Author Archives for Kirsty Sharman

Influencing People on Their Mobile Devices

This article was originally published on Business 2 Community by Kirsty Sharman. In an effort to convert audiences to customers, brands are beginning to hold mobile-native approaches as a standard requirement in their marketing efforts. As mobile phones remain a extension of the human limb, influencing consumers when they reach a point of consideration is key to driving sales. Mobile approaches ensure that conversions are made, both online and off. According to recent Google research, consumers will use their mobiles to seek out advice before making purchases 69% of the time. This advice could be in the form of comments from peers they trust, or online reviews. In 76% of these cases, these consumers will go on to visit a brick and mortar store on the same day, and 82% of these visits will result in a sale. The path to purchase for a consumer begins when they are made aware of their awareness of a brand’s product or service. This funnels through to consideration, purchasing the product or service, and then converting from a loyal customer into an advocate. Investing a brand’s marketing budget into where their audience spends most of its time (on mobiles) lead to shortening the path to purchase, and leading to quicker conversions The challenge for brands is that audiences see through the often sugar-coated brand messages. The best way to growth hack credibility and spark authentic conversation is to engage social influencers and creators to travel a brand’s message to the audience. A leading influencer marketing platform, Webfluential, recently shared its top search categories for Q3 2016, highlighting lifestyle, fashion and beauty were the market verticals that brands most sought to influence through trusted peers and digital creators. In summary, the infographic below captures the shift towards mobile, and how brands can leverage influencers on a consumer’s favourite social channel to help drive engagement, and ultimately, sales and long term advocacy.