by: Victoria Fields, Copywriter for Momentum Telecom, a cloud-based communications provider

As many marketers know, the landscape of marketing is rapidly changing. Over the past years, we’ve moved from traditional to content-based marketing that encourages interactive feedback and conversation with customers.

Now, digital marketing is about to enter even more challenging territory.

Building on the movement toward consumer power brought on by the digital age and social media that encourages consumers to share, compare and rate experiences, marketing is headed toward being on-demand – not just always “on” but also always relevant and responsive to customers’ desires that cut through other advertising noise with precise delivery.

Mobile devices add a new dimension of “wherever” to the digital climate. Marketers have a great opportunity to be in the pocket of consumers, but need to find ways to take advantage of this opportunity and privilege.

According to a recent study by the McKinsey Institute, as digital capabilities multiply, consumer demands will rise in four specific areas:

1. Consumers will want to interact anywhere at any time. Marketers have already started to take advantage of their customers’ desire for real-time and unique content, but in the new on-demand environment, digital technologies will need to operate behind the scenes to integrate data into all interactions a consumer has across the decision journey and provide insights into the best influence pathways for companies, while also triggering new experiences for customers.

2. Customers will want to do truly new things as more information is deployed in ways that create value for them. Marketing will no longer interrupt an experience that consumers enjoy; it will need to become the experience they enjoy. The challenge will be for companies to look beyond today’s interfaces to create an instantaneous series of interactions that remove the hassle of searching and sharing in multiple places.

3. They will expect all data stored about them to be targeted precisely to their needs. A phone tap or a click will need to instantly personalize offers, using information captured on “likes,” recent travel, income and other targeted information. With each interaction in the new digital age, consumers will be creating new data footprints that can complement existing digital portraits and enhance customer experience for your business

4. They will expect all interactions to be easy. A tap-and-go approach to delivering services and information and streamlining processes will be critical. Interactions can be more inviting, especially on mobile devices, by using touch and swipe to make changes and data in phones to recognize consumers and automatically customize interfaces.

Businesses can improve their approach to marketing by staying ahead of the design, data and delivery requirements of on-demand customers in the upcoming years. In fact, competitive advantage in the future will depend on it.