Whatever works to engage your customer!

Everybody in the advertising industry knows that everyday is harder to have curious customers who seek them out. Instead, companies need to push their brands to where and when the right people are ready. As a result, advertisers are continually expanding their efforts to get the attention of valuable consumers.

By taking a closer look at how consumers behave in various situations -- for instance, when they're watching TV or following a big event like the World Cup -- new advertising tactics and trends emerge.

According to Adam Kapel - senior VP-marketing and insights at Taykey, a real-time advertising technology company – consumers are increasingly unifying and integrating media behavior, like watching television while engaging with online content. Yet, at the same time, audiences consume digital media in an increasingly fragmented and sometimes randomized manner.

Advertisers must recognize these trends and ensure that their advertising efforts respond accordingly. How?

1- Making a bigger splash on the second screen

Many media brands are now playing with the second screen to see what consumers respond to.

Brands are getting great traction with those users. Rather than create their own conversations during popular TV shows, brands should tap into the conversations and trends that are already occurring online. Instead of joining the video experience of TV with the experience of an app, they might consider connecting the content watched by the viewer with the subsequent conversations it produces.

For instance, a primary sponsor of CBS' summer hit "Under the Dome" could maximize its TV advertising by taking advantage of audience engagement before, during and after the show airs. Conversations about TV shows spike around the show's air time, so it makes sense to advertise on social networks during those times to capture ongoing conversations. However, because only some viewers talk about a show on social networks in real-time, brands should also deploy display and video ads where viewers are likely to do research, share opinions or otherwise engage throughout the show in order to capture a higher percentage of show viewers.

2. Dealing with fragmented consumer attention

Consumer behavior is fragmented and completely random, making consumers more difficult to reach via traditional targeting and contextual media approaches. Companies should look to the consumer for a new advertising idea; rather than clustering an audience around static profile interests like sports, finance or cooking.

Take the World Cup as an example, which produced many story lines we never could have predicted. Who would have thought that biting would generate so many memes?

Advertisers should think of the World Cup as a series of smaller events that emerge, expand and decay throughout the tournament -- exciting wins, dramatic losses, injuries and last-second goals. There are opportunities for brands to be present around each of these trends to target their core audiences.

3. Making sense of consumer chaos

Ultimately, these new advertising practices are driven by audience behavior that occurs "in the moment" and cannot be captured by a static profile. They answer the question, "How are we going to get closer to what our audience cares about right now?" rather than basing ad placements on the past.

Source: www.adage.com