The landscape of digital marketing is changing. In fact, it has always been changing and evolving, the trick is trying to stay on top of change and lasting trends. One of those lasting trends that I want to talk about and focus on for myself even, is the Instant marketing trend.
What is instant marketing? Well there are 2 aspects to this concept of Instant marketing and the best way to illustrate them is to think about how you consume media. The first part is about our expectation for “instant” as consumers. For example, if you have a problem like your toilet is backed up, you will probably google plumbers and hope to have a solution within minutes. The same goes for shopping with sites like Amazon really pushing that instant solution, and speedy delivery.
As consumers, we are all becoming increasingly demanding with our need for instant solutions to our problems, and as marketers we need to be aware of that, and cater to it.
The second aspect is how we actually use our devices. Statistics show that we are online a lot but that’s a total amount that is generally made up of many short bursts. So if you think about your day you probably looked at your phone when you had time. You might have spent 10 min here, 15 min there, checking social media, or shopping when you had a few minutes to spare.
Google actually coined the term “Micro-Moments” to define this behaviour of usage and demand that seems to only be getting more micro as digital media continues to evolve. The fact is that the window of time that advertisers have, to be in that right place at the right time, is becoming shorter and shorter.
Digital marketing may have always been considered “instant” but new channels and tools are making your regular Facebook posts look like a week old newspaper because of their increased immediacy. To stay on top of this trend we need to think micro, think instant, and even right now.
Here are 2 ways to stay on top of this and deliver your marketing to consumers in an effective way:
1. Live streaming
Live video is a very powerful tool that I have talked about before but I will say it again that you should be live streaming things like events, sales, and special promotions to cater to that “in the moment” mentality. You want your message to be shorter but more frequent and across more platforms. Live streaming is instant because it is happening right this moment and your followers will get notified when you go live.
2. Stories
Stories should also be a key focus for you in 2019. So Instagram and facebook stories for example that allow you to craft simple but short messages that disappear in 24hrs. These are capitalizing on the immediate with an added sense of urgency as the posts are usually deleted after 24hrs so it’s a great place to post about a sale that your followers won’t want to miss.
I for one have been late to jump on the story bandwagon for my own business but one of my resolutions for 2019 is to kick that into high gear. So stay tuned for next week when I talk more about stories, why they are effective and how to use them to your advantage. See you next week!
