Whether utilising the latest trends and forecasts or exploiting new algorithms and digital disruptions, it goes without saying that every marketing specialist, strategy and science requires a deep-rooted understanding of consumer and purchase behaviour.
It is often said that you will experience greater evolution over the course of the next five years than the 25 years prior, and with consumer values, influences and behaviours seamlessly shifting at the flick of a switch, it’s no different when it comes to content marketing. So, what’s new today in the chameleonic marketing world?
Google’s consumer insights team have been busy decoding consumer decisions to make sense of what they declare the ‘Messy Middle’, whereby consumers and prospects are triggered into an increasingly independent exploration and evaluation phase within the consumer purchasing journey.
‘The Messy Middle’ reveals the riddance of just one single consumer journey in modern-marketing, and as digital continues to assert itself within the marketing landscape things are expected to get a whole lot messier… With vast amounts of information, data and benchmarks readily available at our fingertips, no longer can we optimise one individual journey for the consumer. Modern consumers spend an increasing amount of time absorbing as much information about a product or service to determine what’s best for them, with endless sources making consumer monitoring and messaging a mission for marketeers.
But what does all this mean? Well, this is where it’s the role of the marketeer to process the influences of their prospective consumers and ultimately identify the different stimuli behind their purchasing decisions. The journey is no longer a production line, but a lucrative loop where brands can continue to surprise and satisfy their customers at any point along the consumer journey, targeting their audiences’ passions, preferences and, well, purses.
Armed with an extensive understanding of the consumer, marketers must now develop personal connections with consumers amidst the marketing minefield to trigger prospective buyers into the exploration and evaluation stage, an increasingly independent stage where purchases can only be strategically manifested by brands through longer-term, continual brand-building.
With these findings, marketeers must now revaluate their existing content strategies and ensure that messages and meanings evolve around deeper triggers and cues, ultimately keeping prospects within the loop, complementing their consumer values and fulfilling their purchasing needs.
Click here to discover a few approaches to get you started.
