Sales and media touchpoints will unite in 2016
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Marketers will better integrate sales and media touchpoints by developing clearer consumer journey maps from awareness to purchase, as digital platforms continue to blur the lines between the two previously separate disciplines in 2016.
According to Millward Brown’s annual digital and media predictions, marketers will further optimise the consumer journey in an unprecedented manner, a trend driven by three key factors:
- the consumer journey becoming device and channel agnostic as people buy at the moment and manner that best suits them,
- the transformation of ecommerce sites from pure sales channels into media touchpoints, and
- the transformation of ad creative that links directly to purchase opportunities on digital channels.
Millward Brown global brand director for digital, Duncan Southgate believes that in 2016, marketers will be able to identify the most powerful touchpoints from both a sales and marketing perspective by developing these journey maps to follow consumers along their path to purchase.
“Sales and media touchpoints have traditionally been separate, but changes to the digital landscape and consumer behaviour now allow marketers to unify them for the first time.”
“In 2016 we expect advertisers to map marketing contexts to an integrated consumer journey so that sales and brand-building content complement rather than compete with each other,” says Southgate.
The findings also found that brands will be more likely to invest heavily in online platforms, particularly mobile video advertising. However it also found that millions of dollars will be wasted by brands neglecting to adapt content across formats.
2016 is also likely to see smart TVs take over the television viewing experience and bring about major changes to the way people consume content, which will see brands experiment with different advertising models as the shift becomes more apparent.
Additionally, brands will take more of a hands-on role in the advertising process and become content creators as marketing moves from disruption to attraction.
