Marketers need to spend their efforts satisfying user moments, more than building aspiration for their products or services.
Google has published a number of videos recently about how its products and services satisfy users’ micro-moments. A user might search YouTube to see how to change the strings on their guitar. They might use Google Translate to communicate to their Italian cousin. They might use Google Search to find a bookstore in their neighborhood with strong ratings and recommendations, or to settle a dispute with a friend on the difference between a latte and a flat white. Google satisfies the impulse immediately by providing the relevant information. And it does it very well.
While Google has developed a strong role in satisfying a user's micro-moments, the concept of being present for consumers when they reach for their mobile or need information at that time, can be applied more broadly to marketing in general. Brands should consider their marketing along the lines of the micro-moments their users have in their daily lives. In this respect, brands become service companies as opposed to product companies.
Branding and advertising becomes centered on how the company delivers these moments. Brands can deliver in a variety of different ways:
Creating the Platform
Brands can satisfy user needs around information, and communication by facilitating conversations between groups. In a B2B context, Philips for example, created a community on LinkedIn bringing together experts in health and lighting and talking about innovations within their respective arenas.
Customer Service
If a user has a micro-moment and wants to directly interact with your brand, every second counts. In social media, it is more important for a brand to respond quickly to customer service than to come back with the correct information.
'Being There' With Broader Content
Huggies might be a (Read more...) product, but when I am Googling how to treat nappy rash at 2 o'clock in the morning and Huggies gives me the answer, I will remember that when I am in the shopping aisle.
Real Time Engagement
With the rise of Periscope and with Facebook now dabbling in real time video streaming, a new arena for marketing will be to cater to micro-moments within the live stream. Adidas Football did this well recently when it live-streamed James Rodriguez signing his contract with the brand at their headquarters in Germany. This offered unique footage – a great way to show fans ‘behind the scenes’, and move fans closer to the game and the brand.
Conclusion
Marketing needs to be about how brands can play a relevant role in satisfying user needs. It is unlikely that a brand will be able to be everywhere and satisfy every relevant micro-moment their audience has. In the same way search marketers place their bets and pick their battles relating to ranking for specific keywords on Google, they will need to also place their bets on the micro-moments that will mean the most in building their brands.
*Image via Shutterstock
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