Sending the right message to the right people, through the right channel, is the basic definition of contextual marketing.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the 4 Ps of traditional marketing ( price, placement, promotion and product) need to be redefined and contextualized according to the particular needs, requirements and circumstances of your customers.
In this way, contextual marketing enhances the entire user experience through a system of personalized content depending on the situation of each individual.
Thus, it seeks to build better relationships (client-brand) and cultivate links through satisfactory experiences.
Do you want to know more about contextual marketing and how it helps your company? Stay!
What is contextual marketing?
Contextual marketing or contextual marketing is a strategy based on customer behavior . In this way, greater relevance is achieved for the target audience.
It consists of gathering all the information necessary to deliver the right message at the right time.
To do this, you need to collect data and know how to use it in context for the right people at the right time through the right channel.
In simple words: contextual marketing refers to the creation and distribution of content (paid or organic) that impacts the needs of the prospects to which it is directed.
The goal of contextual marketing is to connect with prospects who already have an interest in the brand and deliver content focused on their persona, to foster a great user experience.
Benefits of contextual marketing
Contextual marketing offers multiple advantages for companies. Some of the most important are the following.
1. It is cheap
Implementing contextual marketing does not require a lot of budget. You just have to give yourself the task of gathering the correct data.
What you have to do? Use a customer relationship management ( CRM ) tool. There are many free and paid CRM options that can be useful for this.
2. Better customer experience
By working with personalized techniques, contextual marketing helps to create the right messages at the right time, always following a strategic method.
Customers don’t want to be harassed or bombarded with thousands of messages they don’t need, but rather messages that address their issues.
Adjusting your marketing campaigns to this allows you to ensure that each client is served correctly, and thus it will be easier to earn their trust.
3. Qualified traffic
Contextual marketing is based on advanced segmentation, so you can target messages to potential customers when they’re about to make a purchase decision.
With this, it is possible to favor the conversation towards the brand and increase the degree of engagement with the products.
Utility is the key point of this topic: if prospects don’t find the content useful, they will think the same way about the product you are trying to sell them.
4. Encourage engagement with your brand
The goal of contextual marketing is to increase interactions between consumers, anticipating their needs.
This action helps to raise the average number of engagement and, in this way, encourage active participation between customer and brand: you put your company at the forefront of consumer thoughts.
The more the connection with your consumers is fostered, the greater the opportunities to retain and convert your customers into brand promoters.
5. It is not annoying
Contextual marketing is not disruptive, something most hate. No one likes to be interrupted when they are going about their routine, unless it is valuable to them.
Has it happened to you that you are talking with friends about a product you want to buy, like a new book to learn about a subject, and related advertising appears out of nowhere?
This is more or less how contextual marketing works, as it presents solutions or options to users who have revealed that they have a particular need.
Why does contextual marketing work?
The types of content that arise from contextual marketing work for a specific reason: they are natural .
They are classified as such because the actions that are undertaken based on it, move away from traditional marketing, by providing the appropriate content for a specific context, depending on user behavior.
The secret for users to fall in love with the way in which the brand is implementing its marketing strategy is to make the message feel as little advertising as possible.
Where and how to use contextual marketing?
When talking about digital marketing, there is a fine line between push and pull tactics.
When using contextual marketing , it is necessary to make sure to position the content at the right time and not act as an Outbound method, which interrupts the natural path of the user experience.
Contextual marketing has the advantage of increasing the number of cross interactions in digital marketing strategies.
Thus, it can be used as part of a paid ads strategy or through organic search .
Another beneficial way to use them is through a mailing system based on the insights of your prospects.
One of the most used places for this type of strategy is social networks , since thanks to their segmentation tools, they allow us to focus and deliver the necessary information to the correct users.
Virtually any page can implement contextual marketing.
Contextual marketing and smart content
Dynamic content or smart content is the ability of a website to deliver personalized content based on user behavior and interests.
This content is designed to deliver relevant and personalized information through the experience of your online business page visitors.
This system consists of adapting the content, to the stage of the sales cycle of your prospect, in an individualized way, through the CRM software.
Thanks to the information that has been collected from contacts, it is possible to offer a personalized experience for each type of visitor.
How smart content works in contextual marketing
Smart content alters or modifies the way content is displayed on the website.
From featured text, custom HTML and CTA (call to action) specific to customer needs, everything is customized through a smart list system or sales cycle plan.
By creating smart lists that help differentiate the stage of prospects, you can customize the content they’ll see.
Thus, when a visitor arrives at the website, the context they came from will be loaded into their session, offering them a unique user experience.
This system can also be used for anonymous visitors based on their country (IP address), the type of device they are accessing from, or the referral sources you used.
It does not matter if it is the first time they visit the website, through smart content a wide variety of personalized content can be offered, based on the anonymity options that you have generated.
How to create valuable content for contextual marketing
We already know that data needs to be timely and relevant to create informative contextual content.
Regardless of whether it is an ad or a video, this must be maintained to deliver a good message at the right time. Do you want to know how? Here I explain step by step.
1. Define your buyer persona
Having your buyer persona is key to start with contextual marketing.
Many brands overlook this and their content ends up being irrelevant. Therefore, you must analyze your audience by area or state to reach them in a timely manner and convert them at the right time.
You must choose the segments very carefully, taking into account what you want to achieve.
2. Determine the channel
The next thing is to decide through which means you will reach your buyer persona.
Currently, social networks are very effective, especially Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (in most cases).
Analyze where there is the greatest participation and potential to reach your audience and create clear, unique and easy-to-understand messages for your audience to approach you through these means.
You can do tests and then make a final decision. Not always being present on all channels is the best option.
3. Choose the indicated format
Select the indicated format: video, ad, publication, etc. It is key to interact with your audience at the right time in the right way.
Study and decide if you want to reach a large or small audience and why. Then you will be able to know which format is the best in each case, also depending on the content you want to provide.
4. Create the content
With all of the above decided, it is time to create the content.
Make sure that said material covers a more or less broad audience, that is, that it is not so specific.
If you make functional content only for people who live in a certain city, you’re not going to have much reach. And it’s not wrong, just define this well before.
Having a clear vision about the limitations of your content will help you have realistic expectations.
5. Track results
What did you think it was all? NO! The work does not end when you make the content. You have to track the results.
Working with feedback will help you to do better every time, detect failures and verify whether or not the expected objectives are met.
If you must make changes, do it without fear!
Lead nurturing and lead scoring through contextual marketing
All messages sent under the rules of contextual marketing and using smart content allow for better results when using lead nurturing and lead scoring.
Lead nurturing
The traditional way of doing lead nurturing consists of sending personalized emails to encourage a buying process in potential customers.
The smart content allows adding dynamism to the process, providing specific content to the sales stage where the prospect is.
This content engagement strategy helps refine the way prospective customers are contacted and connected, offering valuable insights for each stage of the process.
lead scoring
Lead scoring allows you to generate a scoring system, to classify the content that you want to show to customers, based on their interest in making the purchase.
Recording or scoring leads helps define the information you need, the medium you prefer, and the right time to deliver it.
Knowing what customers are looking for is no longer enough in marketing, you must also be clear about the way in which the information is going to be delivered to them so that they reach the product organically and decisively.
Contextual marketing together with great content (smart content) make possible an extraordinary user experience that is reflected in great results.
3 Examples of Contextual Marketing
1.Google AdSense
One of the best examples of contextual marketing is Google AdSense which uses the search terms that are entered on the web to display ads to the right users.
For example, if you are interested in buying a new cell phone, type “best cell phone 2022” into Google and you will most likely start to see various options in advertising format, which will pique your interest.
2.Amazon
The ecommerce giant represents an example of how to succeed with contextual marketing.
The platform usually shows you recommendations and suggests products that complement what we have in the shopping cart.
It also has a system that sends reminders via email when there is an offer on an item in which we show interest.
3.Johnson & Johnson
The pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson has a range of products called Clean & Clear, aimed at teenagers.
As is known, this public does not usually read or spend a lot of time on the content, so the brand bases its content on the creation of postcards that teenagers can share and send among themselves.
These postcards contained links to a free skin analysis and samples of Clean & Clear. The results? They went viral. Thousands of people decided to send the postcards to all their friends.
Conclusion
Knowing your buyer persona and providing relevant and timely information is key.
Personalization is one of the best tools to build useful and standout content, and that can be achieved through contextual marketing.
Do you practice contextual marketing? If not, now is the time to do it. You already have the bases to achieve good results. Don’t waste them!
