How digital marketing is changing consumer behaviour and why is it happening?

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.” – Marcus Aurelius

This quote by Marcus Aurelius tells you to look back for a moment and notice why certain empires flourished while the others failed. This not only tells us about the past but also a lot about the future. We don’t have empires anymore, but we do have business empires out there. While some are flourishing and having the best time in the market, there are others that are struggling to find enough customers.

With the digital age, a lot of things around us are evolving, and one thing that no digital marketing agency can underestimate is the evolution of the consumer’s behaviour in this digital age.

But the question is not only about how this changing consumer behaviour is going to influence digital marketing, but also why is it so important? The communication channels in digital marketing are constantly evolving. Due to this and the easy access to information, consumer behaviour is constantly changing.

Let us take a look at how this is happening:

Search Engine Optimisation is the key

Being the most primary source of digital traffic, it requires more attention and work in order to be noticed and eventually have better customer reach and engagement.

SEO applies to each and every marketing channel out there and it can act as a link between these channels to figure out what works best for the brand. Due to the importance it is given, there are several agencies out there dedicated to solely offering SEO services. An SEO agency helps you optimise your website and content and create a better presence online.

Social Media is not just entertainment

Social Media channels are another important aspect of how consumers are changing in the digital age. A social media platform not only provides a customer with entertainment and information but it now also allows the customers to buy products directly from social media without having to even visit an online store.

Companies have been successful at getting in touch with their customers on social media and use this opportunity to develop a relationship with them and at the same time offer a catalogue of their products, using a more casual approach. Consumers love it when they can feel a certain connection with what a brand is showing online. Social media is all about this connection. Brands need to start telling better stories in order to attract the right kind of customers.

Advertising is changing

There are several ways of advertising a product, but one of the best and most efficient ways of doing that in 2020 is by the way of PPC Marketing or Pay-Per-Click advertising. PPC campaigns are changing the way brands advertise their products.

Apart from advertising through social media channels, brands make use of Google Ads, which is one of the most popular PPC platforms. There are agencies out there that are dedicated to offering PPC management services that can help oversee the entire budget and PPC ad strategy for a company.

Analytics and cracking consumer behaviour

Analytics is basically an understanding of business practices. It helps you understand what a customer is browsing, how many customers visited your site, what products they are looking for etc.

These analytics help you decide which audience to target on and what kind of marketing strategies to create. An SEO agency or team can help a brand or organisation in tracking and understanding their analytics.

Why is this happening?

They want what they want and they want it quick. Customers today are in need of a variety of products and services on a daily basis and they are busier than ever to actually take out the time to step out and look for these things. They now prefer to look it up online where they know they will be given more options than they can imagine and at the end of it they will find something that they have been looking for.

Customers are well-informed. Thanks to the digitisation of almost everything surrounding us, customers have become more aware and are constantly informed with minute-by-minute updates on every little thing. This offers certain leverage to customers, which was missing before the digital age.

Customers enjoy the more personalised engagement. One of the biggest changes and challenges faced by companies in digital marketing is that customers have started to expect a constant and more personalised experience. These customers might not be the most loyal of the lot. But each customer coming to you will have figured out all the different aspects from price to quality to after-sale service etc. They expect you to treat them in a way that all their requirements are satisfied. There are many companies out there that have been successful in creating a more personalised approach and digitally marketing this to their customers in order to suit their tastes.

Why is this important?

Lacking or failing to understand the importance of consumer behaviour in the digital age can severely damage a brand. Every successful brand out there didn’t crack the code to understand their customers in one go. The current change of trends in consumer behaviour tells us a lot about what our customers expect of us. As a brand, you need to live up to these expectations, that’s the only way.

Key Takeaways

A lot has changed in the past few months, both digitally and in reality. The same kind of change is expected in the near future. What we need to do is keep a track of what these changes are and how quickly and easily we can adapt to them. The way we’ve been taking the help of each other with the changes happening in the world, the same way we can get help for the changes happening in the digital marketing space. There are some really good digital marketing or SEO agencies out there that can offer help and help your business reach its maximum potential.

Nilesh Patel is author at LeraBlog. The author’s views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views and opinions of LeraBlog staff.