10 seconds or less. That’s all you have to engage your customers and make them pay attention for a longer period of time.

People today are not willing to spend more than a few seconds when it comes to your marketing campaigns. Moreover, you cannot have their undivided attention — they watch TV, view their Facebook feeds, and peek into their email inbox, all at the same time.

It’s safe to say that marketers today have to deal with a “distracted audience.”

It comes as no surprise, then, that traditional marketing tactics have fallen short in driving the desired results, especially when there’s a multitude of similar brands vying for your customers’ attention.

We now live in a post-advertising era, where you cannot interrupt the consumer’s life and ram your message down the consumer’s throat. Marketers have to find better ways to target right audience, on the right medium, at the right time, using the right message.

This is where Nonlinear Marketing comes in to play.

Linear marketing vs. Nonlinear Marketing

Traditional marketing mostly involves defining your campaigns with a linear series of actions and push a big list of prospective buyers into a funnel hoping to come up with a few people who will supposedly buy our products. In contrast, Nonlinear Marketing is more concerned about weaving the brand into consumer’s life in a way that inspires them to interact with your products or services.

Jamie Turner, a well-known author and business thought leader (and also the CEO of this blog), has defined Nonlinear Marketing as “the process of creating demand and preference for your product or service by having the brand participate in the consumer’s life, and by having the consumer participate in the brand’s life.”

Rather than relying only on traditional techniques where brands might interrupt a consumer’s life with 30-second TV commercials (or some other form of traditional marketing), brands become a seamless part of their consumers’ daily journey.

When that happens, they almost imperceptibly create demand and drive conversions. The result is a richer, more robust experience for the consumer. And a more effective, longer lasting relationship for the marketer.

There is no hard and fast rule to create a Nonlinear Marketing campaign, as your audience does not always go through the traditional sales funnel in a linear fashion (as seen in scenario #1 below). Instead, they might start in the middle, go up, then drop down to the bottom of the funnel (as seen in scenario #2). Or they might start at the bottom, jump to the top, then jump to the middle (as seen in scenario #3).

But you don’t have to worry about where your prospect is in the sales funnel with a Nonlinear Marketing campaign — since the brand has become part of the consumer’s life, the consumer will often navigate to the bottom of the sales funnel on their own.

How can you leverage non-linear marketing for your brand?

Big brands like RedBull, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and others have been practicing some form of Nonlinear Marketing for quite some time. But is it possible to do a Nonlinear Marketing campaign without paying through the nose?  Yes. For example, you can publish a YouTube video exhibiting behind-the-scenes at your business; or start a post-sharing contest where your followers need to share your post to earn freebies; or even do a customer survey designed to engage people more deeply with your brand.

Looking for more examples? Here’s one — soon after Pokémon GO took the world by storm, many big and small brands started to run unofficial Pokémon promotions for many weeks to appeal customers by exhibiting what monsters they have available on the social media websites.

An increasing number of customers started to visit bars, restaurants, and other sites that are ‘Pokéstops,’ ‘Gyms,’ or fall within the vicinity of either spot. The viral nature of Pokemon GO helped retailers connect with customers and increased the foot traffic to the stores using “Lures.”

Niantic CEO John Hanke—during his interview with the Financial Times—claimed that the sponsored spots are on Pokémon GO’s forecast. Participating brands would have the chance to be featured on maps (eventually increasing the foot traffic in their stores), as the gamers look to build up their Pokédex, accumulate Pokéballs, take part in battles, or other related activities the game offers at real locations.

The sponsored locations can be charged by visits, letting the marketers increase their budget, just like the concept of cost-per-click.

What Nonlinear Marketing is. And what it isn’t.

Nonlinear Marketing isn’t always an easy thing to wrap your mind around. Why? Because Nonlinear Marketing isn’t a tactic, it’s a strategy. Given that, it’s not as easy to understand as, say, social media was.

So, with that in mind, here’s a chart that highlights what Nonlinear Marketing is. And what it isn’t.

To wrap up:

There is no denying in that Nonlinear Marketing is the future of branding and business promotion. The mantra behind this new marketing approach is simple; brands have to be innovative when it comes to connecting with their targeted audience. They need to encourage a two-way conversation with the customers and fabricate an interactive experience that can stimulate action. Doing this will not just help the marketers enhance the brand loyalty, but also create a happy customer-base for life.

Still interested in learning more?

If so, check out this video interview with Jamie Turner at the SEMPL Media Trends Conference in Europe.

About the Author: Mawiya Karam has been working in the capacity of a research analyst at a reputable SEO Company in Dubai. Her love for technology has driven her to participate into different seminars as a lecturer. Besides having keen eyes for latest marketing trends, she is also an active volunteer in women empowerment organization.