In my third and final instalment of my It’s the Moments that Matter seminar from Attention: The Digital Marketing Summit I will touch upon the topics of:
- Making moments memorable - the power of personalisation
- The power of achievement moments
- Your moment in the spotlight
The first instalment covered macro-moments and the second micro-moments.
Making moments memorable
I’m all too aware that most digital marketing events offer many B2C examples, but fail quite often to share B2B advice and examples. When preparing my talk I encountered the same issue, although there are some insights I can share, especially using Adido as a subject.
One of the major issues for B2B companies wanting to embrace the notion of “real-time” marketing is company culture (notably an unwillingness from senior management to embark upon the unknown). Another one is that whilst “always-on” has been a watchword for B2B marketing, the notion of real time is some way off for companies, especially in practical terms.
Businesses operate on complex levels comprised of individuals that all generate their own separate data, as well as customers that are comprised of individuals that all generate their own separate data. Predicting how a business will react to an event is much more difficult than predicting how a consumer will react to an event.
One of the key ways both a B2B and B2C organisation can grab attention and create a memorable ad is to address the moment that is happening and offer something relevant in return. For Adido, we have taken to personalisation to bring this to life.
We recently relaunched our website, and with a mission to create memorable experiences we launched a mega menu which would provide personalised content depending on session behaviour. Accepting and understanding that our visitors would come to the site for a variety of reasons, and may only be interested in a slice of what we have to offer, we wanted to make that experience as useful, simple and relevant as possible.
A great way of doing this is to personalise the website. The articles listed ‘from our blog’; the ‘our next event’ listing and tweets will over-time become more personalised to the user’s browsing behaviour as more content is added to the website which satisfies the session niche.
At our event our extremely talented user experience architect Chris Cherrett developed a personalised agenda web app. We pre-programmed the agenda for every person attending the event with their personalised agenda (as people attended different talks at different times) and over the course of the day presentation material was unlocked according to the sessions they attended and messages appeared on what was happening now and next to help signpost the day’s activities.
Echoing Adido’s reason for being, “attention is fleeting”, we often forget ads as quickly as we see them because they feel generic and impersonal. The instance in which an ad resonates with us, is often due to the moment in which it’s seen, or the manner in which it ‘speaks’ to us. Carrying this approach into all marketing activities wherever possible could be a game changer, especially for B2B companies.
Achievement moments heighten decision making
In this section I must hold up my hands and say I “borrowed” the phenomenal words and work of Kiip founder Brian Wong, and followed some of the links posted within his articles on the concept of achievement moments.
As a newcomer to this field of moment marketing, during my research I was swept up by some of the powerful and plausible content in this area and wished to share this knowledge with my peers.
- In a study by IPG Media Lab, scientists found that users were 40 percent more excited during achievement moments than they were during normal app usage.
- Psychologist Neil Patel in his article The Psychology of Excitement, explained that when a person is excited, their emotions become more powerful and can affect their decision making abilities. Excited people are more likely to make a decision – any decision.
I can definitely vouch for being more susceptible to sales messages when I am feeling triumphant after a hockey win - I feel empowered and if a brand came along with a message at this point I am probably more likely to make a snap decision than at any other time. How do you feel when you achieve something?
- Paloma Vasquez, The Psychology of Shopping also supports this notion by saying “in a state of excitement, people think and behave very differently. Emotional stats trump rational thinking; it’s easier to sell to consumers when they are excited.”
Brian Wong himself is a Canadian entrepreneur who co-founded Kiip back in 2010. He states his ambition is to “own the moments that matter” and in his eyes this is within achievement moments. These are moments when people accomplish something notable.
Kiip redefines how brands connect with consumers through a moment-based rewards platform that targets 'moments of achievement' in the apps people use. Through a reward based experience brands can become associated with pleasurable moments and improve their connections with consumers over-time.
Whilst we shy away from app development at Adido, I could foresee that tie-ups with pre-existing apps could benefit my clients, especially in the fields of fitness, sports and retail. Not sure it’s available in the UK yet, but I’m keen to find out more and will be sure to speak to those of you it may be relevant to.
Your moment in the spotlight
To conclude my session I left my delegates with some practical, so what now? advice.
1. Define the moment
Look at your business through the lens of your customer
- What does having a smartphone allow your customer to do that they previously couldn’t?
Make a moment map
- Identify a set of moments you want to win or can’t afford to lose
- Examine all phases of the customer journey to map moments when people want to find inspiration, learn, make a quick purchase…
- Understand their needs in the moment
With tools like Google Trends, Google Consumer Surveys, and YouTube Trends, you can uncover valuable insights into what your customers are looking for and watching.
2. Own the moment
If you’re lucky enough to be the next KitKat, identify a moment which you could own and become synonymous with.
3. Service the moment
Consider these three things:
- What would make things easier or faster in the moment?
- What content or features would be most helpful for this moment?
- Leverage contextual signals to deliver experiences / messages which feel tailor-made for the moment
The next challenge will be adapting to the rise of the digital personal assistant, but we’ll ponder on that one some more and tackle the subject another day...
4. Optimise the moment
Right time marketing. If delivered at the optimal moment, can feel like real time. With software platforms like TVTY.tv online advertisers can optimise their media presence when:
- certain programmes air on TV
- you (or competitor brands) advertise on TV
- there are changes in weather conditions
- there are suitable live events
- financial markets change
At the time of my talk I believed that these moment marketing optimisation tools were accessible to nearly all, but unfortunately even they still have some inhibiting minimum spends to adhere to (approx. £50 per day). I’m planning on keeping them on my radar though as I think many of our clients, and prospects could benefit from optimisation in this manner and this prospect is quite exciting.
Summary
To succeed with a moment marketing strategy you must:
Be there - be visible across all stages of the purchase journey
Be useful - offer practical information and frame it in a way which clearly answers the question
Be quick - communicate concisely, and help reduce the path to purchase wherever possible
I ended my session on a poignant quote which was supported by some of the images we used for a campaign with Public Health Dorset - a moment marketing campaign in action!
