A Definition of Real-Time Marketing
In its infancy, real-time marketing involved creating a marketing strategy focused on up-to-date events. Marketers made use of current trends and customer feedback, while working to connect consumers with products and services they could use. Real-time marketing grew in popularity with the rise of social media because it provided businesses with access to real-time 
information on target audiences; marketers were able to tap into that information and transform it into messages and products that they thought the customer might like.
This marketing strategy owed its effectiveness to the fact that people want to be part of trends. For example, marketers took full advantage of the Pokémon Go craze and Oreo took advantage of the power outage in one tweet. By taking advantage of current events and fads, marketers have increased their chances of making their products and services appeal to customers.
As with any marketing trend, however, real-time marketing has evolved. While it still incorporates current trends, it does so in a much more customer-centric way. Real-time marketing now makes use of all kinds of customer data to help companies understand exactly how customers behave. LeadSift points out that “the definition of real-time marketing has changed over the years, as brands experiment with new methods of reaching their audience.” Some, LeadSift explains, see real-time marketing as leveraging current events and up-and-coming trends, while others view it as “dynamic, personalized content across channels.” Still others see real-time marketing as “the right message delivered at the right time on the right platform, regardless of how ‘real-time’ the content actually is.”
Benefits of Real-Time Marketing via Customer Behavior Analytics
Early real-time marketing was risky business. Marketers were charged with taking advantage of moments as they occurred and hoping they got the tone right; otherwise, their real-time marketing efforts easily became embarrassing blunders all across the internet. Successful guesses paid off as people shared, retweeted, and liked real-time marketing messages on social media; other times, companies missed the mark and left people confused and sometimes angry. The results of real-time marketing improved as it shifted to focus on customers and technology improved to give marketers insight into customer behaviors and preferences in real time.
In fact, thanks to customer analytics, insights platforms and real-time marketing tools, marketers and their companies have access to real-time information at the individual customer level. Customer data from multiple sources gives companies a more complete view of their customers so they are able to access behavioral intelligence and learn as much about their customers as possible. Knowing their customers’ up-to-date preferences and trends helps companies make next-best-action and next-best-offer recommendations that are based on data. Thanks to real-time marketing via customer behavior analytics, companies are better positioned to interact with customers in timely, relevant ways throughout their journey and ensure they are making the most relevant offers.
Real-Time Personalization as an Advantage of Real-Time Marketing
Real-time personalization has been one of the most lucrative advantages of real-time marketing. LeadSift reports that 60% of marketers say they struggle with personalizing content in real-time, yet 77% of marketers recognize how crucial personalization is in the modern marketing landscape.
What’s more, the benefits of real-time marketing are clear, leading to a 16% lift in customer sentiment, a 14% lift in purchase intent, an 18% lift in interest, the likelihood that a customer will recommend a business to others, and serious consideration. Ultimately, LeadSift’s data reveals that consumers are “22% more likely to consider a brand as a result of real-time marketing.”
Hubspot also reveals some distinct advantages of personalized content, including increased conversions, reduced emails to prospects resulting in more customers, cultivating a passionate audience, improved lead nurturing, boosting sales call effectiveness, enhancing the freshness of a company’s website, and more. As Rick Whittington explains in an article for Business2Community, “Done correctly, real time personalization ensures that you are always serving relevant and timely content to your website visitors, and it can make your website visitors feel like your entire website experience has been crafted specifically for them.” That level of personalized attention makes any prospect feel valued, and valued consumers are far more likely to develop brand loyalty than those who feel like they’re simply one more lead.
Real-Time Marketing Information
For more information about real-time marketing, visit our blog. For your convenience, we have linked to three of our most recent real-time marketing posts below:
- How to Leverage Customer Intelligence to Gain a Competitive Advantage: Advice from 29 Analytics Experts
- Gaining Insight from Lily Enterprise’s Real-Time Customer Behavior Analytics
- 50 Expert Tips on Creating a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: How to Tap into Customer Data to Increase Satisfaction and Drive ROI
