When creating a marketing campaign, traditionally we would create an idea.
We’d get our creatives around that idea, our copywriters, art directors, and so forth. That idea is then blasted or amplified across multiple different marketing channels.
We’re not just doing radio or press anymore, we’re not just doing TV. We’re on the Internet, we’re on social.
So it’s more of a case of ”Let’s check that box off because it’s another channel and we want to be present there, so let’s do that.” That’s basically what’s happened in the market.
It’s still happening to this day – ad agencies are spending big budgets and are still doing that process. The issue is, when it’s been like that for so many years, and when their whole model based around doing that, they’ll tend to just keep doing it. Whether it’s as effective, or whether it’s optimal in terms of Return on Investment, that’s questionable. That’s the Old Amplification Strategy.
What effectively has happened, is because of the mobile phone and other devices, we’re always on. We’re not watching TV at a specific time, we’re not tuning into the radio at a specific time, and we’re not reading a paper only on the Saturday morning when we’re having breakfast.
We’re always switched on.
We’re always switched on, even 2:00 am at night – this is reflected in the data. In analytics we can see people searching for stuff in the midnight hours. In fact there was one website we were looking at, and their ecommerce sales were through the roof on a late Friday night, when people had obviously had a few drinks, came home, and spent money.
What it’s saying is that the device has created this access to information to always be switched on, but our marketing strategies and our business model is still very much amplification, one-directional strategy.
At a very top level Google themselves have identified what we call Micro-Moments. Think of this as a guide to how you create customers in the modern age.
You don’t look at the broad structure of one message to a massive audience that speaks to everyone, you look at the little moments in time that matter to people.
Which moments matter most to a customer? This is not rhetorical; it can be broken down to three areas:
1) Research and Ideas Moments
This first area is top of the funnel, and right at the beginning.
”I’m not really sure… I kind of have an idea of what I want but I’m gonna start doing research”
How many of us have done this? Whether you want a car or whether you’re looking for a house. You start researching, that’s the first thing you do, sometimes every before talking to people, or going to speak to a company. Whatever the product or service is, you’ll start Googling or researching, and reading this, reading that. So as a company, or as a business, are you there in that moment? Ae you providing information to that customer at that point in time? This is when blogs and content is really good.
2) Comparing and Reviewing Moments
“Now I kind of have an idea of what I want, but I want to review your brand versus another brand or product.”
So now your customer is looking at products and packages, and comparing the pricing, making their decision. Is your business set up for that structure? If you don’t have a structure where customers can compare something easily to your competitor, they’ll leave. If they don’t understand, you’ve made it too hard for them, and they’ll leave. That’s basically how cutthroat it is from a customer’s perspective.
3) Ready To Buy Moments
”I’ve made my decision, I want to go with you guys. But what’s the experience like? I’ve put an enquiry in, how quickly do you get back to me? Do you get back to me within 24 hours? Do you take a week? What’s your salesperson like when they call me back up? Did they miss their appointment? Did I get a Thank You email that’s really nicely tailored to what I asked for in the first place?”
All of these questions are Ready To Buy moments, and are you providing your customer are very quick and easy experience to allow them to convert or do something? These 3 points are Micro-Moments, and are essential to marketing in the digital age.
