CONTEXT MARKETING
Updated: Nov 24
Author: Aneta Pokrivčáková
Date of Publication: 09/05/2022
Content is all around us. From billboards to television and mobile phones. Therefore, it's almost impossible to avoid marketing advertisements trying to make us buy something or use a certain service.
Moreover, many would agree that marketing, nowadays, creates content overload. This fact makes it even harder for companies to engage with customers and to retain them. Indeed, the online environment is full of interesting marketing products that reach different customers every day. What’s more, one of the hardest challenges facing marketers nowadays is to stand out. This is because anyone can create digital content cheaply and at any time.
Why is it important to focus on context marketing in your business?
In the digital area the term “context marketing” is nothing new. Yet, plenty of businesses struggle to understand why it is so important and how to actually use it.
You have probably received plenty of emails advertising some company's newsletters after you bought something from them once. It probably also reached a point when the information you were receiving was irrelevant, or even spamming.
The problem is that we usually receive too much information and we end upignoring most of it. Therefore, for marketers, applying context is key if they want to be seen and succeed in the congested market of content.
What context exactly is and how to use it to engage clients?
The point of content is to provide a receiver with information that is interesting and useful. Context, on the other hand, refers to the circumstances that form the setting for and understanding of an event, statement, or idea.
Content and context go hand in hand. When we combine the two, we can say that context marketing is all about showing customers the right content at the right time. It is subject to the questions of when and why the information is delivered. This means that, in marketing, it is important to deliver a message that speaks to a person's interests and needs (why) at a specific time in their life (when).
However, the real value of content matters only when it meets customers’ expectations. In other words, it is important to be relevant to what a customer is looking for.
The benefits of targeting your customers’ needs for your business include:
Development of a more focused digital marketing strategy
Increased conversion rates (e.g. sales)
Better quality lead generation
Increased customer retention, loyalty and advocacy
Basic principles to help incorporate context to your digital marketing strategy
The truth is that there's no winning formula. In particular, context marketing is about various tools that work together on one goal: to attract customers. What’s more, each person will respond to marketing messages differently, in different communication contexts.
In scale, applying context marketing requires:
thoughtfulness
strategic thinking
data and technology
The first thing you, as a marketer, should do is to communicate from the perspective of your clients and put their needs upon your own. This simple change in your behavior and thinking will build a strong base to foster better relationships with your customers.
There are also some fundamental principles that you should use in your business if you are to be successful. These include:
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
In order to successfully create meaningful content and deliver it at the right time, you need to know who you are talking to. As a good marketer, you need to find out what your customers intentions, expectations, and problems are, and how you can help them.
UNIFY MARKETING ELEMENTS
Blog articles, Instagram posts, YouTube videos and ads can each achieve a communication goal. At the same time, if you can make these elements work in concert, each piece of communication will add onto the others. This in turn will facilitate the coordination of your communication objectives, messages, channels and context.
COLLECT AND ANALYZE DATA
Context marketing requires a lot of data. We can agree that data is almost as valuable as the insides it generates. Indeed, in the last decade, rapid advancements in data and analytics have allowed digital marketing to track, understand, and predict customer behavior.
PERSONALIZE
Good context marketing cannot be superficial. Good salesmen must be conscientious, empathetic, and must genuinely care for their customers’ needs. This translates into personalizing a message or service for the purpose of helping customers and establishing a trusting bond with them.
BE PATIENT
Context marketing requires testing and optimization. Each time a customer doesn't respond to your marketing efforts as planned, it gives you an opportunity to change and improve. Collect and analyze more data! This will lead to a better understanding of your customers and what they want.