Hyper relevant marketing

Consumers are exposed to nearly 10,000 ads per day, creating information overload and making it harder to capture consumer attention. This has lead to an increase in the use of ad-blockers. So, what can brands do? In this article, we focus on one solution: hyper-relevant marketing.

Hyper-relevant marketing is when a brand delivers a message at the right time during the purchasing funnel. This can be achieved either by delivering a message when a consumer is looking to buy or by using tools at a relevant time to help consumers buy.

Five great examples of hyper-relevant marketing:

1. Google ad words: As users search for items, relevant sponsored ads appear above the results. This is the most successful ad format of all time.
2. Product page/in-aisle marketing: Marketing by showing relevant / related products on same page
3. Contextually relevant ads: Ads for relevant products on content. For example: ads selling fashion delivered to users browsing fashion content.
4. Classified ads: Consumers are usually searching through classified ads when they are looking to buy something.
5. Configurators/Inspirator tools: Tools that help consumers select the best set of options for them.

To help understand how hyper-relevant marketing can work, here are a few elements of it IS, and what it IS NOT:

What hyper-relevant marketing IS:

• A targeted message delivered to consumers who are looking to buy
• Relevant to the consumer, helping them make a more informed purchasing decision
• Sits between acquisition and conversion in the funnel, so is still within the remit of marketing

What hyper-relevant marketing IS NOT:

• An irrelevant native advert designed to seamlessly integrate with the UX
• About blanket targeting a specific audience
• A sales tool (although it helps with conversions it sits higher up the funnel)

The following case study shows how Very.co.uk used hyper-relevant marketing methods to build awareness of the Very.co.uk fashion range.

Research by Onepoll indicated that 72% of women are inspired to buy an item of clothing based on what they have seen celebrities wear. Using this information Very.co.uk built a banner that allowed consumers to drag a celebrity image from a web article onto the banner. Using image recognition technology, the banner would return the three closest matching dresses from the Very.co.uk fashion catalogue. Nicknamed ‘Drag and Shop’, the campaign provided a tool to consumers that was hyper relevant to the articles they were reading. Drag and Shop delivered engagement rates of 22% (industry average is around 4%), and the campaign delivered a return of £14 for every £1 spent (1400%).

Hyper-relevant marketing methods can additionally be used further up the marketing funnel to build awareness. In the Very.co.uk example above, this was achieved by creating a tool that consumers can use to discover more about a brand plus delivering this tool in a relevant place. At every stage in the purchasing funnel there is a way to deliver a hyper relevant message; hyper-relevant marketing is about helping the consumer to discover, learn and buy.