands are providing their audience with something valuable before they even know they want to find this product or service.
- ‘Always On’ provides this to consumers within a context (time, place, location, emotion) that is easy and simple to engage with, there is no time for interruptive advertising.
‘Always On’ in a nutshell
‘Always On’ is a new marketing method that has been developed for the digital era. It is a promise that brands will be relevant and engage with the channels their audience populates. They make a commitment to tell stories and create two-way conversations with this audience, they are not there to interrupt, bombard, or simply take from without providing value in return.
‘Always On’ has been adopted by more and more brands who understand that while quantity is a key focus, incorporating quality and authenticity are also priorities.
Furthermore, with new algorithm developments, social can filter and reject nonsense advertising by de-prioritising it in the feed but when an ‘always on’ method is integrated, brands would instead begin by assessing their data so that they can focus on the ‘usable data’ which will increase personalisation and relevance for the audience.
However, it is easy to get carried away. Marketers must remember that ‘Always On’ does not mean bombarding consumers as this risks a jarring, disconnected and difficult experience for consumers to make sense of. In a world where audiences are more selective about the content they consume, create and drive content that will be valuable to audiences and make their experiences simple yet effective.
‘Always On’ checklist
Firstly, it is crucial to understand the brand’s key topics of conversation, as this will provide all content with a sense of direction, purpose, and consistency. Due to the endless amount of content available to consumers, the only hope of standing out is to provide engaging and captivating material, tailored to their target demographic. Content is the fuel that will drive a business to success, whether a brand specialises in blogs, case studies, or white papers, any content they create must be of the highest quality.
Secondly, a brand must remain relevant to its audience, which is achieved by creating real-time content around current and events and news stories. If a brand wants to create a loyal consumer base, they need to ensure they are creating amazing stories for them to follow, as this builds an opportunity where consumers can relate and connect with a brand on a long-term basis.
Thirdly, staying relevant is futile if a brand does not know the location of their audience, what social channels do they populate and how can a brand appear best known to this audience? Location is everything. Reaching an audience just through owned channels like a brand’s website or email is not enough, brands must also be using social media channels. Brands need to remain at the forefront of their audience’s digital experience.
Lastly, a brand must establish a set of measurements that can be used to track content performance, they always need to be adapting their strategy and content according to changes in their target demographic to remain relevant. So that a brand can gain a true understanding of whether their content is reaching their target audience, they must ensure their marketing is always data-led.
Who’s done it well?
Barclays Pingit
What started out as a Barclays only mobile payment app in 2012, was later extended to all UK current account holders. Barclays created a frictionless way to make payments across mobile phones to users everywhere. This service-driven product has become the largest acquisition channel for Barclays current accounts. This follows the ‘Always On’ model as it is available anytime, anywhere but what makes it really stand out for consumers is that value it provides them.
Coke ‘Share a Coke’ campaign
Starting with 250 of the most popular American names, The Coca-Cola Company launched its ‘Share a Coke’ campaign where it swapped out its iconic logo on 20-ounce bottles and replaced them with names. Consumers were encouraged to find bottles with names they connected to and give them to a friend or family member, the brand capitalised successfully with the social media craze by encouraging consumers to tweet about their experience using the hashtag #ShareACoke. This campaign was then extended to cover 1000 names and now allows users to customise bottles online. ‘Always On’ is seen at work here through mass-personalisation with an experience that was adapted slightly for each channel but delivered with a level of consistency that was both striking and effective.
What do we have to offer?
At CLICKON, we have been driving an ‘Always On’ approach to help develop the business into one that knows how to create, test and deliver content at scale and with speed.
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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