Four States Small Business Blog

Digital marketing is a valuable tool for businesses of all types and sizes. That’s because the internet plays a crucial role in how people make their purchasing decisions. In fact, 81 percent of consumers today conduct online research before buying a product or service.

It’s not hard to recognize that we live in an instant gratification world. From fast food to movies on demand, we’ve become accustomed to rapid response. Kissmetrics, an internet data company, reports that 47% of consumers expect a website to load in under 2 seconds and 40% will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. For some consumers, two-day shipping for online orders is too long; they desire click-and-collect services that allow them to order online and pick up their items the same day.

The desire for instant gratification is often part and parcel of human nature, whether you’re looking at the world as a customer or as a business owner or marketer. As the path to purchase fragments, and micro moments and personalization become more important, immediate gratification becomes easier for the customer. However, as tempting as it is to look at marketing ROI in the same way, business owners need to remember that advertising is an investment, and advertising success and brand development take time to achieve.

In the modern digital age, consumers are diversifying the number of channels they use to communicate, do research, and shop. Operating in this fast-paced, multi-screen world, brands can find improved results when they combine traditional marketing channels with online channels. Most notably, a 2015 survey of 21 brands over 18 months found that brands combining radio and online outreach produced a 23% increase in sales and inquiries when using a mix and match channel approach for marketing campaigns, while individually, the channels only produced a 17% or 14% increase, respectively.