What is contextual marketing?

When a person visits your website, whether they’re a first-time visitor or a longtime customer, the website experience is the same — the same message, the same content, the same page after page, the same flow.
What if there was a way to provide individualized experiences to different people based on their preferences and needs?

Can you imagine a great website experience for a visitor who’s browsing your website on a mobile device?
Can you think of content offers that would be especially helpful for a visitor who came to your website through social media?
These are both examples of the power of contextual marketing.
Contextual marketing is personalized marketing based on the context of who a visitor is and what they’re looking for.
Take a look at this word (“bow”), and this one (“seal”), and now these (“tear,” “read,” “change”). It’s hard to understand what these words mean and even how to pronounce some of them without context. These words take on a specific meaning in relation to the rest of the sentence:
- Take a bow.
- Seal the envelope.
- She read the note.
- There’s a tear in this shirt.
- I have spare change.
Your marketing strategy can operate in the same way. Contextual marketing takes into account the user’s context so that you can provide content tailored to their needs.
There’s a chance you’ve already been creating marketing with context by using personalization. You may have personalized an email, call-to-action, or other content on your website. By adding this individual touch, you’ve been creating contextual marketing.
With contextual marketing, you can target and address individuals and groups of people with similarities.

You’ll be able to provide the best experience for each individual visitor by showing them content that’s appealing and
applicable to them.
This means that two visitors with different needs are presented different things, even when those visitors are on the same page at the same time.
As HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah said, “We have got to stop thinking like marketers and start acting like humans.”
Humanizing the website experience should be a top priority for a lot of businesses.
A study by Econusltancy showed that 94% of businesses agree that a personalized experience is critical to the current and future success of their company.
By creating dynamic content, or content that changes based on the individual, your website becomes a valuable tool for each stage of an inbound methodology:

- Attracting visitors to your website;
- Engaging those visitors so that they turn into leads and customers;
- And delighting those customers so that they become promoters of your brand.
You’ll also stand out from your competitors by being the company that shows them something new and relevant each time they arrive on your website.
Consumers prefer a personalized online experience. They like to do business with companies that make their experiences and interactions more relevant. Through contextual marketing, you can provide relevant content that aligns with their interests.
This personalization helps with conversion rates, too. HubSpot ran a study and found that on average, conversion rates are 20% higher when pages use contextual marketing.
Remember that, content that’s shown to the right person has a higher chance of converting them into a lead.
You can also use contextual marketing to provide visitors relevant content based on where they are in their buyer’s journey. You’ll ensure that your website is providing a great experience to each person every step of the way.
When it comes to conversions, you’ll be able to promote new offers to the right person, which will make the conversion process smoother. A visitor won’t have to search as much, and you’ll be able to ask better questions for each person on your form, providing you with more insight into your leads.

Ultimately, contextual marketing is a great way to create a personalized user experience. You’ll get the right content, in front of the right person, at the right time.
Are you thinking of where or how to implement contextual marketing into your digital marketing strategy?
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