You may have heard that the keys to marketing are the following: Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. These are the concepts of old and, in a new and changing digital world, you can’t afford to act traditionally. As we head into 2016, companies are expected to seamlessly represent themselves and can benefit or fold from online reviews.

Consumers prefer companies that use multiple channels of communication and which easily resolve their potential customer experience issues. One of the ways to achieve this is to follow the formula:

Consumer, Context, Content, Commerce –> Convergence

The consumer is the focus of any advertising excursion and should be treated as such. With the consumer in mind, develop context, content and commerce for your product and, along with the final product, convergence will come across many platforms.

1. Consumer

Today’s consumer is connected, informed and vocal on social networks. Most importantly, the consumer is more likely to stay loyal to a company because of the feelings that the ads exude. Advertising should be centered around the consumer’s frame of mind, playing intelligently off emotions, wants, needs and personality.

2.  Context

No ad is effective without taking context into consideration – saying the right thing at the right time is crucial to your brand. Make sure you’re paying attention to current events. You may want to pull commercials featuring an airplane, for instance, if a major airline crash is all over the news.

3. Content

Content must be relevant to context and consumer. Since it can be easily manipulated and needs to be focused, content is the single most influential aspect of digital marketing.

4. Commerce

Anticipating a consumer’s needs is the crux of commerce. If your target audience is millennials, easy online access and quick shipping should be priorities. If baby boomers are your primary customers, long-lasting quality products for a low price are best. Do you carry a specialty item, or can the consumer go to a local store and purchase it? What makes your product better than a less expensive alternative? Younger generations feverishly research several products before deciding on one, while older people may buy one product on-site because of the brand. Cater your priorities to what the target audience wants and how they will seek it out.

5. Convergence

For your business to succeed, you need to establish consistency in audience communication, product quality and digital presentation. Instead of being hip for joining Facebook, your company looks careless because it doesn’t regularly update the profile. You might have a fabulous product, but your grumpy customer service staff turns consumers off. Be sure you are consistent with how you present both the company and the product.

Above all, be willing to change. With a vast and ferociously changing consumer palette, you need to stay relevant to be successful. Keep the consumer at the center. Write and exhibit consistent, relevant content and anticipate your audience’s needs. These are the steps to success.

The Public Relations and Marketing Group, LLC (PRMG) is a full-service public relations and marketing agency based in Patchogue, New York. PRMG is dedicated to helping businesses, professionals, non-profit organizations, government entities, attorneys and law firms leverage their time, talents and resources by using effective public relations and marketing techniques, as well as advertising, graphic design, website design and development, digital video production, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media tactics. For more marketing advice, please call (631)-207-1057 or visit www.theprmg.com.