Google recently posted a blog that discussed micro-moments. There are millions of micro-moments throughout a consumers journey online. Be it an ad before a YouTube video, an ad on a website or a paid ad through search, these micro-moments can define what path the consumer takes and where they end up spending their time and money. Brands need to be aware of these in order to optimise their online marketing strategies. The internet is a crowded place and even the savviest online marketers need to be on constant alert to ensure they are ahead of the curve, and their competitors.
The author of the post, Lucas Watson, has broken these micro-moments into four categories:
- I want to watch what I’m into – moments (feeding passions or interests)
- I want to know – moments (learning, exploring, or researching)
- I want to do – moments (seeking instruction)
- I want to buy – moments (deciding what or how to buy)
Understanding and acting on these micro-moments means placing your brand where it will intersect with the goals of the audience, meaning you are there ready and waiting with useful content for the consumer.
This is an excellent read and a must for anyone looking to maximise their online presence and to do so in the right places. You can read the full article here.
Offline marketing
This article got us thinking. While there are plenty of opportunities and moments to influence consumers online, there aren’t as many opportunities to do so offline. It is impossible to be there at every step of a consumers offline journey and while it can be done to an extent, through the use of in-store advertising, signage, billboards and so on, there comes a point when you simply can’t control what they are going to do next. This makes it difficult to influence and make an impact in those micro-moments mentioned above.
Offline marketing material will often result in the consumer going online to research further, often with a very open mind. This loops back to the online marketing strategy, ensuring you are in the right place at the right time.
Basically, offline marketing cannot target these micro-moments as effectively. Or at least it hadn’t done. It is only expected that we mention video brochures (surprise!) but this is an area where they can help bridge that gap and assist in making your offline marketing much more effective and targeted.
Being there in those moments
Flyers are good, but video is key, both online and offline. For any offline marketing campaign, you have to have a database of those you want to target. These will have been specifically chosen for one reason or another. The most common reason being that they need something or could avail of the service you offer – the “I want to buy moment.” They might want more information if it is a new venture for them – the “I want to know moment.” They may have made it known that they are looking for the product you offer and are in the market to purchase – the “I want to do moment.” Equally, they may be looking to explore something of interest to them, and your product and service may be just what they are looking for – the “I want to watch what I’m into moment.”
Regardless, you have selected that database for a reason: you know that they can avail of your product or service in one way or another. Each of the four micro-moment groups can be targeted through video brochures and as a result, your offline marketing can be more specific and targeted catering to the needs of your customer.
One advantage of this is that video brochures are unique and grab attention. Your brand will stand out and influence the people that you directly want to influence. It is a package that you can’t ignore.
Another advantage, when talking about the micro-moments, is that by presenting targets with an attention-grabbing and informative video brochure, you are standing out from the crowd means that when they do go online to research, your brand will be firmly placed at the front of their minds, fending off competitors who are looking to grab their attention during those crucial micro-moments.
Everything that used to happen exclusively offline is now a combination of both for most businesses as marketers struggle to innovate in an already saturated environment. Every part of a client’s journey from first hearing about your brand, to getting interested, buying and asking for support now requires strong efforts in both fields. Video has been proved to massively boost all of these efforts in each of these micro-moments.
From promoting your brand through a video, to presenting a product’s features or creating a knowledge base helper video these will all contribute to a much-improved customer journey and increased customer satisfaction.
While mostly an online challenge, these micro-moments can be tackled offline too and in cases of targeted campaigns, combining online and offline can yield huge benefits over your competitors allowing you to stand out from the (increasingly large) crowd.