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Understanding the Consumer Journey in Digital Marketing For GC Promotions (Social Media Consultancy) (2020)
In 1998, business aficionados, Pine and Gilmore predicted that “As goods and services become commodified, the customer experiences that companies create will matter most” (Pine and Gilmore 1998). Nowadays, enhancing the customer experience is becoming the focus for companies looking to gain a competitive edge. So, what is the consumer journey exactly? It is an end-to-end experience that ultimately reflects the customer’s perception of a brand or service. Traditionally companies would seek to improve every aspect of the customer experience by ensuring that staff were welcoming and properly trained, that facilities are clean and clearly signposted, etc. It all makes sense out in the real world but, how would you ensure that your customer’s have a great experience with your brand online? With digital platforms we are more connected now than ever before. With an estimated 45% of the world’s population on social media (Mohsin 2020) and a predicted 11% compound annual growth rate in digital marketing budgets between 2016 and 2021 (Leone 2020), it is safe to say that consumers are having more and more digital journeys each year. Therefore, it is essential that businesses build their online voice, hone in on their brand messages, and take an active role in developing and perfecting the consumer journey across all their digital marketing platforms. The win-win customer decision journey originally visualised by Edelman (2013) outlines the typical journey of the online customer. It notes six key steps in the customer experience: Consideration, Evaluation, Purchase, Enjoy, Advocate, and Loyalty. The consumer will often consider a purchase carefully, evaluating whether or not it’s the right product for them. They may even purchase the product and continue to consider its value and evaluate whether or not it is the correct fit for their daily lives. It is only after the buyer both enjoys and advocates for the product that they develop a bond with it. This brand loyalty is well sought after by the big conglomerates but should also be the aspiration for grassroots businesses. There are two key tools that can assist you in developing your businesses consumer journey, journey mapping and service blueprinting. It is helpful to think of these tools in the context of a theatre performance. Journey mapping is the front stage and service blueprinting is the backstage. So the front stage is the performance aspect of your work and it also encapsulates the performance’s relationship with the audience. Its visual, attractive, and engaging. Whereas the backstage is all the work you do to make sure your service runs smoothly. Its technical and complex. When you create a journey map you want to consider aspects like who is your target audience and what do they want. It requires careful research and the development of consumer insights into how that consumer might be feeling when they access your service. The better you understand your customer the easier it is to make an impact with them on an emotional level and remember, its that emotional connection that drives sales and increases repeat business. As we saw in the win-win customer decision journey model (above), customer enjoyment leads to advocacy and from there we can establish a bond between your brand and consumers. That bond is crucial to developing repeat business. Journey mapping can often transmit a message about your brand or service, it allows you to see the gaps and address them. Where journey mapping enables you to see the faults in transmission, service blueprinting gives you insight into how your service needs to improve to retain and gain consumer loyalty. With service blueprinting first you must define your goal. Establish a scope and a focus to your work and refer back to these points whilst you gather research both internally (within your company) and externally (about your consumer). In most cases it is helpful to create an infographic that shows clearly customer actions, touchpoints, staff actions, your line of visibility and any ‘backstage’ actions and support processes that may be occurring in order for you to deliver your service or product. Online one could argue that service blueprinting becomes more complex because your line of visibility is limited to the analytics you receive on your content/posts. Although you may be restricted by some of the more basic analytical services you can develop a service blueprint by putting yourself in the proverbial shoes of the consumer. Ask yourself, what is my brand bringing to the table? Is my content engaging? What messages am I sending to my customers and how does my content make them feel? When in doubt, ask! Throw out a poll, contact consumers who do support your brand, contact those who don’t. These tools are empowering, they enable you to perfect your service and secure customer loyalty. Want to know more about all the other tools in our toolbox? Contact us today for a free consultation. We build brands online. (812 words)
The Importance of Storytelling on Social Media For GC Promotions (Social Media Consultancy) (2020)
“In the end, the best story wins. Not the right story, not even the most frequently told story, but the story that means the most to the greatest number of people – the one that is remembered.” (Simmons 2002). True to Simmons’ point, the brands with the best stories behind them tend to be more memorable and therefore accessible to a wide consumer audience. Storytelling is a very powerful tool harnessed by marketers to relay commercial messages to consumers whilst simultaneously building trust which ultimately leads to the strengthening of a brand furthering the concept of consumer loyalty (Van Laer et. al 2019). Storytelling enables brands to shape the way they are perceived by the public. Most brands can evoke certain images in the minds of consumers. These images come together to form a brand story and that story is ultimately what consumers carry with them in their minds when deciding whether to engage with a brand (Gutjahr 2015). Studies have shown that storytelling has a multitude of effects on the human psyche. Some well-known theories are the narrative transportation effect, narrative identification, and para social communication. Narrative transportation in business sense, is the ability for a narrative to capture the imagination of the consumer to the extent that they enter what is known as a brand’s world. In a brand’s world the constraints and preconceived scepticism do not exist. The consumer becomes so immersed within this narrative that they become more malleable and susceptible to persuasion. The next effect, narrative identification, simply put is the way consumers self-identify with characters or situations within a story. This can help your brand in many ways. If a consumer can visualise themselves within your commercial narrative, then they unknowingly form an emotional connection with your brand. To clarify if your characters are relatable and they like your product then the consumers who can relate to these characters will too. Finally, we have para-social communication. This theory states that consumers can create and maintain one-sided relationships with the characters within the media that they consume. For example, if you religiously watch a game show you soon might come to find that you feel connected to the host. As if you were there engaging with them, you might even think of them when the programme is over. This one-sided relationship is common, and it creates an opportunity for your brand to develop an emotional relationship with consumers. Storytelling is so influential that it is essential for you to be in the driver’s seat of your brand’s story especially on social media. If you don’t create this narrative, the internet will create one for you and that’s a big risk for any online business. Not sure where to begin? Need some guidance? Contact us today for a free consultation. We build brands online. (471 Words)
Co-Creation or Co-Destruction? Fortifying Your Brand on Social Media For GC Promotions (Social Media Consultancy) (2020)
Brands are built on powerful stories; these stories help shape the identity of a company and enable emotional responses which establish profound connections between a brand and its audience. Since the advent of the internet, companies have noticed a shift in the information exchange between brand and consumer, what was once a one-way communication channel is now a dialogue or in some cases even what is known as a multilogue. A multilogue takes the control of the narrative away from the brand and in its place enables consumers to freely express their opinions on the brand therefore transforming the brand’s identity (Diamond et al. 2009). To put it in simple terms, that post you thought was a stoke of genius just got tackled to the ground by a rouge troll and now your brand is blowing up on social media but in all the wrong ways. Although at times this can be frustrating this highlights the power of the consumer. The influence of the consumer narrative has a huge impact on how persuasive a brand can be as consumers are more likely to be receptive and trust another consumer’s narrative over a narrative generated by a brand (Hautz et al. 2014). On the impact of co-creation, Echeverri and Skålén’s (2011) study indicates that although there are positive instances of interactive value there are just as many negative instances of interactive value. So, although some evidence shows that stories are often enhanced by consumer narratives, not all consumer narratives will have a positive effect on a brand’s narrative. Therefore, there is an element of danger for brands that do not live up to their brand identity. So, what is the best way to fortify your brand on social media? Be authentic, be transparent and most of all be helpful. Don’t know where to start? We are here to help. Contact us today for a free consultation. We build brands online. (319 Words)