Customer centricity is a key driving force behind long-term business success. Companies that prioritize understanding and fulfilling customer needs outperform their product-centric counterparts by 4 to 8% according to a study by Bain & Company. Trust and satisfaction set the baseline for long-term retention and for rapid acquisition, being the foundation of sustainable growth. Yet, getting users to that aha! moment that sets a product apart as a must-have to a large market segment can be quite challenging for two main reasons:

1. Customer preference and online behavior is constantly changing, and marketers often lack a data-based vision on how these trends are evolving;
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2. Customers don't always reveal their true needs or motivations explicitly, demanding marketers to go beyond surveys and social media listening to truly understand their audience.

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While social listening analyzes public online conversations and brand mentions on social media platforms, search listening offers a different approach to consumer insights, enabling marketers to decode customer intent at the exact (private) moment that they are searching for a brand or product. Search intelligence softwares like Trajaan enable digital marketers to track fluctuations in search interest over time, in near real-time, bringing forward the voice of the customers beyond static keyword mining and providing businesses with a deeper understanding on:

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• how customer demand is evolving;
• what brands are top of mind and how they weigh on related searches;
• how visible is your website (and your competitors’) on these searches;
• and what content resonates best with customers at each step of their purchase journey

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Search listening enables companies to identify promising markets to invest in and gives brands a new pulse on their audience needs, helping them draw a complete, data-based picture of their target market, and tailor the effective messages to deploy. This competitive-advantage can be used to forecast demand and optimize product development, go-to-market, content, and acquisition strategies accordingly.

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Transforming search trends into growth opportunities

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Let’s say a real estate developer notices a sustained increase in searches for "modern tiny homes near hiking trails" in a specific region, spotting a shift in demand towards compact, nature-oriented living. This data on the volume and growth of search for that specific product is then used by the developer to forecast demand and to focus its development efforts on what customers are actually willing to buy right now. By benchmarking the contents that rank better on SERPs, we are able to develop the right content to showcase their new offerings to the right audience. By proactively responding to these search trends and catering to the evolving needs of the housing market, our client is given a competitive edge to put in place development, content, acquisition and conversion strategies centered around their customers.

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Now imagine a prestigious bridal fashion house based in Paris that uses search listening to understand what styles and features brides are actively seeking. By analyzing trending search terms like "luxury lace wedding gowns" or "romantic wedding dress designers", we help our client to create targeted social media content that showcases the right pieces of collection to the brides that are actively seeking that unique style, in alignment with what’s trending right now. Combined with price crawling techniques that retrieve daily the prices of their competitors in selected markets, we help our client to adjust their pricing strategy, increase its digital presence, build product and brand awareness, and boost online sales.

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Lastly, consider an automotive lubricant company, worried with the industry's shift towards electric vehicles. Search listening enables them to better understand evolving consumer attitudes towards thermal vehicles. We can then help them update their ideal client profile and anticipate who their target audience will be in the next 30 years. In doing so, we help our client to refine its brand positioning, content strategy, and marketing communications to address the pain points and needs of their customers of today and tomorrow.

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Incorporating search listening into their marketing strategy gives brands a real-time understanding of the pain points, questions, and real-world challenges and uncertainties customers face across the purchase journey. We can monitor fluctuations of brand sentiment and customer intent over time, and proactively address negative perceptions or concerns that surface online in customer reviews, as well as capitalize on positive mentions to build trust and credibility. We can also uncover hidden demand and unmet customer needs to develop new offerings and go-to-market strategies that are customer-centric, and then put in place highly targeted campaigns that resonate with what audiences are actually searching for.

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Spaag : your partner in achieving sustainable, measurable, and profitable growth

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At Spaag, we combine the power of social and search listening to capture the voice of the customers, uncovering valuable customer and competitive intelligence to guide you and your customers through the process of achieving that aha! moment that sets a product apart. Once the foundations are solid, we craft targeted, data-driven, acquisition campaigns, piloted towards performance, to foster rapid, sustainable, and profitable growth that will secure the long-term success for you and your brand.

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If you’re ready to unlock the full potential of your growth marketing strategy, contact us today and let's discuss how we can help you take your brand to the next level in the digital space.
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‍João Tapioca - Account Director at Spaag