Always-on Acquisition: A Strategy for Connection and Business Impact

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It’s not enough to approximate what consumers want and then put it in front of them, expecting a transaction. It’s not enough to pick one channel where you think your audience lives and burn through your budget.

Starting with incorrect assumptions about consumers can create downstream misalignment across your campaigns and your business. 

And if you aren’t present everywhere that makes sense (early and often), you’re leaving connection opportunities on the table.

But to become ever-present, brands face three challenges — knowing the consumer, owning the space to connect, and adapting to change.

Always-on acquisition overcomes all three. Here’s how it works and why it matters so much right now.

What does being “always-on” mean?

Always-on acquisition is marketing centered around the consumer, offering support and solutions early, consistently, and 24/7 throughout their journeys. 

Always-on acquisition is “always-on” because it:

• Is powered by search data-driven insights, the most current and accurate way to truly understand what consumers want
• Relies on optimized assets controlled by the brand and available 24/7 — whenever consumers are seeking answers and solutions 
• Generates new data and consumer insights from each owned asset to drive enterprise-wide value to the business
• Outlives pay-to-play campaigns that shut off when you stop spending, instead generating value over time and indefinitely

I’ll share a story about what always-on isn’t. 

Brand X is a typical big brand marketing like everybody else — putting paid first, using interruptive techniques, relying on quickly obsolete data, etc.

Brand X uses its data to build personas and create collateral and marketing content so consumers will buy their product. They post on social, they leverage paid, and they send email campaigns. 

But Brand X has a problem. Despite the big spend and diverse marketing efforts, consumers seem disinterested in the message. Email opt-outs are out of control. Even worse, sales are down. 

Brand X, like many non-hypothetical brands, is facing a connection crisis (more on that later). We see it often. But there’s an alternative.

The connection crisis

Misaligned marketing. Fractured marketing. We’ve called it many different things. 

But the core insight is the old ways of marketing aren’t working — authentic consumer connection is required to thrive in B2C and B2B markets.

Why are brands struggling to connect? Here’s my take.

Consumers demand more

The truth is that the average consumer is far more savvy and empowered than ever before. This means they have the power to demand more. But are brands willing and able to deliver? 

So far, the emergence of truly consumer-centric marketing has been slow and, even with adjustments, just isn’t up to the task. Brands must deliver value by anticipating consumer intent and providing support on the consumer’s terms to take things to the next level.

Customer journey confusion

It’s worth reiterating — the customer journey is not linear! It’s more like a web with many small touchpoints throughout than a line from A to B. 

95% of consumers are in research mode and aren’t ready for the pitch. They’re looking for top-of-funnel answers and support from trusted sources. Brands that think otherwise don’t have a shot at becoming a source consumers trust.

The non-linear approach offers chances to connect with consumers early and often, building trust at each engagement. 

When it’s time to buy, who will they remember? The brand that understands them and delivers the value they seek or the transaction hustler?

Traditional marketing that’s holding brands back

So, the journey has changed and continues to evolve. Why would we think traditional marketing methods are built to keep up?

Limits of paid

Paid is great for widespread visibility but overuse, or exclusive use, reveals its very real limitations as a connection channel. 

When it comes to always-on acquisition, paid, as I mentioned earlier, is only “on” while you’re paying. Once the budget runs out, the ads vanish. Because paid is like renting. But building owned assets is ownership and long-term value.

Paid is also subject to bidding systems and unpredictable cost jumps and offers essentially no control of when and where a marketing message is shown. 

In the game of authentic connection creation, these challenges cause misalignment with real consumer wants and needs. Always-on acquisition enables brands to deliver the right message, at the right time, and on the consumer’s terms, ensuring a connection.

Interruption Marketing

Do you enjoy pop-ups? How about emails you never signed up for? Cold calls?

No consumer wants to be interrupted while looking for solutions or researching options. It’s the fastest way to alienate your audience. Oddly enough, it’s also how A LOT of modern marketing works.

Thankfully, options like always-on acquisition are designed to receive consumers instead of interrupting them.

Bad data fueling your strategy

Your data source matters when trying to understand consumer intent. Data that isn’t transparent, is cobbled together from many sources, or is stale, results in problems connecting with consumers.

It’s simple: Poor data -> Consumer insight errors -> Serving the wrong needs or none at all.

That’s why search data is so powerful and why it optimizes your marketing efforts everywhere (not just in Google).

Solving the marketing misalignment problem

The connection crisis requires new and innovative thought and technology so that brands can foster the deep consumer connections they need to thrive.

It starts with knowing your industry landscape like the back of your hand. This means harvesting better data to reveal consumer insights so you can analyze, derive insights, and build the infrastructure and assets where connection happens. It requires evolving and adapting with the landscape and then repeating the process.

Today’s brands can bridge the connection gap and end misaligned marketing. They just need to go all in on truly understanding their consumer.