How Digital Marketing Affects Consumer Behavior

Digital Marketing Reaches Consumers Every Step of the Way 

Thanks to the internet, consumers everywhere have access to a wealth of information, service options, online reviews, and more. Whereas consumers may have taken their time previously to choose products or services, the process can move much faster, sometimes only taking a few minutes depending on the product or service. Because of this, businesses that enlist the help of digital marketing can tap into consumers along any point in their purchase journey - no matter where they are in their process of making a decision. 


Before consumers can get started along the purchasing funnel, they first have to recognize a need or want for a product/ service in the first place. Digital marketing offers several ways for brands and businesses to get started building relationships with potential customers through  options such as social media, email marketing, display ads, and more. Whether it’s advertising to audiences as they scroll through their Facebook or Instagram feeds, or sending monthly newsletters featuring your company’s latest specials, digital marketing has the advantage of being able to leverage target audiences across data points such as age, location, occupation, interests, income, and more. As a result, you can be sure that your marketing dollars won’t be going to waste on audience members who are less likely to be interested in your business’ offerings. 


Once consumers recognize a need or desire to purchase a product or service, they can then take to the internet once again to research and gather information to make their choice. 

With roughly 89% of all consumers beginning their search for product information online, businesses that harness the power of digital marketing can ensure that they can reach consumers at crucial touchpoints along their purchase journey. Search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) can come into play at this point to ensure that your business ranks highly - meaning that it would appear early on in the search results, making it easy for potential customers to locate your website and learn more. Local businesses in particular can see huge payoffs thanks to optimizing for search, since local keywords and a localized approach can draw in consumers in their immediate area who are actively looking for their services. According to Google insights, online mobile searches found that “near me” and “can I buy” or “to buy” variants have grown over 500% in recent years - indicating tons of potential traffic that could be redirected to your business by making strategic search optimizations. 


Lastly, the evaluation and decision making stages also largely take place online for many consumers. From comparing prices, reviewing a company’s website, and reading online reviews, potential customers can hone in on their top contenders - which are usually the businesses that are able to make the best first impressions online. If you haven’t already, choosing an experienced team of digital marketing consultants can help at this stage in the journey to ensure that your website is up to date, easy to use, and visually appealing. Simply monitoring and responding to customer reviews can go a long way too, especially for potential customers who are looking for suggestions to indicate that they should choose your business over others in the area. By utilizing all that digital marketing has to offer along the purchase funnel, your business can have a leg up on the competition from the early stages of generating leads all the way to converting customers and closing sales. 





Understanding Consumer Behavior can Improve Strategy, Sales, and Customer Relationships

Aside from using digital media to raise awareness in the initial stages of the purchase journey, using digital strategies such as social media marketing can be a helpful way to establish trust among consumers. Since social media lends itself to being more conversational and less promotional, it can be used as a strategic way to add a personalized and more human element to your overall marketing plan. Since word of mouth is a major component in how consumers decide to elect brands and businesses, leveraging the credibility of influencers and gaining traction with shared posts can provide visibility, higher engagement, and a more organic feel than other marketing methods. 



Learning more about the role of online search when it comes to consumer behavior is also important for being able to connect with your audience. By creating relevant online content and running a website with up to date software and keyword integrations, your business stands a better chance at differentiating itself and ranking higher - which helps with perceived hierarchy and trustworthiness. Try putting yourself in your audience’s shoes, would you be more likely to trust a business that ranks higher on search pages or one that takes longer to find with a lower ranking? The same goes for online reviews too - would you trust a business rated five stars with 200 reviews, or a business that received a three star rating with significantly less reviews? If you’re wondering how your business stacks up, it’s worth considering that 72% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews, and local businesses have an average of roughly 39 reviews on Google. 



Digital capabilities can allow you to gain a better understanding of current consumer behavior trends to help propel your business forward. Thanks to custom audience insights, campaigns can be tracked from beginning to end and optimized to improve performance for a look into how customers and potential customers are interacting with your company, searching online, and purchasing. Feel free to check out our success stories to learn more about how we’ve leveraged digital marketing to help grow our clients’ businesses. Ultimately, the more you learn about consumers and their habits, the faster you can begin engaging with them to create dynamic relationships with current and future loyal customers. 





Multicultural Marketing is Made for Digital - especially among the Latino Market

Digital marketing plays a major role in reaching all audiences - especially for multicultural segments. The Latino market in particular has seen massive success and positive consumer responses from reaching U.S. Hispanics online. Currently, the $1.5 trillion Hispanic market is the largest ethnic market in the U.S., and includes more than one out of every six Americans according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth. Additionally, the Hispanic population also has an overall younger median age, over-indexes on digital platform use, has experienced rising incomes, and demonstrates higher population growth when compared to the general market - making them an ideal target audience to reach for businesses who are looking to expand their business through digital marketing. 


While reaching Hispanics isn’t as simple as creating a one-size-fits-all plan, it can pay off big when done the right way. By taking nuance into account in terms of language and cultural preferences, age, preferred platforms, etc., companies can reach Latino audiences authentically and tap into an audience that is receptive to digital advertising, yet often underserved. One of the many misconceptions about this audience is that they always prefer traditional methods, which may be true for older counterparts, but incorrect when it comes to the rest of the U.S. Hispanic population that has an overall younger median compared to the general market population.


With Spanish-language and Hispanic cultural content topping U.S. music charts, YouTube channels, and even mainstream entertainment and media in recent years, the influence of Latino culture is undeniable. Because of the pandemic and stay at home orders, Hispanic audiences are even more engaged with digital media than they were previously, and in areas that are not as frequently associated with the Hispanic market. In a recent Voxnest report of global podcasting, in the first five months of 2020, the number of monthly active Spanish-language podcasts grew by 94% - continuing a trend that began in 2018 as established podcasters began entering the Spanish-speaking world alongside a spike in interest from brands and advertisers. While the report is global, the U.S. makes up one of the ten fastest-growing countries for podcast creation that follow this trend, largely due to the rapidly growing Hispanic population. That being said, as Hispanic audiences in the U.S. continue to get bigger, brands and businesses that start reaching them now can position themselves to grow alongside them in the long term. 





What is the Current State of Digital Marketing in a Covid-19 World? 



Given the changes in consumer behavior and digital use amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the way consumers interact with brands is changing - making it all the more important to form meaningful connections with audiences online. Recent findings from market research platform Suzy U.S. measured consumer attitudes about brands and products between June 30 and July 1, 2020. Key findings from the study suggest that 38% of people now trust brands more than they trust the government, and this lack of trust has begun to influence how consumers use search engines and interact with brands online. With stay at home orders, safety concerns, and digital alternatives taking the place of in-person events such as work and socializing, unsurprisingly, 71% said technology is essential to their happiness. 


With preferences for conducting business and purchasing online for health and safety reasons, digital marketing is a perfect solution to pick your business up where it may have left off as a result of the pandemic - and it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming process. In fact, it can help operations run much smoother. From optimizing your business’ site by adding online purchasing features, creating or editing social media pages to reflect changes to your business hours,  keeping consumers informed about what your company is doing to keep them safe in-store, etc., digital marketing can provide the necessary solutions your business needs to connect with audiences from a safe distance, without sacrificing your bottom line. 


Lastly, consumers favor businesses who are approachable, helpful, and altruistic in light of the pandemic. Luckily that’s good news for local businesses who give back -  with 67% of survey participants saying that brands have a responsibility to support the local communities in which they do business. Because local businesses have the advantage of being in the heart of the communities and customers they serve, they can be better positioned to be visible in their community involvement (check out our article about small businesses strengths to your advantage during this time for more info). From sponsoring local organizations or charities, to offering special promotions for healthcare workers during this time, there are plenty of ways for your business to show that you care about your community, which can win consumers over both now and in the future. 





How to Get Started with Digital Marketing 

These days, there’s no denying that the internet is involved in every aspect of the purchase funnel, and it plays a key role in consumer attitudes and behavior. Getting to know more about who your audience is can be the first step in growing your business and gaining loyal customers for the long haul - which can be done at every touchpoint thanks to the versatility and convenience of digital marketing. 


If you’d like to learn more about digital marketing, consumer behavior, or simply have questions about what you can do to raise awareness for your business, don’t hesitate to contact one of our expert marketing consultants or find a location near you. No question is too big or small!