How digitization is creating a larger-than-life experience for consumers

Digitization has blurred the once clearly defined line between the real world and the virtual world. We’ve moved quickly from an era of drooling over our favourite products and brands on billboards and outdoor hoardings, to now having larger-than-life experiences with brands in our living rooms or on our phones.

Consumers who are constantly checking their social media accounts follow every little detail and every product that comes from a brand. Brands, on the other hand, are closely watching consumer behaviour patterns and staying on their toes to meet the dynamic demands of their customers. What trends today is gone tomorrow; technology platforms are quickly becoming obsolete; customers are rejecting brands that don’t quickly adapt and live up to their demands— all these new norms came into being because of digitization.

Consumers today want larger-than-life experiences vis-a-vis their favourite brands. In addition to unlimited information and fresh and relevant content they devour on their digital devices, consumers also want emotion, drama, a feel-good experience, aspiration and inspiration drawn from the messaging their favourite brands give out through multiple digital platforms.

Here’s why digitization and larger-than-life consumer experiences are the new norm:

Consumer is King

Latest technology, social media and apps all revolve around consumers’ desires, and their loyalty is defined by how the brand makes them feel through the entire journey, beginning from their first contact with the brand. The customer is truly the king, pushing brands to give their all to create a larger-than-life experience through varied digital platforms for them.

Customers want to experience and connect with the brand on a higher level than just purchasing products. Brands today must not be afraid to experiment and come up with new and unique digital strategies.

After all, following the test-and-learn mantra enables a brand to enhance the digital consumer experience to extremely high and successful levels.

Choosing the right Platform

In an era where multiple digital platforms are available for all at any given time, the key to success for brands is to find a platform that is the perfect fit for their brand messaging. What works best? Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TVCs, or all of the above? Where do you see your brand getting the maximum mileage and recall value?

Brands that have an omni/multi-channel presence are able to let consumers continue their engagement with the brand from where they left off. That is because they are seamlessly linked to the brand, irrespective of which digital platform they use. To be able to identify and use the correct digital platform/s, brands must analyse and understand consumer behaviour accurately.

Around 63 percent of marketers today are actively investing in search engine optimization, while video is the number one form of media used in content marketing strategies. Facebook remains the most commonly use social media channel by marketers. Brands that invest in designing their own digital customer experience will always have an engaged and growing customer base.

New Technology and Marketing

A mix of the right marketing channels, a fool-proof digital marketing strategy that picks up the pulse of consumers and quick adaptability are all essential for a brand’s success in giving customers what they want. This helps brands retain their old customers, and attract new ones.

Some emerging digital marketing trends that brands are increasingly adopting to connect with their online consumers are:

Virtual Experience Marketing - largely used by jewellery, apparels and tourism brands to provide their consumers a personalised experience.

Chatbots - used for consumer services and personalised selling.

Video Marketing - with the use of smartphones consumers are consuming more video content than text content.

Influencer Marketing - a type of word-of-mouth marketing that focuses on using key leaders to amplify their brand message to a larger market.

Social Commerce & Shoppable Posts - are picking up to make consumers life easier. Tagging products on social channels directly reduce the amount of friction consumers have to experience to buy the products.

Interactive Content like puzzles and quizzes are being adopted to increase engagement.

Brands are investing in an extensive content bank that is not only social, but also on the ground with AR, AI and VR.