Today we hear more and more about real-time marketing. You too have probably already at least heard of him. Although it is an approach that has only been used for a few years, it is spreading rapidly on the web.
How come? Before answering this and other questions, let’s start immediately by seeing in detail what real-time marketing is and what it is for. We will then see some real-time marketing examples together and we will understand together how it works, why it is causing discussion and is achieving great success.
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What is real-time marketing?
A definition of real-time marketing describes it as a company’s approach to the market which consists in promptly responding to external events or stimuli. In essence, these are on-the-fly web marketing actions specifically designed to respond in real-time to a specific temporary situation. The ultimate goal of the company/brand is therefore to be reactive toward people’s interest in a topic or trend and the resulting “chatter” (the so-called buzz) to obtain visibility and consensus.
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Why is real-time marketing important?
Real-time marketing means linking communication to a theme, an argument, or a fact that is already much discussed (mainly on the web) with the advantage of being inserted in a natural and relevant way in the conversation flow. Impossible (or almost) to program, it relies on monitoring, creativity, and timing. It requires companies that want to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity offered by the mechanisms and ramifications of online conversations to be “always on the spot”.
To do real-time marketing (also called instant marketing) you need to pay close attention to the facts that happen every day and which, naturally, become trend topics. By exploiting the natural virality of the topic, of the discussion, the company can obtain great visibility. Everything is or can be an opportunity. Provided that the fact that triggered the conversation is relevant to your audience, that you have a brilliant and original message to use, and that this activity is in line with the tone of voice that usually characterizes corporate communication.
This activity must necessarily be part of an overall strategy: riding a trending topic just to say “we’re here too” is perfectly useless. The goal is to take advantage of that opportunity for immediate visibility to convey the personality, style, and the very essence of the brand to the people to whom it is addressed.
Therefore, at first glance, the definition seems to describe something sudden, i.e. unplanned or plannable. In reality, there are already several events in which real-time marketing can also be planned by anticipating the creation of the message that the company will disseminate once the event has taken place. Surely, the proposed definition is the one that still best describes real-time marketing in its most used approach.
How real-time marketing is used
With the spread of the internet, social networks, and more generally of new communication tools (for example mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets) the needs and requirements of consumers have changed, adapting to the times. Today’s multimedia environment offers new and different stimuli at every instant. Through social media marketing, it is possible to take advantage of these opportunities, and instant marketing works in this sense.
Numerous companies have already been aware of these dynamics for some time and have adapted using the new digital channels available. They, therefore, try to exploit topics or situations that generate interactions among users of a channel’s community. Often, even, it is not even a single event but various online strategies planned by a brand to get people talking about themselves. It is easy to imagine how social networks are the privileged channels of dissemination in real-time marketing.
The main techniques of real-time marketing
Let’s be clear: timing on an event, trend, or topic of reference is fundamental. Even more important is the quality of the content proposed by the brand. A real-time marketing campaign is successful when a brand manages to effectively convey its values using originality, authenticity, synthesis, and timeliness knowing how to take advantage of the moment. Conversely, creating content of little interest to users of the web, a social network, or a community, or, even worse, using an inauspicious moment, can also result in a crazy flop.
Finally, it is appropriate to consider the society we live in today and the simultaneity of the contents that people enjoy every day. In a world where haste and impatience reign (when getting information or consulting content, going on social networks, etc.), it is important to arrive on time to satisfy the needs of users.
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Different methods and approaches of real-time marketing
As mentioned before, real-time marketing is not only linked to breaking news or certain external events to which a company decides to refer. Despite the classic definition still being widely used, some marketers today speak of multiple possible techniques and definitions of real-time marketing. Later we will have the opportunity to see the different facets that this strategy has acquired in recent years.
For example, some companies have begun to operate with various methods and approaches, depending on the interests and objectives they had. These are activities related to real-time marketing. Let’s look at them briefly:
- Sending “Triggered Mail” (I suggest you learn more about what a trigger is by reading this article);
- Media coverage of promotional events;
- Real-time tweeting of shows, events, concerts, demonstrations, etc.;
- Social Media Engagement;
- Geolocation strategies.
Therefore, several closely related areas are involved: communication, traditional marketing, but also SEO, and the world of social media. The result is a rather complex marketing strategy, which requires various skills but also good transversality.
Real-time marketing is certainly capable of returning excellent results if applied correctly. As reported by a survey on Brafton 59% of marketers said they intended to use these techniques more and more in the future. This is because they have realized the excellent results that can be achieved.
Altimeter’s study on real-time marketing
If you have followed me carefully up to here in reading, in the meantime you may have asked yourself: how can real-time marketing strategies be classified? What research has been done on this? These questions can be answered by quoting a famous Altimeter study. According to the guidelines provided by this study, real time marketing strategies are developed by combining 4 variables that intersect on 2 levels :
- reactive/proactive,
- planned/unplanned.
6 types of Real-Time Marketing
Based on these variables, the 6 distinct types of real-time marketing that can be implemented by a company have been identified :
- Brand Events: All events organized by a company (e.g. product launch or conference organization, etc.)
- Anticipated Events: These are events that you can schedule, such as calendar holidays, shows, or other types of events
- Location/Object-Based: all types of marketing campaigns based on geolocation, creating personalized messages depending on where the target users are.
- Predictive Analytics Based: predictive analysis allows, through the collection of sensitive data, to understand how to intercept a large number of users and then create awareness in them of a particular product or service.
- Customer Interaction: continuous interaction with customers/users, especially on social networks. It is not a type of marketing that can be planned and therefore requires timeliness and constant attention.
- Breaking News: It requires you to always be on point but skillfully and intelligently. Then create original, irreverent content that goes viral on social media by exploiting a certain topic. It is considered the main strategy used to do real-time marketing.
The key to success in making any of these 6 types effective is, in general, implementing a winning digital strategy. Good use of social networks will then be a fundamental requirement.
Real-Time Marketing is an integral part of a successful Digital Strategy
Example of Real-time marketing
There are already several well-documented cases of real-time marketing. These are situations in which brands have skilfully exploited communication channels to create greater awareness or, more simply, to promote a certain product. As an example, we will now analyze some famous cases so you will have an idea of how this marketing technique works and what is its most appropriate use.
Oreo cookies: real-time marketing “must”.
Oreos are perhaps the most famous case of real-time marketing. During the Super Bowl event, which occurred on February 4, 2013, a blackout occurred that obscured part of the Superdome stadium in New Orleans. This led to a suspension of the match for a full 34 minutes. At 20:48 on the official Oreo Twitter account the following post appeared: “Power out? No problem!”. The post was accompanied by an image with a slogan that read: “You can still dunk in the dark”.
As you can see, the tweet had thousands of shares (retweets). The Mondelez brand gimmick was particularly appreciated for its originality, for the message conveyed, and also for the fact that many users were on Twitter to comment on the blackout during the game. In all likelihood it was also the marketing activity that garnered the most attention that night at the Super Bowl, outranking the standard sponsors. In this case, real-time marketing prevailed over the more classic advertising strategies aiming to take advantage of the moment to put oneself (it should be said) “in the spotlight”.
Ceres real-time marketing
Ceres is another good example of a brand capable of creating successful real-time marketing campaigns. The Danish brand is known for having skilfully exploited social networks on several occasions, launching precise messages to users. The touch of this company is easily recognizable since the messages it has conveyed on the web (exploiting events or facts from the daily news) have often been defined as “courageous” for the debates it sparked among users. Most of the time, these were “visual” elements, such as images, accompanied by slogans or irreverent playful phrases.
Using the news in newspapers
In the period in which there were a lot of talks, both on TV and in the newspapers, of the fake kidnapping of Lapo Elkann, Ceres decided to post a photo on Facebook (with attached slogan and caption) which jokingly refers to the news story. Obviously, behind the irreverent and mischievous tone, there was a very specific intention: to circulate the post on social networks, thus highlighting the brand, and stimulating user participation. On the side is the image with its slogan.
Taffo and Real-Time Marketing
An activity that would have very little to make people smile is the Taffo funeral home. His posts often play “borderline” with the politically correct: they rarely have a complex visual but the strength lies in the message expressed, without fear of riding even delicate topics such as politics. Above all, Taffo always communicates with a cheerful and light-hearted attitude to which his audience has become accustomed and which now characterizes his image.
Key factors in real-time marketing
Oreo, Ceres, and Taffo are just some of the successful examples that highlight the enormous potential of real-time marketing. So in summary, the factors necessary for a brand to implement effective messages are:
- interesting content to share;
- high responsiveness to external events;
- a good dose of creativity;
- originality and a bit of “irreverence”.
The combination of these factors is successful for improvising real-time marketing campaigns. Furthermore, there are some companies able to capture some trends on social networks in time, and then use them in the right place and at the right time.
Although there are several success stories, as in all areas, some failures have also been documented in real-time marketing. This is clearly due to incorrect and ineffective use of the means of communication (especially social networks).
Social media is an extremely powerful tool, for better or for worse. Just think of the fact that the contents become immediately available to users and therefore impossible to remove permanently. That’s why it’s important to pay close attention when choosing the content to share in a real-time marketing campaign.
Concluding reflections
Real-time marketing strategies are by no means to be underestimated. In many cases, they are simplified and trivialized, perhaps due to their reduced costs and the rapid ways in which they are completed. Nothing is wrong. A good marketer, up to date with our times, must necessarily know the enormous potential and the effects that real-time marketing can have, both positive and negative.
To conclude: it is important to know how to move in this area, jumping into the fray only when you have interesting content to share. Not only that, such content will have to “ride the wave” on social media intelligently. The aim will be to capture attention but also to arouse esteem and interest from users.
It is precisely the set of all these techniques we have talked about, together with a certain experience of those who put them into practice, which makes real-time marketing a winning strategy and increasingly prominent among the dissemination channels.
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