A: Um, everything. Duh.
eMarketer (via Cone) recently considered this question across a number of different categories (including many of our clients’ industries), and the results are unanimously un-unanimous. The data suggests that consumers want information and entertainment, and incentives, and a forum for feedback, and even marketing in these “new media” spaces. (Demanding, aren’t they?)
While there are some subtle variations by category, perhaps the most startling conclusion from this study is that “incentives” are not the overwhelmingly-dominant response. Sure, incentives were the most popular response for categories like food/beverage and CPG, but really don’t rank that much higher than requests for new ways to interact with a brand. And, for telecom and automotive brands, consumers would rather get help and good customer service than receive discounts.
Well then! Lots of good news here for marketers. The first point is old news: there are plenty of other (and far better!) ways to engage with your consumers besides taking a machete to your prices. (In fact, we’ll come back to that in our next post.) But, the other big takeaway is that there are a variety of effective strategies for connecting to your consumers in the online space, and your brand needs to find the proper mixture of all of them in order to succeed.
Of course, had you read Trend #7 – Consumer Controlled Conversations – in our 10 Trends for 2010, you’d have known that already. To reiterate, these folks are doing just fine at “expressing themselves” online, and don’t need your brand’s help. Here’s what they do want: they want you to improve their experience with your products and services. They want to give you meaningful feedback on how to improve that experience. They sometimes want you to entertain them, and they don’t mind if you market to them, and of course they’ll never turn down a discount or freebie.
In other words, they want everything they’d get from a real relationship with your brand. Trying to limit this conversation to a single tactic just won’t do. In the end, a comprehensive, integrated marketing strategy is just as important online as it is in the offline world.
That answer your question?
