The relationship between brands and consumers is no longer what it once was. The dynamic has fundamentally shifted.
Consumers are more connected than ever before; more connected to brands and more connected to commerce.
They are, what is known as, hyper-connected.
The hyper-connected customer is a new breed of consumer. They don’t just want brands who actively participate in their lives, they want brands who deeply know and understand them – their needs, their wants, their challenges, and goals.
That’s why in the age of the hyper-connected consumer, delivering a consistent and hyper-personalised brand experience is key.
The growth of the internet has meant more consumers are hyperconnected across multiple devices, ranging from mobiles and smart devices to desktops and laptops, Fitbit, Apple watches and even home gadgets like Alexa.
And, while this brings about huge opportunities for marketers to connect with consumers across multiple platforms, it also brings forward the issue of effectively engaging with customers across an increasingly fractured customer experience.
The question becomes: how can marketers and companies find a way to communicate a unified, consistent and engaging customer experience across multiple devices, channels and formats?
This idea was discussed at B&T and Outfit’s recent roundtable event, where fifteen leading industry minds and marketers joined together to discuss all things marketing and brand management and consistency.
One of the key takeaways from the discussion was that success lies in creating a consistent brand and hyper-personalised experience that is delivered in a highly authentic way.
Yet how do marketers bridge the gap between what they believe customers want and the truth of what customers actually want?
Firstly, brand consistency.
Customers are expecting more from every experience with brands, and the new generation of business leaders expect marketing to deliver demonstrable revenue growth.
When your brand is consistent, you’re no longer trying to convince consumers to buy from you. Your brand becomes synonymous with your product experience. The flow-on effect of this is that when consumers see your branding, they are already thinking about making their next purchase from you without you even having to try to sell a product to them.
Brand consistency also makes your brand more dependable. For example, if your social media voice is fun and cheeky, but your product package is plain, you’re sending a mixed message that will make consumers question if they can trust your brand. When all of your branding aligns and is consistent, it sends a message to consumers that you are dependable.
Furthermore, brand consistent is synonymous with trust. A large part of engaging with consumers and hitting the right pain points is making them feel like they know your brand, and that you know them. It helps consumers feel like they can trust your brand.
What many brands don’t realise is that providing consumers with a dependable and consistent experience across your entire martech stack is just as effective and important as putting out a dependable product. A seamless, consistent look and feel across your entire brand will make consumers more likely to purchase from you again.
Yet generating a consistent brand for hyper-connected consumers can be a challenge, which is why Outfit was created.
Outfit automates the production of digital and print marketing materials with flexible, constraints-based templates. It was born out of a need identified across large organisations to gain more control over their brand, while empowering teams to produce more quality material, faster, in widely distributed locations.
Secondly, personalisation, and more specifically, hyper-personalisation is vital to bridging the gap between what marketers think consumers want, and what they actually want. And, when moving towards hyper-personalisation, you need the right technologies to support that, such as Outfit.
The takeaway? The future of the digital era is all about brand consistency and hyper-personalisation. The success of your brand depends on planning, structuring and aligning your content around the customer. Having a consistent brand experience that’s personalised across your entire martech stack will ultimately improve customer experience, company performance and a boost in revenue.
