Breaking Down Context Marketing + Why Your Dealership Needs to Start Doing It
We introduced you to the basics of content marketing nearly a year ago, and hopefully your dealership’s marketing team has taken steps to implement it. The main goal of content marketing (via blog posts, social media, email, and so much more) centers around creating awareness for your dealership brand and building customer engagement. Today’s post will dive deeper into the second step of that goal, in a transition from content marketing to context marketing.
First, some background – while content marketing is fairly self-explanatory, most people need a bit more explanation when it comes to context marketing. This strategy goes beyond the content to deliver a marketing message that is specific to an individual customer. Using the context around the relationship you have with that customer, you can provide a personalized touch that makes the message highly relevant to that person’s wants and needs.
For example, let’s say prospective customer Bob is a dad, and his daughter competes in equestrian. He’s in the market to buy a horse trailer. Bob visits your dealership website and starts looking at a 2001 aluminum Featherlite. It’s a little pricy and he’s not sure about purchasing yet, but he does decide to subscribe to your weekly e-newsletter (one of your content marketing strategies) so that he hears about any upcoming sales or specials. This is a moment that matters along his customer journey.
In order to pull off context marketing efficiently, you need to have a system for collecting customer data, which is also necessary for proper content marketing. When Bob receives his first e-newsletter from your dealership the following week, he sees a similar unit to that Featherlite horse trailer he liked so much, and he clicks on it – you know this because your marketing data system records it. Bob doesn’t take it any further, because the trailer doesn’t have the dimensions he needs.
This prompts your business, ideally through marketing automation software, to send Bob a marketing email about horse trailers the next day. Again, Bob opens the email and browses the selections, but doesn’t submit a lead. However, because Bob engaged with both of those e-newsletters, he receives additional marketing materials related to horse trailer inventory throughout the following weeks.
About one month after he first became a prospective customer, an email advertising your seasonal promotion on Featherlite trailers lands in his inbox. It’s the right message, for the right person, at the right time – and Bob makes the purchase.
Context marketing is all about experiences, with a healthy dose of personalization. Bob’s example is a simplified one, to illustrate how useful context marketing can be, but this strategy also incorporates connected customer experiences across marketing channels. For example, the Featherlite sale your dealership is running should be advertised using the same graphics and verbiage on your website, in your e-newsletter, on your social media pages, in your search engine ads, and even in your traditional advertising methods (billboards, flyers, TV commercials). Wherever Bob finds your dealership, he’s getting a consistent message.
Context marketing through collection of customer data (especially when paired with marketing automation) helps your business create a seamless experience and customer journey. It’s about having a personal conversation with your customer about their wants and needs, and fulfilling those via your digital marketing efforts.