The arms race is building, and I'm not talking about nuclear. It's the digital arms race. Welcome to "3"ā€¦three insights in about three minutes. I'm Drew Dinkelacker. To give us some insight on the digital arms race, I turn to Andrew Rupert of Aspirant. That's a management and technology consulting firm, and he's the Senior Director of Digital Marketing and Communications. Andrew, what observations have you made around the evolution of consumer behavior these days?
Andrew Rupert: Yeah, what's really sticking out to me is this ripple effect we're seeing from working from home. We've had the ability to work remotely for quite some time, but with the pandemic, now we've got the catalyst for people to start actually doing it. People are happy to give up their commute, but it's turning us into homebodies. We're not doing so much of our favorite things like socialising or spending money, so consumers are starting to really seek out digital replacements from these missing parts from the analog lives -- this interaction through social media, virtual workouts, events, concerts, even, and online shopping, of course, including groceries and dinner delivered right to our door.
Drew: Well, people doing more and more online. Now that's good for a lot of businesses. Isn't it?
Andrew: Yeah, it's certainly a tailwind for companies who are catering to these evolving preferences directly, or even those that are finding some sort of indirect niche elsewhere in the digital ecosystem. From a marketing perspective, this drives a focus on digital programs, which we love as marketers. We can really zero in and measure everything about connecting with our target audience. On the other side, though, consumers are starting to block us marketers. They're becoming more sensitive with their digital privacy as they spend more of their lives online, so that's unsubscribing from e-mail lists, disabling location tracking on their smartphone apps, being more selective with the brands they follow online. And you've also got gatekeeper companies like Apple who are tightening the privacy standards with each software update; so, we're really finding ourselves in a digital marketing arms race.
Drew: So how do you work around, or maybe a better word is adapt to, these changes in the marketplace?
Andrew: Yeah, this is precisely what will determine success for marketers going forward. There's a couple ways marketers can separate themselves from the pack. First off, being nimble. Identify, adopt new ways of connecting with your consumers faster than they can shut themselves off. Second, be authentic. Establish an identity, stay loyal to it, and counteract that mounting consumer skepticism. And third, be human. Layer traditional tactics for forging relationships on top of that digital targeting to create a change of pace for your target and build a stronger, more emotional bond.
Drew: Great insights, Andrew! "3" is a production of MarketingAccelerator.com and is just one of the resources we provide for marketing and business leaders. I'm Drew Dinkelacker.