Modern consumers are digitally literate, highly-savvy customers who can spot false advertising and seek authentic brands that support social causes. This sentiment is echoed by data collated by the Harvard Business Review, which shows that 70% of consumers say companies should make the world a better place, and that 25% say they will not buy from unethical businesses.
Most American consumers also say businesses should support key social, environmental, and political issues. However, 54% say they’ve chosen to stop buying from a business because of their stance on divisive issues. This highlights the complexity of the challenge facing marketers today.
As a marketer, you can build your appeal amongst modern consumers by supporting popular causes that align with your environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. This will help you build a brand based on authenticity and will ensure that you sidestep accusations of greenwashing or deception.
Collecting Consumer Data
The way consumers buy from businesses is changing. Today, more Americans use smartphones, laptops, and tablets to shop, and one in three Americans use their smartphone to shop every week. The migration towards online shopping is great news for marketers, as it makes it that much easier to gather relevant consumer data for your brand. When collecting consumer data, focus on gathering insights like:
- Identifying information like names and email addresses
- Engagement metrics like average time on page, bounce rate, and pages per session
- Demographic data to aid segmentation efforts
- Relevant lead scoring metrics like traffic source, pages visited, and sign-ups for webinars or discounts
Collecting this information will help you understand your customers and will aid your efforts to create a relevant, engaging campaign for prospective customers. For example, if you discover that your consumer base is typically younger folks who arrive from social sites like Instagram, you may want to create an influencer marketing campaign to capture the attention of prospective consumers.
You can also use consumer data to better understand your customer’s opinions on topics like sustainability and social causes. This is key, as throwing your weight behind an issue like climate change can increase customer loyalty and help you create a stronger connection with your consumers.
Sustainability
Championing sustainability is increasingly important for brands that want to connect with younger customers. Developing progressive policies to combat global warming can make your business more resilient in the face of climate events like droughts, floods, and storms.
Showing that you’re serious about sustainability and climate resilience can aid reputation management efforts, too. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the state of the climate and will back businesses that are open about their impact on the world at large. Sharing the progress of your efforts via social media, press releases, and sustainability reports can deepen your connection with climate-conscious consumers and will serve you well in years to come.
However, before you start rebranding your firm as eco-friendly and buying green boxes for your products, you need to ensure that your company is genuinely sustainable. Failing to take meaningful steps to reduce your carbon footprint will draw the ire of savvy consumers who can spot the signs of greenwashing. Rather than obscuring your actual impact, be honest about your shortcomings and provide transparent data about your current impact. This will help you build trust and aid your efforts to build a more climate-conscious company.
Community Connection
Connecting with your local community is a great way to raise the profile of your brand and build a positive buzz around your business. Hosting community events like clean-ups and barbecues is a great way to enhance your reputation as a socially responsible company in the area, too. You can master community event marketing by:
- Define your goals and create a timeline for your event to ensure that you secure venues, partners, and sponsors before publicly advertising the event.
- Identify your audience and use targeted messaging to connect with the customers you’d like to see at your event.
- Explore new marketing channels like radio stations and local newspapers to build interest in the local area.
- Seek sponsors and partnerships to raise your profile and generate funding for your event.
- Use data collection strategies like email marketing to send attendees post-event surveys.
Following these steps will build interest in your event and help raise the profile of your business. Partnering with well-regarded charitable organizations can aid your efforts to create a trustworthy, community-oriented brand image in the area, too. This is crucial if you’re new to the area and want to engage modern consumers who care about supporting socially responsible businesses.
Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing is a cost-effective way to connect with your consumers over whatever channel they prefer. Embracing omnichannel marketing is crucial if you work with a wide range of demographics and need to appeal to both those who prefer to shop in person and those who like making purchases online.
You can start utilizing omnichannel marketing by creating campaigns that foreground your company’s values. Marketing with values in mind is a great way to boost the effectiveness of your omnichannel efforts, as you’ll be able to reuse the same graphics, quotes, and statistics across a wide range of marketing materials.
Ideally, these omnichannel strategies should integrate seamlessly with one another. For example, if a consumer buys a product from your brick-and-mortar store, you should be able to record that purchase on your CRM just as if they’d bought from your online site. This increases the accuracy of your data and gives you a deeper understanding of modern consumer preferences. This is an approach championed by big brands, too, including:
- Nike: Nike uses apps like the Run Club to record consumer’s use of their products and enhance the brand experience. This improves the brand visibility and helps them record key consumer data.
- Sephora: Beauty giant Sephora uses in-app purchases and bookings to record customer behavior and recommend products to consumers. Folks who sign up for the app also receive loyalty rewards and exclusive deals.
- Best Buy: Best Buy’s mobile app allows customers to scan a product’s barcode and buy it directly from their phone. This enhances the in-person shopping experience and aids their efforts to collect consumer data.
Crucially, the apps that power your omnichannel marketing should enhance the consumer experience and add meaningful value to their lives. This means you may offer exclusive deals to those who sign up for your app, or utilize personalized marketing strategies to help shoppers find the products they’re looking for.
Conclusion
Building your appeal amongst modern consumers requires a data-driven, sustainable approach to marketing. You can’t expect to land loyal customers if you don’t provide a top-notch customer experience and should be prepared to invest in the community when you open a new store or want to build a buzz around a new product. This will enhance your efforts to engage modern consumers and will supercharge your next marketing campaign.
Featured image by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
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