What are the Advantages of Real-Time Marketing?

It has been predicted that the presence of Real-Time Marketing will steadily grow over the next few years. Reason being is more and more Marketers are taking advantage of the benefits in using Real-Time Marketing. So what are the benefits and advantages?

First and foremost, Real-Time Marketing provides companies the ability to instantly engage with their customers. If a customer posts positive feedback on a social networking site, a company can respond with a sincere thank you. If the feedback is negative due to a poor experience, a company can immediately apologize and try to rectify the situation. Either way, these instant responses make customers feel as if they were really heard. They feel more connected, more respected, and recognize that the company they interacted with actually has a conscious. This builds trust between a customer and a company, which in turn builds a stronger relationship.
The stronger the relationship the more a customer will continue to support a company. Plus, there is a better chance customers will spread the word to their family and friends of how happy they are with experiences they have had with a company. Since so many people are linked to social networking sites, this word of mouth marketing could reach many new customers. This potential customer growth could be a direct impact from a company simply engaging in conversation with a customer. Easy, yet so powerful.

Along with instant responses to a customer, companies now have an avenue to tell their stories. Stories that reach the customers, stories that move and touch the customers, and stories that show companies are relative to them. Stories that show companies have real personalities. When a customer can relate to a company, their relationship grows even stronger. More trusting. Again, the stronger and more trusting the relationship, the more likely customers are going to remain loyal.

Another huge benefit of Real-Time Marketing is the advantage of being able to collect true customer data. With this critical, behavioral data at their fingertips, Marketers can better gear their marketing efforts toward target audiences. By developing more personalized and relevant material to these segmented targets, companies will receive more qualified leads. These leads, who were specifically contacted based on analyzed data from social networking sites, are more likely to become customers than individuals who were contacted on a "batch and blast" type of approach. Just goes to show if companies use customer behavior data to focus content toward targeted groups, they will have a better return rate than using general, demographic data.

Real-Time Marketing is the bridge between companies and their customers. As it grows, so will the customer to company relationships. As relationships grow, the more positive experiences will be discussed by the customers. Ultimately, resulting in more quality, long term customers.