Running real time marketing activities can bring a company many benefits. Some of them are certainly building a positive relationship with the consumer, establishing a dialogue with them and gaining a more "human face" for the brand in their eyes.

It is no revelation that nowadays, in order to persuade a customer to buy, we first have to gain their trust and interest. So how should real-time marketing actually be used to build a favourable image for a company? Can every brand run RTM activities?

The broadly understood essence of real-time marketing is delivering the right offer to a given customer in the right place and at the right time. Individualisation of the offer based on tracking consumer behaviour online is of great importance here. In a narrow sense, RTM can be defined as activities/information that reach specific users at the moment a given event occurs. Real-time marketing is characterised by immediately reacting to current events that are important to a given society. A perfect example of this type of activity – and at the same time one of the most popular – is the behaviour of the Oreo brand during the American Super Bowl in 2013. It has long been known that this is one of the most important events, gathering millions of viewers in the stadium and in front of their televisions. During the final game in 2013, a power failure unexpectedly occurred and darkness fell over the entire stadium. At that point, most people turned on their social media to check information about it. I don't know whether they found it, but they certainly came across the Oreo brand's spontaneous reaction to the situation. What was it? A dozen or so minutes after the game was stopped due to the lack of power, the brand posted a photo of its cookie on Twitter with the message that Oreo cookies can still be eaten in the dark. The reaction of internet users was amazing; the image was shared on Twitter several thousand times, and even more people liked it on Facebook.

Can every brand run RTM activities?

In my opinion, yes. The most important thing is that the content of the message addresses the current needs of the audience and is adequate to their present moods and the situation in which they find themselves. These may be holidays, important sporting or cultural events, unexpected situations (as in the case of Oreo). The most important thing here is to instantly adapt these events to the needs of the brand and create messages that will interest as many recipients as possible. A good campaign can be carried out both by a manufacturer of cookies, smartphones and cleaning products. The most important and at the same time the most difficult thing is for the reaction to occur at the best time and place. However, creativity and a sense of timing are not everything. Someone might say that such activities are pointless for their brand, because its potential consumers do not use social media. Admittedly, it is true that the main audience of RTM activities on social media are teenagers and young people. Let us remember, however, that these same people will in a few or a dozen or so years enter the age at which they become the main purchasing force, which is why maintaining good relations with them may turn out to be a necessity in building a positive image of our brand.

Authenticity above all

In RTM activities, the authenticity of the message and adapting the communication to the brand's style are also extremely important. If recipients sense artificiality, the whole activity may turn out not only to be ineffective, but may even cause the brand to be ridiculed in the eyes of the audience. Both the context itself and the language should be understandable to the addressees. The recipient should immediately connect the facts and understand the content of the message. A witty and funny message has a chance to spread across the entire internet very quickly, thus determining the success of our activities.

The development of social networking sites and the popularity of building interpersonal relationships through them is both an opportunity and a challenge for modern companies. Although this type of activity imposes on companies the requirement of constantly staying up to date and being vigilant, and consequently – an investment of time and money, it has a chance to bring them a number of real benefits. Building brand awareness, retaining a customer or strengthening their engagement are just a few of them. Let us remember, however, that these activities should be part of a broader communication plan on which we will build our sales and development goals. Only then will RTM activities be perceived as natural and resulting from the need of the moment, rather than as aggressive and intrusive advertising activities.

Łukasz Roszkowski, Vamos Media

Łukasz Roszkowski - a enthusiast of communication and everything connected with it. Managing director at Vamos Media, a company specialising in broadly understood marketing communication. He gained professional experience working, among others, at PR agencies in Warsaw. Previously, he held the position of journalist at Kurier Poranny and Gazeta Współczesna. He also wrote about sport for the Sportowefakty.pl and reprezentacja.net portals. After several years spent in Warsaw, he decided to return to his home town of Białystok and transfer the experience he had gained to the local ground.

Vamos Media is a media house specialising in creating coherent marketing communication plans, various types of advertising campaigns, as well as comprehensive advice on media buying. It offers a wide range of services allowing for the optimisation of the budget while reaching target groups. The company was founded in 2015. Its portfolio includes companies such as Lody Bonano, Samsung Brand Store and Unicell Poland, the manufacturer of paints and construction chemicals under the Primacol brand.