Firstly, I need to thank the awesome Nat Korak from The Content Collab for discussing the touchpoints concept as part of an awesome presentation at a Wheatbelt Business Network event.
A touchpoint, according to Merriam-Webster, is “an interaction for the purpose of building or maintaining a relationship.” And in the context of marketing it’s defined as “an interaction between an existing or potential customer and a business.”
As indicated above, a touchpoint is a broad concept that describes the interactions we have the purpose of creating or keeping relationships in everyday life.
And we human beings are actually damn good at these.
We’re skilled at creating new friendships with someone through a series of positive interactions with them. We’re also great at undertaking the same process when we want to form a romantic relationship with someone. Sometimes in a romantic context we’re even able to work up to progressively more enjoyable and more physical touchpoints, ha ha.
But let’s get back to boring old making money and marketing first.
According to the article How Many Touchpoints Does a Customer Need Before They Buy? from the Typeface Group, apparently customers may need as many as nine brand touchpoints before they actually buy from a business, however a rule of seven touchpoints is commonly seen across marketing literature. Brand touchpoints can be as diverse as Youtube videos, blog articles, social media posts, advertisements, podcasts, in person meetings, or presentations at a business event, among many other possible interactions with clients or customers.
Of course, the best part about some of these marketing touchpoints is that written information, infographics and videos that you’ve created and shared with the world can act as a touchpoint for years and decades after you’ve created them. For example, if a potential client needs a solution to a problem and is able to find a blog article you wrote and published five years ago in an online search, this is one touchpoint crossed off, with absolutely no effort, time or work required on your behalf. This touchpoint will also be powerfully magnetising if the customer is absolutely delighted with what you offered in the blog article, and they’ll check out other parts of your website all by themselves if this is the case.
Overall though I think it’s really important not to get too tied up in specific numbers, or to be too concerned about bombarding people in a continuous marketing frenzy.
Yes, continuously getting your brand out there and keeping it out there is important, no bones about it. But the reality is that not all touchpoints are of equal value, and in fact we’ve all experienced situations where we’ve bought from a business after only a minimal number of touchpoints.
Such situations occur when more powerful touchpoints, such as an in person meeting or a business presentation are experienced. I know personally that if I like the business person presenting and their values, and they’ve put an effort in to front up and talk about the professional service they offer and how they can help, I’m likely to buy from them without needing many further touchpoints. As soon as I need the product or service they offer, I’ll contact them to see if they have a space for me. And I don’t expect any business I work with to be perfect. As long as they demonstrate integrity and give me value when I work with them I’ll not only buy from them once, I’ll keep buying from them again and again.
This makes sense, because the greatest rewards in life and in business always come from fronting up and being brave enough to show people who you are. Powerful touchpoints don’t involve sleazy sales techniques, they just involve taking a deep breath and talking about what you do in a down to earth and matter-of-fact way. And no one gives a rat’s arse about the fact that you’re nervous, because we’re all nervous initially when we do such things. We’re human, and we’re all the same.
And it’s the same with friendships, these would never develop into powerful and life changing relationships if communication was exclusively “digital” and stayed at text or email level. Friendships only develop into robust and strong relationships through person to person time.
Strong and unwavering brand values also of course help to give you the best possible bang for your buck in relation to the touchpoints you choose to use. Not only do strong brand values naturally attract clients and customers who align with those values (and help repel those who don’t align with them), they also help your business demonstrate strength and a commitment to helping others with everything it presents to the world, without you even thinking about this.
I hope you enjoyed this article and for search engine optimised website copywriting and blog articles that can give you years of no effort touchpoint value, fill in my contact form or give me a call.
© Annemaree Jensen