Simple answer: consumers want it. Consumer expectations around the capabilities and interfaces of handsets, PCs, netbooks, DVRs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, game consoles and TVs have changed. Now, consumers embrace connected devices as a way to simplify their lives. The web on a PC gave us access to any information or content we desire. Mobile handsets added the benefits of immediacy and portability to the equation. Today, simplification for the customer seems to be focused on adding multiple functionalities to one device and creating a cohesive experience across multiple devices. Some basic examples include:
- Purchasing songs on iTunes and listening to those songs on your iPod or in your car. (Much easier than carrying around 200 CDs.)
- Selecting a Netflix movie from your queue on your PC or handset and watching it on your TV. (The other option is driving to the nearest store.)
- Receiving emails through a BlackBerry while on the road. (Makes responding to an urgent question easy.)
Consumer electronics manufacturers know that only useful and usable products sell. They also know that the era of launching siloed products is over because part of making compelling products is making them capable of easily synching with other devices. Ultimately, the manufacturers that are most successful will be the ones who can best understand consumer challenges and who create content experiences that the consumer will find useful and usable enough to purchase.
This serves as an opportunity for ALL brands. Whenever consumers expect to be able to do something that will make their lives easier, the brands that allow them to do so will meet or exceed expectations. For example, Pizza Hut was one of the first companies to create a compelling pizza ordering app for the iPhone. The app has been downloaded over a million times and for many customers is now the preferred method of ordering pizza. The means of access to information or branded entertainment can be a differentiator.
Moving forward, integrated digital marketing strategies will go far beyond a web or even a mobile strategy. If we see a customer need or expectation that is not being met, it’s our job to do so using the method that is easiest for the customer. Research from Forrester and eMarketer as well as the examples discussed earlier all indicate that the connected age is not coming: it’s here. That is why the connected home concept matters to consumer electronics manufacturers and all other brands. Developing digital strategies that include multiple devices requires an understanding of cross-channel branded experiences, technology platforms, application development and the consumer… all things we’ve got a strong pulse on here at LEVEL.
Garret Colburn’s lucid post on the increasing expectation of cross-channel branded experience, notes that “manufacturers that are most successful will be the ones who can best understand consumer challenges and who create content experiences that the consumer will find useful and usable enough to purchase.”
In the B2B space, content also plays a similar role, and its growing influence, some say, portends the end of the B2B sales process as we know it. In a CMO study done in 2008, 80% of those surveyed indicated that they sought and found the vendor, not the other way around. With the growth of search, websites, social media, content syndication, and other digital resources, buyers do not need to engage with a sales representative until late in the sales cycle. The standard purchasing chain of awareness, discovery, and validation is now self-service enabling prospects to learn about companies, clients, products, and technologies, long before engaging with a live person.
Prospects have always seen ads, read press coverage, and responded to direct marketing. But with the steady growth of online media and the social ecosystem, decision-making information is readily available through video, social dialog, podcasts, webinars, demos, Flash presentations, white papers, etc. The result is prospects moving towards companies providing useful, relevant information, and considering them first when developing a short list (to the exclusion of all others).
Content delivers answers to prospect investigations, but also provides enticement for lead generation, creates social buzz, extends the life of valuable concepts, prolongs site visits, offers a corporate point of view, and thought leadership.
Sales people present content to match a prospect’s needs, role, and level of engagement. Content can be developed in a similar manner by considering how the content will play at any given stage in the buying process. But in practice, prospects will happen upon content randomly and self-select on that which they find relevant. So content development needs to address all points in the sales cycle including corporate branding, awareness, product features/benefits, lead acquisition, conversion, validation, and even direct sales (if appropriate). For more on aligning content with brand objectives, see http://www.doubleclick.com/insight/pdfs/The_Brand_Value_of_Rich_Media_and_Video_Ads.pdf
Content alone will not preclude the need for personal selling. But with prospects engaging sales representatives increasingly later in the buying process, content will increase social dialog, generate web traffic, self-qualify prospect inquiries, and answer questions Sales may never have a chance to field.
Peter Gum - 12/8/09 11:09 AM