Understanding Your Prospective Customer & How They Internet

There is no cookie-cutter approach for digital marketing strategies. What’s best or what a company “should” be doing really depends on their goals, personality, and most importantly–their consumer. Whether the strategies you select are effective are almost always directly linked to how your consumer responds to them. And in order to set those in motion, you have to have an understanding of how your prospective customer interacts with the internet.

If you’re considering what digital strategies are a good fit for you, here are some questions to ask yourself as you begin planning.

desktop or mobile
What kind of device is your target audience using most frequently? While this question used to be limited to a desktop or a phone, today the options continue to expand. We now have to ask the question, are they on a computer, phone, tablet, television, gaming device, smart speaker or other? And ‘other’ is expanding every day.

search and social
When your user is on the internet, where are they most likely to interact with an ad and what type of an ad will be most effective? This is where you really need to step into the shoes of your prospective customer. Ask yourself, what’s their purchase process and how will the internet play a role? For instance, are they researchers who will seek out product information online? Think through the types of information they will need in order to feel confident in making their purchase. What search engine would they use? Will video play a role in their research? Their age, available devices, comfort level with the internet and technology, and approach to their decision making process all play a role in the best digital strategies for getting in front of your target audience.

non-traditional
Digital used to be the non-traditional form of media as opposed to television. Like the devices people use, digital continues to expand beyond the web and social media to platforms such as connected TV, Podcast advertising, messaging apps, immersive gaming, and the list of available platforms continues to expand all the time. Where do you need to be to best engage with your prospective customer?

There are a lot of variables to consider as you investigate your target audience, where they use the internet, and how they interact with it. Understanding these variables will help you track better data and make your digital strategies all the more effective.

Go forth. Go Digital.

-cohort.crew