Ready for Real-Time Marketing in 2015?

It's the Right Time for Real-Time

Brand marketers know that now is the right time for real-time. This year we’ve seen creative content across vertical sectors from brands such as KitKat, Nissan, Guinness, Asus, Nokia, Weetabix, Paddy Power, Visa – to name but a few.

So how and when do you use real-time for your brand campaign? Starting with the ‘when’ there are a few areas where RTM can be implemented:

Campaign Activation – identify key audience members and influencers and engage with shareable, on-brand, but personalised content to maximise reach.

Audience Activation – listen to who is talking about your brand, category, product, event or service and respond in real-time with creative content. Turn them into advocates by living in their world.

Content Newsroom – be reactive but plan ahead. Identify moments e.g. events, news, trends and create relevant content to become part of the conversation.

Sponsorship & Events – Maximise ROI by interacting with fans using relevant content, be part of the moments that matters to them and put your brand on the top of the positive sentiment scale.

Real-time marketing is not just being reactive through social media, it requires planning and neither is it just for social, it is infiltrating more traditional marketing methods (but that’s another subject). The now-famous Oreo Superbowl blackout tweet didn’t happen within minutes, their process in the lead up to the event took around six weeks.

Basic RTM Steps:

Strategy – where does RTM fit in, what are the processes and what’s your ideal ROI?

Idea Generation – what will work for your brand, what’s the message?

Content Production – which platforms, content and delivery methods? Where’s your key audience?

Real-time only works at the right time and to ensure the optimisation of your content requires agility. Agile processes need to be in place before you use real-time, to minimise delays and reap the full benefits, before your competitors and peers do.

RTM Barriers:

Generating the right content can be difficult enough, but with RTM, speed is key, which can be challenging without an approved strategy, processes and sufficient resources to implement them. Overcoming the bottlenecks in processes prevents missing out on opportunities, which is achieved from planning in advance.

Our Predictions for 2015:

Our recent research* shows that there will be a large increase in real-time marketing on various campaigns across virtually all sectors. Brands already using RTM will increase their use of real-time specialists to create effective strategies and engaging content (rising to 29% from 5%*), this is most likely due to lack of internal resources.

It’s probably no surprise that Twitter comes out in first place as the top channel for RTM, however, marketers will increasingly use other platforms such as outdoor (e.g. Ogilvy’s BA #lookup campaign).

RTM won’t replace traditional marketing campaigns, but it will enhance it. More than ever, we are in the midst of a revolution of sorts, with consumers incredibly savvy to marketing and sales patter, (something Facebook have been telling brands for years) they will only engage with those who are genuine and listening to what they need.

With some brands experiencing their highest social engagement through real-time and 78% of marketers linking RTM as directly increases sales, the race is on to be prepared for next year.

*we surveyed over 120 UK marketers for our real-time marketing whitepaper, which will be released in Jan 2015.