Experts say that Marketing is changing more in recent years than in its entire historical journey. The center of all actions is no longer the brand, to make the consumer the main protagonist. It has moved away from intrusion, getting closer and closer to interaction with customers, giving rise to Engagement Marketing.
These types of actions seek to establish a much closer relationship with the consumer than we are used to. It moves away from the masses, to focus on the individual, with their characteristics, their needs or desires. So you have to analyze them, get to know them and then offer them what they demand. It is a new philosophy that, as we mentioned earlier, places the consumer at the center of all our actions. When designing marketing actions, we must always look for public interaction.
Consumers have changed their behavior, they are aware that they have a great source of information at their fingertips, so they now have a more critical attitude towards brands. They search, analyze, ask … until they find the best products or services. For this reason, companies have to abandon the intrusion of more traditional marketing and opt for other routes: such as Content Marketing, Branded Content, Street Marketing, etc. that somehow encompass what is known as Engagement Marketing or Commitment Marketing.
Participatory Engagement Marketing Examples
Social media
There is a whole range of tools to build loyalty and talk with consumers. Without a doubt, one of the channels to which we must pay special attention is Social Networks. These social structures have helped many brands or companies build strong relationships with their target audience. They have become the ideal scenarios to win the commitment of our followers.
Participatory strategies require listening to and analyzing the actions and needs of consumers. However, nowadays, these types of actions are easier to carry out. Companies have incorporated methodologies to be able to measure their behavior and attitudes to build stable relationships.
Branded Content
Branded Content consists of generating content that links to a brand, and that allows you to connect that brand with consumers. Content is very useful in Inbound Marketing or Content Marketing strategies.
It mainly serves to transmit values, emotions, thought forms and elements. It is not focused on promoting products and services. In other words, the goal of branded content is to generate brand awareness and affinity, not sales.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a very effective tool in interactive marketing. However, the content should be designed for the audience rather than for the brand’s own interests. In this sense, corporate blogs are one of the most used content marketing tools. They serve to help us increase brand awareness and customer loyalty. For this, it is appropriate to carry out the integration of our blogs with social networks, interact with other bloggers in order to connect with other professionals and build actively engaged relationships. If you want to know more, don’t miss this other entry on our blog What is Content Marketing?.
Street Marketing
The advertising overexposure to which we are subjected has made conventional advertising increasingly ineffective. Faced with this situation, marketers have been forced to jump-start their ingenuity and find new ways to attract consumers. One of the marketing tools that is giving great results is Street Marketing or Street Marketing.
Street Marketing is an advertising action that takes place in an urban environment (either on the street or in a shopping center). It mainly focuses on spontaneity and originality to generate customer interest. Street Marketing could be considered a logical evolution of the distribution of brochures or flyers.
5 steps to define an Engagement Marketing strategy
Define the target audience
You must select the segment, know it, know what they want, what their needs are; as well as discovering where they are and where to find them, in which social networks they move. In this way they will be offered what they are looking for, when they are looking for it and where they are looking for it.
Define the objective (s)
When creating a Marketing action, one of the main factors is knowing what you want to achieve, as well as defining it appropriately so that the entire team can act accordingly.
Interaction
It is the main factor in Engagement Marketing; since if what you want is to generate a strong and lasting relationship with consumers, interaction and communication with them will be the basis. At this point, social networks are very important, in which many conversations are established with followers; as well as Customer Service and Mailing.
Content Marketing
If valuable content is offered to consumers, entertaining or informing them, the relationship will be much closer than if it only seeks to sell the service or product. That is, the fundamental basis to achieve a commitment with the target audience is to offer them something of value, original, that contributes something new, or seems attractive to them, that interests them. All this so that you have the brand as a source of information, as a place to go to find out about things, or simply to entertain yourself.
Build customer loyalty
Another fundamental point in this type of action is to ensure that consumers are interested in continuing to consume with us. Either through promotional events, information services, facilitators of payment methods, etc. repeat customers must have benefits. Thus, for example, you can make discounts on upcoming sales, offer financing to partners, send emails with news, etc.
Conclusion: not everything is sales
Achieving deep engagement is more than just bringing attractive products or services to market. Therefore, the level of engagement depends on the consumer experience of the brand. However, it is not enough to maintain a commitment to our audience in a timely manner. To build a long and lasting relationship you have to be consistent. There must be a pattern of behavior that persists over time. Whose ultimate goal is to put the user at the center of the marketing strategy.
In short, to help customers be more reciprocal and loyal, digital marketing cannot be the same as the post-purchase phase. While there is no formula or strategy to guarantee 100% success, building a link from the beginning is just as important as extending it beyond the transaction.
You have to know our consumers, interact with their interests and maintain honest communication. A loyal customer doesn’t want you to sell them a product or service. He wants you to provide added value to the sale of that product or service.
In conclusion, if what you want is to generate an optimal Engagement Marketing strategy, the main point is to know who we are targeting and what objectives we have. To, based on this, offer creative, original and valuable content, which generates great confidence in the brand.
