Jay Leonard
Recently a conversation with a friend turned to marketing, as every conversation does naturally. The main point of the conversation was the issue of marketing a business with a physical presence in a digital format. It’s a topic I’ve spoken about before, giving a tangible product a tangible digital presence.
The conversation came back to the fear that traditional bricks-and-mortar are limited to traditional marketing techniques. But this doesn’t have to be; in fact bricks-and-mortar businesses can thrive with some opportunistic digital marketing.
Moments That Matter
The latest research from Google and Nielsen has brought to light some interesting facts about consumer behavior. Participants logged both their search activity and their purchasing activity and comparing the data side by side reveals how much of a part online searching plays in purchasing behavior.
The report focused on mobile searches, drawing little distinction between searching on the go and searching at home or at work in the final results. The figures championed the finding that mobile searches had the uncanny ability to trigger follow-up actions, three out of four searches do so.
Mobile searches boast an impressive 55% conversion rate within the first hour. These follow up actions could be visiting the store they have just searched for, calling the store, visiting the website or sharing information about the store.
I’ve seen this happen, I’ve done this myself. I heard about a nail bar, searched it, immediately told a friend about what I had found and have since been to said nail bar 3 times to date.
Search Opportunities
Think of how often you perform a search on a mobile device. You might check a menu of a restaurant, the opening hours of a pharmacy or check if that pair of shoes you’ve had your eye on are still in stock. You more than likely set out with a goal, right? Well at least 45% of the time you are according to the search.
Goal oriented searches are when businesses have the opportunity to convert window shoppers into loyal customers. In fact shopping queries are twice as likely to occur while the customer is in the store.
Mobile searches play a big part in our decision-making. In a way, taking on the role of the sales assistant, and just like your in-store sales assistant you want to make sure they’re providing the right information and driving that sale.
Marketing Solutions
If there was ever the right time to namedrop SEO it would be now. The best presence a business can have online is there place in search results. As we’ve seen search results produce tangible results themselves and they do so incredibly quickly.
In fact speed is of the essence. 81% of mobile searches are driven by the speed and convenience of the action. So the information has to come across just as quickly.
Following on from the Google/Nielsen research, eConsultancy were right to point out that bricks-and-mortar are failing to take advantage of the potential mobile searches hold. From optimizing websites to paid campaigns there is so much that could be done that isn’t being done. What will more than likely happen is that those few who do take the initiative to dive into some strategic digital marketing will soon out perform the majority who don’t.
Often times, trying to come up with a digital marketing strategy whether it’s its for search engine optimization or online advertising the best approach is to look at our own behavior. We know what we want to learn when we look for a business online, so why not make sure that information is there about our own businesses?
People don’t just search for digital businesses online, so why should digital marketing be exclusive too?
If this has got you thinking about your Online Marketing Strategy why not take the first step towards planning it and download our free whitepaper.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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I’m perpetually amazed at the number of companies out there who don’t seem to want to capitalize on the mobile revolution – or even have a presence online! It’s absolutely insane, and yet businesses every single day aren’t capitalizing on the power of the web – maybe they don’t start because of the research which says that they don’t know what they’re doing? Who knows?