What are the predictions for advertising and marketing?
The targeting of tomorrow’s customer will be shaped by their media consumption.
This week the Financial Services Forum held an event on targeting the future customer, which we attended. The session discussed, which channels marketers should focus on to attract new customers. Four industry experts offered their opinions on where advertising and marketing are heading towards.
In this post, we will take you through the insights they provided. If you want to see their predictions then continue to read.
TV in the digital age
Oliver Robertson, Head of Research at Thinkbox forecasts that the time spent with traditional media indicated the future is still very much TV.
Television still remains efficient over other digital mediums, because of its expansion into other distribution channels, and most importantly on demand.
The collaboration will be key for the future in order to address viewing preference, and more interactive.
“The future of TV is addressable, interactive, programmatic & premium”.
Oliver Robertson
Stats show that television is still top viewing; in spite of diminishing numbers, they always are the top distributor and highest ROI.
However, its B2C or retail experience, not B2B.
Also, there are two starkly different audiences: over 34s, who will watch TV vs. under 34s who won’t.
“I am part of the under 34s that don’t watch television. I prefer to watch shows online through Netflix because there are no ads interrupting my viewing”.
Christabell Ndive, Marketing Executive
The audience will flip; marketers will need to find a way to reach the OD audience. They will do this through investment into collaboration.
Source: BARB and UK broadcaster data, 2017, 16-34
Marketing in the Age of Assistance
Adam Chalk, Senior Industry Manager at Google UK gave an overview of how today’s customer’s online interactions will change in the future.
In his presentation he explained that customers expectations are changing, therefore we need to understand what they need in order to deliver.
Financial service companies must start by benchmarking themselves against the very best; UBER, and ASOS.
Customers want continuity of experience because they have an expectation.
Adam Chalk
Customers are more assistance driven so companies need to show up through a combination of TV and online channels.
Wise up by assisting customers with advanced tools.
Speed up by having a faster responsive website, and stats show that faster means more conversions.
Mobile pages that load 1s faster see up to 27% increase in conversion rate.
Customers are curious, demanding, and impatient when interacting with business online.
Therefore assistance is the new battleground for digital growth, and the way to successfully target the customer.
Source: SOASTA Case study (September 1st, 2015)
Source: Binet & Field IPA Datamine research. Base 2014-16 studies
Customer Engagement
Rachel Aldighieri, Managing Director at dma discusses three pillars of building trust for brands: loyalty, creativity, and personalisation.
In order for financial service companies to attract new customers in the future, they need to work on building trust.
“Trust, personalisation and empowerment are drivers to customer engagement”.
Rachel Aldighieri
Customers want to control, have rewards, and need assistance when dealing with financial service companies.
The future will move towards personal finance management through online apps, which enables customers to control their finances.
Omnichannel will become the solution for assistance in the future, as customers still want one-to-one human interaction as well as virtual assistance.
Finally, using exclusive discounts and promotional offers to reward customers for their loyalty.
Through these three pillars, customers will start to feel more trusting when interacting with your business.
Therefore, the future is moving towards creating a better experience for users so that they are more trusting of your brand.
Source: DMA UK and Foresight Factory–Data privacy: what the consumer really thinks 2018
Source: Foresight Factory / DMA / Acxiom | Base: 1047 online respondents aged 18+, GB, 2017 DMA
Humans behind technology
Erik Mashkilleyson, Digital Experience Director at Siegel+Gale elaborates on targeting the future customer by reminding companies that human interaction is the future.
Despite technological advancements, human interaction remains important to customers.
“New technology + new experiences + new business models = societal change”.
Erik Mashkilleyson
Societal change shapes customers expectations so brands should look at how the customer of today interacts with other competitors.
The most successful brands focus on usage, not buyers – Harvard business review
Newcomer digital brands such as Airbnb/Monzo are becoming more successful than traditional competitors Hilton/Visa.
These newer companies are focusing on human interaction with the brand, which is what makes them more successful in a digital world.
The future is moving towards users experience and positioning your brand in the lives of customers not just for a one-time purchase.
It is important to understand the customer’s needs in order to match the bar of high expectations.
Harvard Business Review 2/2018: The Most Successful Brands Focus on Users — Not Buyers Joint study by SAP, Siegel+Gale, and Shift Thinking
Key Insights
There is an inevitable shift in the way customers are consuming media.
Where customers go business must surely follow, as a result, marketers must stay ahead, and forecast changes to adapt accordingly.
Lessons can be learnt by B2B because of B2C.
All the predictions for the future of advertising and marketing, are based on creating a better UX.
Customers want to have a more personal experience when dealing with brands.
In conclusion, to target, the future customer brands should aspire to create a customer-centric UX against all competitors, not just financial services.
If you would like to discuss user experience contact us to talk about your website.
