As marketers, we tend to fall in love with our brand messages on our websites for that first engagement moment, which is supposed to pique a consumer’s interest.
And, we expect the consumer to play along. However, the challenge today is that consumers, especially younger audiences, don’t necessarily follow our traditional brand marketing rules.
That first interaction that Proctor and & Gamble was famously known for in the marketing world was called the “Moment of Truth”, which they defined as the critical fraction of time when the consumer meets the product in the store.
“Proctor & Gamble believes shoppers make up their mind about a product in about the time it takes to read this sentence.” (Wall Street Journal 2005)
This moment translates to 3-7 seconds after a consumer first encounters a product on a store shelf. This is a marketer’s best chance of converting a browser into a buyer by appealing to their senses, values, and emotions.
The zero moment of truth in the digital world.
Now that consumers research online before making a purchase, it only makes sense for Google to coin it as the online decision-making moment, which they call the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), The ZMOT is followed by the First Moment of Truth (FMOT), which is when consumers are standing in front of the product, actually looking at. which
At KAI2, we believe Proctor & Gamble’s moment of truth still is a key factor today. We like to call it a “Why to buy moment.” We just need to define better moments.
The most popular and traditional marketing delivery mechanism is to connect consumers to their website or a YouTube video from a QR code. We love YouTube. We believe all brands need to be on it. It’s the world’s second largest search engine to Google. Every brand needs to have a website to boost their credibility and grow their business. However, these marketing mechanisms do not work during that crucial moment of truth when you want the consumer to choose your brand at the store shelf, online, at an event, and more.
When consumers see a QR Code or a label they can scan, they are expecting a unique and relevant experience that correlates to how that brand fits with their needs and lifestyle. Instead, they receive a poor experience that falls flat. This pushes the consumer away, and negatively impacts their perception of the brand.
YouTube is not conducive to igniting that moment of truth.
Researching products in the ZMOT world makes it harder for marketers to own their brand narrative. I don’t have to tell you that a brand’s biggest competitor against other brands is YouTube.
WHY?
It's because they are not only competing for consumer eyeballs, but the noise of over 800 million videos that get highjacked with pop-up ads, which 90% of people skip ads in the beginning of the video.
Brands have to pay for enough ads to scale. The other challenge for YouTube is that many of the channels get abandoned and become a graveyard of disorganized and underutilized channels. Companies use YouTube to house and post their videos. This feature was intended for storytelling, but marketing departments don’t have the time or knowledge to be able to do this.
Websites have become warehouse of information.
As we know, websites are designed for a mass audience experience. They have to be. But why as marketers do we continue to link the consumer to the brand’s homepage, directly to the shopping cart, or a long-scrolling landing page.
Over 90% of consumers want a meaningful and short video experience during that moment of truth.
Imagine being a consumer in the middle of the store aisle and you have to click through these type of experiences on your phone for a quick assessment. These pages are truly not mobile-friendly and challenging to navigate, making it more trouble than it's worth. Using responsive design may make your content look good on mobile but it doesn’t address the specific needs of the mobile customer. Mobile users want it when they want it.
Brands need better connected experiences.
Imagine if you could change a person’s mind in that moment and take them down an authentic path to take action with your brand.
Inspiration is a critical step in the journey, where the content transcends mere facts and figures, evoking emotions and painting a vivid picture of how the product or service can enhance the consumer's life. This emotional connection is what transforms interest into desire, making the proposition not just appealing but irresistible.
Finally, the path culminates in the decision to buy, but by this point, the decision feels like a natural conclusion to the journey rather than a pressured or impulsive action. The consumer feels informed, inspired, and confident in their choice, which not only leads to a decision, but also builds a foundation for long-term brand loyalty.
Bottom line, when your answers aren’t there for the consumer during that moment of truth, they search for themself. This is where brands lose control of the narrative during this most powerful moment, and they end up switching to another brand.
How can we give back control to brands?
Moments have become too transactional.
They are more about the price or a coupon code, the product’s features, and broad benefits written for a mass audience. They might generate short-term results, but real engagement begins when a consumer's interest is piqued by a compelling moment, which we believe is by leveraging the power of a video storytelling experience that is strategically crafted content designed to capture attention within seconds and leads the consumer down an authentic path to purchase.
It’s an opportunity that represents how someone feels, thinks, and considers a brand during that moment of truth, and evokes a response that unleashes an unexpected, “wow”, and personal connection. They want their questions answered. They want their problems solved. They don’t want to be sold to.
So how do we do that?
It starts by authentically living their values and create signature experiences that are human, meaningful and memorable, and go beyond just the product or service being offered.
These are special moments to remind people that they matter, that you value their time, that you intend to build a relationship built upon exceptional experiences – whether it’s an email, whether it’s a text, whether it’s a website or a landing page, or whether it’s packaging.
Learn what matters to your customer. Study the best experiences in the world, beyond your industry. Winning customer journeys and experiences will be rooted in these signature moments.
At KAI2, our expertise is in crafting those signature moments for brands and turning them into video storytelling, video infographics, video moments of truth, and more.
Comments