John S. Wolfe

Instant access to information online and on a mobile has changed how marketers approach consumers. Understanding the customer’s journey could make or break a product or service.

That was the message of Katie Van Domelen, social media manager for Off Madison Ave, a Tempe adverting firm, at the May 20 Online Marketing Summit in Phoenix.

“Most companies think their customers start at their website,” she said. “But brand interactions are messy.”

The traditional funnel looks like this: Awareness, Consideration, Purchase Intent, Purchase and Loyalty.

The 2010 funnel has this form: Engagement, Awareness, Discover Product, Search for Additional Information, and Purchase.

She noted the differences in understanding the campaigns of two automakers.

For one, a friend alerted her to a funny video: the Swagger Wagon featuring rapping parents.

Then she was watching TV and saw a Toyota commercial for the Siena minivan with the same parents. Intrigued, she went to the Toyota website and clicked to the Sienna. The key message was “Daddy Like,” the humorous close of the commercial.

The web page had a button with a link to a YouTube channel with more videos featuring the family and an interactive feature for Facebook – minivanimals. Nice, the social media expert thought.

She then saw a Ford commercial with “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe. A fan, she went to the Ford “channel” on YouTube but … no Mike.

There were other videos but no links to other Mike Rowe videos, she noted. No links to a Facebook page or a website. She did go to the Ford page on Facebook but there was no mention of Mike Rowe.

“They employed Mike Rowe but it could have been much more,” Van Domelen said.

She eventually found a Ford microsite featuring “Super Duty” trucks with Rowe but it didn’t have a way to easily share the content with friends via Facebook or YouTube or Twitter.

“To me, this reflected that Ford had different people in different ‘silos,’” she said. “Different people were in charge of each segment of media.

She said a brand has many touchpoints.

“Companies see different segments,” she said. “The consumer sees it all together.”

Each touchpoint needs to be able to “stand alone, but stand together.”

She added that this “real life” includes mobile. If you’re going to have a website, you need to know how it works on a smart phone.

She recounted an experience during a recent visit to Dallas.

She and a friend wanted to go out for dinner. The concierge gave her the names of some nearby restaurants.

On her phone Van Domelen called up Yelp and found a review, which was positive. But she wanted to see a menu. The website wasn’t set up for mobile. It didn’t work.

She found a different restaurant on Yelp. At its website, she saw she was eligible for a special if she signed up for an email list. She did, she got an immediate email, which was easy to read on her phone, and got a free pita.

She also checked into the bistro with Foursquare and there’s a tip with a coupon, she said.

She urges companies to follow a two-step approach:

1. Map your customers’ usual journey
   

   Ask them through surveys how they found you and listen. Track them through web analytics to know where they came from. Test your approaches with site-specific discounts and special codes.

2. Shape your customers’ journey
   

   Organize links in order of importance. Cross-link your networks. Leverage promotions across all media and offline, in in-store promotions.

It’s also important to know your customers. If they are comfortable sharing photos or videos, you can engage them with a fun feature like the “Mad Hatter Yourself” tool on the “Alice in Wonderland” Facebook page.

If they like trivia, consider a game like the one Southwest Airlines introduced on Facebook to promote travel to California.

“Guess what?” Van Domelen said. “If you’re playing, you’re being marketed to.”

She said companies can take different approaches to web marketing: promoting the company, promoting a product or service, or promoting an individual or personality. She believes creating a “character” for a product or service through social media is the most effective.