From keeping up to standing out — 4 strategies to help media, entertainment, and telecom brands take their CX to the next level

Audiences’ loyalties are up for grabs — and there are plenty of brands reaching for their share. The last several years have brought an explosion of media and entertainment options, and today’s audiences consume more content than ever. But with many bouncing from one provider to another whenever a new show or promotion catches their eye, building a brand that inspires loyalty can be challenging.

A study by Adobe found that more than half of shoppers say they won’t keep buying from a brand that doesn’t personalize the customer experience (CX) in meaningful ways. This means that, especially in this fiercely competitive market, brands must deliver truly personalized and frictionless customer experiences if they want to delight audiences and win market share.

While the show on the stage, field, or screen matters, the way brands engage with audiences before, during, and after events can be just as important to their loyalty. Viewer-first, data-driven, technology-forward marketers can activate new and exciting ways for audiences to look forward to (and look back on) some of the most special moments in their lives.

1. The hybrid experience — live and at home

During the last few years, entertainment and event experiences changed — and those changes are here to stay. The Adobe report, 2022 Digital Trends — Media and Entertainment in Focus, found that blended, interactive, and immersive entertainment experiences have become not just possible, but commonplace, due to 5G connectivity.

Innovations and investments in new technologies and offerings have transformed streamed entertainment, theaters, and live events. Film studios now release some films as streaming-only. Many movie theaters now offer reserved seats, with tickets and concessions easily bought via mobile devices. Concert venues offer advanced-purchase options for parking.

These innovations create fantastic opportunities for brands to meet and engage with their audiences in a variety of settings, whether it’s in-person events at a venue, livestreams that facilitate audience commenting, or content-creator platforms like TikTok and Instagram, which can spark excitement and audience connections before, during, and after an event with offerings like these:

• Before events. An entertainment brand’s app could hold in-person attendees’ tickets, help them find their seats faster, and order food. For at-home viewers, the brand could create a VIP experience by streaming backstage interviews before the show begins.
• During events. Real-time sharing of social media comments on a jumbotron at the stadium, encouraging event-specific hashtags, and providing selfie-friendly photo spots and virtual backgrounds help both in-person and at-home audiences feel included in the event.
• After events. Sending a text to thank attendees for joining the event, asking for feedback through a survey, and social sharing of memorable event photos do more than just lengthen and enhance an experience — they also help you gather useful, real-time data about what audiences want more of.

All these efforts help create frictionless experiences that enhance the customer experience.

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2. Data strategies — knowing your audience

While brands have been accustomed to relying on third-party customer data from outside vendors, it’s increasingly important for a brand to gather its own first-party data.

A strong first-party data strategy could include initiatives like loyalty programs, email campaigns, and app or website interactions. They’re all tools to help you grow audiences and revenues, improve engagement and retention for subscribers, upsell to your existing customer base, and personalize service.

However, identifying your audience and their preferences can be challenging. Many consumers access entertainment and media through several unconnected accounts or profiles on multiple devices. All that data has to be gathered, analyzed to identify the person at the center of all the accounts and devices, then stitched together into a unified profile.

Encouraging customers to share their information requires a value exchange.

The quality of your first-party data affects the insights gained by AI models and algorithms. By combining behavioral and preference data, you can improve your model’s predictive capabilities and satisfy your customers’ desire for truly personalized experiences with a trusted brand. And, as our Trust Report also found, customers put their money where their trust is.

Creating personal connections with a global fan base

With one of the sporting world’s biggest fan bases, Real Madrid faced the challenge of understanding fans as individuals. They decided to create real-time, unified customer profiles to better understand how, when, and where their fans engage with the brand. By creating, managing, and delivering highly personalized content that their fans love, Real Madrid is driving deeper engagement.

3. Dynamic content — more, faster, better

Consumers now have a spectacular array of content available at their fingertips — and brands must fight for an audience's limited attention. Media-streaming providers face an additional challenge: short-term subscribers. Streaming platforms allow consumers to switch providers with minimal consequence, which enables customers to hop from service to service to stream their current content of choice instead of building loyalty to any single provider.

Media and entertainment brands need to reimagine — and innovate — dynamic content experiences to create richer value for their subscriber or audience base. Offering dynamic experiences at scale requires optimizing tools, workflows, and content assets. If your owned content is siloed and fragmented, your teams will first need to create a central, usable content repository that shares information readily with all teams involved in content creation.

4. Omnichannel experiences — frictionless audience journeys

With audiences that interact with your brand using different channels at different times, how do you ensure they know about new subscriber perks, upcoming events, or promotions? Once audience members have made a purchase, how do you strengthen that connection?

Orchestrating customer journeys seamlessly across channels and devices — and at scale — requires optimization of the communications strategy. From sale announcements to ticket confirmations to automated pre-event notifications, opportunities abound to create awareness of new services and offerings. Creating frictionless omnichannel communications enhances the overall customer experience.

Anticipating customer expectations

As one of the leading telecom providers in Denmark, Telia Denmark is very familiar with the industry’s high rates of customer churn between competing providers. The company’s leadership knew they needed to create long-lasting relationships with families in Denmark. By creating an omnichannel platform, Telia powers their vision of seamless and personalized engagement, wherever customers interact with them.

Putting it all together

By working together to optimize content-creation strategies, processes, and technologies, your IT and marketing teams can support success in the four key areas. With the right people and tools in place, today’s media, entertainment, and telecom brands are positioned to deliver meaningful, impactful, and personalized customer experiences throughout the entire customer journey.

Learn how Adobe is helping media and entertainment brands with our modern customer experience solutions.