What can you accomplish in 60 seconds?

Maybe you can make your bed, drink a glass of water, or floss your teeth. But while you’re struggling to complete one task in one minute, the internet has done much more. Every minute, 350,000 stories post to Instagram, 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube, and 41 million messages are sent via WhatsApp. To keep up, brands need to invest in real-time marketing. 

With so much content being produced and published every second, it’s no wonder we live in a culture of immediacy. As consumer demands continue to rise and data speed becomes faster daily, brands must capture the moment and engage customers with relevant messages in real-time.   

Taking advantage of timeliness enables your brand to exceed consumers’ lofty expectations, maintain relevancy, and boost conversion rates.

Businesses must have a systematic strategy to swiftly respond and engage customers in real-time on platforms where they already are.

 

What is real-time marketing?

 

Real-time marketing means responding to customers in the moment and creating relevant content based on timely feedback or events that garner immediate attention. With this marketing strategy, brands can keep up with the speed of consumer decision-making to effectively engage them in the moments that matter most.

Real-time marketing delivers real results. Research has shown that real-time marketing can increase conversion rates by 26%. Furthermore, real-time marketing can supercharge other marketing campaigns, such as the effectiveness of owned and paid media.

Today, brands must stop creating content for the sake of content. Instead, they should focus on producing relevant, timely content that encourages engagement.

With customers demanding immediacy in every facet of their lives—think Amazon Prime and Uber—why wouldn’t they expect anything less from your brand?

 

Benefits of real-time marketing

 

Real-time marketing delivers fantastic benefits for both consumers and brands. It not only enhances the customer experience but also promotes audience engagement. According to one study, almost 76% of businesses reported that real-time social platform interactions increased engagement.

Your brand can benefit in other ways, including:

  • Increase customer satisfaction: Today’s consumers refuse to wait. Customers who wait longer than 10 minutes to receive service are less likely to do business with a brand again. Real-time marketing is all about meeting your customers in the moment. Prompt responses and rapid resolutions increase customer satisfaction, converting new customers into loyal ones.
  • Deepen audience insights: Real-time marketing requires your brand to stay on top of constantly changing consumer wants and needs. You can gain immediate audience insights by engaging your customers in real-time on social platforms. Ask questions, respond to comments, and create polls to learn what customers want right now.

 

Standout examples

 

Need some inspiration for your real-time marketing campaign? Check out these examples of real-time marketing done right. 

  • ASOS’s spelling error: In 2018, retail giant ASOS printed 17,000 bags with a glaring spelling error, writing ‘onilne’ instead of ‘online.’ Fortunately, the brand used the colossal mistake as a major marketing opportunity. They acknowledged the mistake in a hysterical tweet. This not only proved that ASOS had a fun personality, but it also humanized the brand.
  • IKEA’s Bernie Sanders meme: During President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony in 2021, a picture of Bernie Sanders wearing a coat and mittens while sitting in a folding chair captivated the internet and became a viral meme. IKEA took notice and hopped on the bandwagon, creating their comical ad encouraging consumers to ‘get the look’ by purchasing an IKEA folding chair.

 

Quick tips for successful campaigns

 

Want to start using the power of real-time marketing for your campaigns? Use these simple tips to get started.

  • Listen closely: Real-time marketing requires you always to have your ear to the ground. Receive Google alerts on current trends happening in your industry. Additionally, closely monitor your social accounts to see what your customers are saying.
  • Respond immediately: Always respond to customer concerns promptly. Set up auto-replies and use chatbots to resolve simple inquiries instantly.
  • Use an omnichannel approach: Implementing real-time marketing tactics across your social media channels is vital. An omnichannel strategy creates a unified, consistent customer experience across all platforms.

 

Using SMS to amplify real-time campaigns

 

Modern customers are constantly on their phones. SMS is an effective way to pump up your real-time campaigns. Thanks to the ubiquity of texts and SMS’s 98% open rates, brands can instantly connect with consumers in real-time.

Brands should use SMS in tandem with other campaign channels. For instance, if they are running a one-day flash deal, businesses can promote their sale both on social and via SMS. This ensures marketers are engaging consumers at every touchpoint possible.

 

Enrich your real-time marketing campaigns with Mitto

 

Mitto Campaigns allows you to engage your customers with two-way, real-time conversations via SMS. Our robust platform will enable you to craft highly-personalized messages, segment SMS subscribers, and schedule your campaign for the right time. With Mitto’s single dashboard, any person on your marketing team can develop and deploy campaigns quickly and effectively.

To learn what Mitto can do for you, contact us today.