Instant Gratification. We know it. We live it.

It’s well accepted that we’re living in a time where customers demand instant gratification. In fact, businesses are hungry for instant gratification as well. They want their ad campaigns to work instantaneously, to give them a result without delay.

Enter: instant gratification marketing.

The idea here is that businesses are focusing on marketing that will give consumers what they want fast — as fast as possible — to satisfy that desire for instant gratification. And the thing about instant gratification marketing? It delivers instant gratification for both the consumer and the business.

Well, for the business, it may not be an instant sale, but instantly knowing if your tactics were successful or not … that can be gratification in itself!

Some examples include marketing where your audience is spending their time. It’s a waste to market your target audience on the subway if they exclusively take Ubers. Another to focus on ease of transaction. A specific example would be a targeted ad on Instagram. It should be so embarrassingly easy to go from seeing a picture of a dress on Instagram and it being in your shopping cart at checkout less than 90 seconds later.

That’s instant gratification done well.

There are many benefits to reap when employing instant gratification marketing. These include: reduced friction, increased conversations, easier data collection, and more connections. And guess what? Each of these benefits can lead to the added bonus benefits of building a strong relationship from consumer to business with increased mutual trust and loyalty.

Sounds great, however, there are some immediate (See what we did there?) challenges to instant gratification marketing. Some of which include: access to time, energy, and resources. Given the nature of “instant,” these campaigns need to be organized and distributed quickly, before the audience’s interests and intentions change. For a marketer, this can be very challenging. Just think about how much time and effort it takes to adequately research your target audience; now fast track that to add in effectively pitching and following through with a solid marketing campaign.

Sounds exhausting. But, when done well, instant gratification can lead to instant results.

There are so many options for consumers right now, and at the same time, consumers have high expectations for the brands they interact with and do business with. To continue to create and sustain positive relationships with these consumers, businesses must figure out how to instantly gratify them. This could be quick and free shipping, or a coupon code, or a seamless website experience.

And the best way to discover what will instantly gratify your audience? You guessed it: testing, testing, testing.

Testing is always key. But, here’s some advice tailor-made for instant gratification marketing …

Make it quick.