What is Touchpoint Marketing? Understanding How clients and Customers Interact with Your Brand

Sep 19

I don’t have to tell you twice that marketing is consistently evolving in the fast-paced digital landscape we now live in. From different platforms popping up and algorithms consistently changing, there are so many places your brand can be to get in front of your target market.

Which is why it’s so important to understand and embrace touchpoint marketing — a term that refers to a strategy focused on optimizing every interaction a potential client has with your brand throughout their buyer’s journey. This creates a comprehensive marketing ecosystem that helps pull people through the buyer’s journey from initial awareness into making a purchase.

But how can you use touchpoint marketing to supercharge your marketing efforts?

What Are Touchpoints in Marketing?

First things first, let’s define what touchpoints are. Touchpoints are any point of contact or interaction that your customer has with your brand. They can be direct, like speaking with a sales representative, or indirect, like reading an online review about your product.

Benefits of Identifying Marketing Touchpoints:

Insight into Customer Behavior: When you identify key touchpoints, you gain insight into how your customers engage with your brand.
Consistency in Messaging: By controlling touchpoints, you can ensure your messaging is consistent across platforms.
Improved Customer Experience: Focusing on touchpoints allows you to deliver a seamless and memorable experience for your customers.
Acquisition Attribution: Knowing your various touchpoints allows you to better undersand and develop your attribution model.

The Rule of 7 in Marketing: Is It Really 7 Anymore?

So why do we even care about identifying touchpoints? A big part of it is the Rule of 7, which is a traditional marketing concept that suggests a potential customer needs to hear or see your message at least seven times before making a purchase decision.

But with the rise of digital platforms and the overwhelming amount of content people consume daily, this number has skyrocketed. Some experts suggest it now takes closer to 50 touchpoints before a customer is ready to commit.

Knowing your various touchpoints with your specific target market helps you better understand not only where you can interact with them along the buyer’s journey but as you collect data, you’ll also be able to identify the average number of touchpoints your audience goes through prior to purchase.

How the Buyer’s Journey Impacts Your Touchpoints

The buyer’s journey is the process customers go through before making a purchase, usually broken down into three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Understanding this journey helps you determine which touchpoints are most relevant at each stage.

Awareness Stage: At the top of the funnel, touchpoints like social media ads, blog posts, and SEO play a critical role in making your audience aware of your brand.
Consideration Stage: Once customers are considering solutions to their problems, touchpoints like case studies, reviews, or comparison pages can help move them further down the funnel.
Decision Stage: When they're ready to make a decision, direct touchpoints like sales calls, special promotions, or demo requests can seal the deal.

By aligning your touchpoints with the buyer’s journey, you can guide customers through the process seamlessly and effectively.

Direct vs. Indirect Touchpoints: What's the Difference?

Understanding the distinction between direct and indirect touchpoints can help you optimize your marketing strategy.

Direct Touchpoints: These involve actual interactions between the customer and your brand. Examples include talking to a customer service agent, navigating your website, or visiting a physical store.
Indirect Touchpoints: These are interactions that happen without your brand being actively involved. Think of social media mentions, reviews, or word-of-mouth recommendations.

While you may have more control over direct touchpoints, indirect touchpoints can be just as powerful (if not more) in shaping customer perceptions. By identifying both types, you can create a comprehensive strategy that covers all angles.

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Overall, understanding how your clients and customers interact with your brand means you can streamline and better optimize your marketing strategy. Knowing exactly where to market (both directly and indirectly), how many touchpoints you need with your target market, and what stage of the funnel those touchpoints are in so you can strategically pull them through the buyer’s journey more quickly, allows you to increase revenue while also decreasing marketing expenses.

But touchpoint marketing is all about creating meaningful interactions that lead customers toward your ultimate goal: a purchase. Start by understanding your customer’s needs and pain points at each stage of their journey. Whether it's a direct touchpoint like a sales email or an indirect one like a social media post, each should address those needs with relevant, personalized content. Make sure your messaging stays consistent across all touchpoints to build trust and familiarity over time.

Ultimately, it's not about how many touchpoints you create but how effective they are at building trust and leading customers to take action. The more aligned and relevant each touchpoint is, the quicker they’ll move toward conversion.