You know what it's like: Every day you have small conversations with colleagues and business partners in which you talk about everyday topics in an informal and relaxed manner. Whether you're a software developer at the Full Service Agency in Zurich, a marketing manager at the company in Hamburg or at the Drupal Developers Conference in New York, small talk in business serves to break the ice, stay in touch, exchange ideas and discover similarities.
If Small Talks are conducted regularly, the dialogue helps to get to know each other better and better and thus remains in the memory of their counterparts for longer. The short conversations often lead to concrete ideas for cooperation, so that small talk periods during meetings are deliberately planned as a fixed point in the process.
Understanding marketing activation as "small talk" with the customer
What works in the B2B area is also successful for your customers. Imagine that you regularly have short conversations with your customers. You would not only anchor your brand firmly in their perception, but also get to know your customers better and better. Nothing else is meant to be achieved by the process of marketing activation.
However, there are challenges to overcome, as a recent study shows.
Here’s a study on the challenges of digitizing the customer journey
The study by the Brand Science Institute (BSI) on "Digital Activation Journey" presented in January 2019 makes it clear that 70 % of digital activation measures still fail to reach their target. Two thirds of the 1,300 consumers surveyed stated that the purchasing process was not very informative due to the high proportion of repetitive information and that it offered little added value for them as interested parties.
The reason for this is a lack of coordination between the touchpoints, so that the same information is often simply played into all channels. This is frustrating for customers who want to experience as much information as possible in different formats on their customer Journey’s.
The challenge is therefore to design the information process in such a way that the customer can always experience new aspects, information and insights about the product.
Software development for the digitalization of marketing activation programs
Whether you are an entrepreneur, a software developer or the head of a full service agency, you often don't have the opportunity to talk to each and every one of your clients personally on a regular basis. However, a tailor-made software development offers you many opportunities to involve your customers in a "digital small talk" during their customer journey. To be successful, digital marketing activation must be an integral part of a company's marketing plan:
Marketing activation refers to the process of executing the marketing mix as part of a company's marketing plan. Ideally, marketing activation is a phase that takes place as the last of a three-phase process.
Planning phase:
Examination of all marketing activities and identification of all relevant online platforms for their success with the target groups.
Feedback phase:
Analysis of the results from the planning phase in order to determine the optimal Channel mix. Assignment of the selected online platforms to the individual Purchasing processes.
Marketing Activation:
Planning of the content for the presentation of the individual channels for the development of a suitable marketing approach. Coordination of the individual touch points with the marketing approach, in order to achieve a coherent and meaningfully interlocking to receive a digital customer journey.
Conclusion: In software development, information processes must interlock seamlessly.Marketing activation is an information process that resembles the course of a small talk in many facets: you introduce yourself, tell stories, ask questions and identify common interests. As with small talk, when digitally activating your potential customers, it is essential that you make the "conversation" varied and informative in order to leave a lasting impression on the other person and to get to know his or her needs and interests.
When developing software for your Customer Journey, make sure that the information process is as varied as possible and use the formats and channels that best suit your target groups.
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