According to a new study by Forrester Research, companies should learn a lot from the path taken by consumers to reach the web pages, to be able to design the marketing campaigns.

The report, entitled “How Consumers Found Web Pages in 2012,” was compiled from an online survey conducted between May and June 2012 involving 30,978 American adults and 2,032 Canadians, aged 18 and 88. Of these results, Forrester has identified the different ways to arrive at a web page, a very useful information for the digital marketing managers of the companies.

In the past, when a user or consumer wanted to reach a web page, either knew the address or did a search using one of the engines, but Forrester notes that technological changes have produced a significant change. Consumers can now find web pages from a variety of sources and platforms.

According to the new study, while in 2012 still 54% of users used “natural” results, this percentage had fallen from 61% in 2010. The channels that have begun to have more impact are social networks. They grew from 2010 to 2012 from 18% to 32%; And paid search results, which rose from 10% in 2011 to 18% in 2012.

The report reveals that younger users prefer “new ways to find web pages than older users.” Thus, 50% of young people between 18 and 23 years old prefer social networks, while the percentage drops to 43% in those between 24 and 32 years old. For offline channels, such as newspapers and magazines, their audience is those aged 68 or over, with 28%, compared to 12% of young people between 18 and 23 years.

Other methods for locating web pages are emails, links from other websites, television programs and the personal recommendations of friends and family.

This change in the way of finding addresses can benefit companies in the form of “discovery marketing”. “Discovery marketing” is defined by Forrester as the positioning of a brand or product in the search path of a multi-channel consumer, not just using search engines.

But before a company can reach this level they must have certain things into consideration. To use a tactic of “discovery marketing” or “marketing of discovery”, the companies must risk with a new idea, something that they are not carrying out in those moments. According to Forrester, companies tend to focus only on what traditionally pushes their sales, such as cost per click, rather than exploring new methods of reaching customers.

Companies must move away from traditional areas and enter into marketing discovery by experimenting with new, more collaborative strategies. To be able to perform discovery marketing actions, companies must focus on three key areas: what consumers are trying to find based on the terms they use, what sources companies use to lead or drive to a website, and which ones Are the current trends in consumer needs, so that each consumer can be treated individually.

By doing this, companies will be able to better understand their customers, know what discovery tools they are using at each step of their journey, and develop a more appropriate marketing strategy,

If more companies added a marketing discovery section to their marketing platforms, Forrester says it would change the overall perspective of what a search is and the value it can bring to companies. The company says that as search and discovery marketing expands, companies like Apple and Google will develop appropriate tools and software.