Winning In The Moments That Matter

If you want to start relating with your audience in meaningful ways and influencing their path to purchase, it’s essential to start thinking about non-linear journeys and working out the moments that matter most to them, writes iProspect’s national head of experience, Guy Jarvie (pictured below).
If there’s one area of empirical marketing which has captured the imagination of marketers over many decades, it’s the consumer decision journey. The Holy Grail for businesses is to effectively capture the intent of their customers at each stage of the journey and guide them through the purchase process. The classic one-directional purchase funnel which dates back to 1898 has helped marketers calculate the levers they need to pull in the marketing mix to influence customers from awareness through to purchase.
McKinsey came up with the notion of a loyalty loop which helped us think more about customer experiences within the journey and post-purchase advocacy, but modern marketing has changed immensely since these models came of age. The modern consumer journey is so intricate that outdated models simply can’t describe its complexity. There are now almost infinite touch points or moments which can influence a purchase that we need to come up with new models much more suited to a world dominated by digital.
Winning in a multi-screen world
In the digital universe, these potential touch points grow exponentially. We are utterly obsessed with that device we keep by our side day and night. On average, we check our phones more than 157 times per day, and 68 per cent of us check it within 15 minutes of waking up. In the US, consumers are spending five hours per day in mobile apps – that’s 30 per cent of a waking day. So, think about that for a second – if we multiply the amount of possible interactions over the course of a 24-hour day, there are literally countless moments where we could be interacting with a brand and be influenced to purchase. We can’t possibly be relevant in all the moments, so it’s our job to use data to help us determine the most important moments for our audiences so we can build relevant experiences in the moments which matter most.
Google and the ‘micro-moment’
Google penned the term ‘micro-moments’ to describe the countless touch points in modern consumer journeys driven by the rise of mobile devices creating increasingly fragmented interactions with brands. On a fundamental level, Google describes four key moments which brands need to focus on: I want to know, I want to go, I want to buy, and I want to do – with each moment covering a vast array of potential user-intent which brands need to harness to build optimum relevance. However, for brands to actually win in the moment, they need to be there at the right time, they need to provide meaningful and useful experiences, and they need to be quick and frictionless in their execution.
An experience-based approach
Marketers need to create new models which allow us to make data-led decisions about the user journey and the moments within it. One such framework which allows us to adapt our thinking and put the user at the heart of our strategies is the ‘Four D’ approach: discover, define, design and deliver, with each stage building on the insights of the last. This approach is designed to help us answer the important questions: who is our audience? What is the user journey? What moments matter most? And finally, what experiences do we need to design and deliver to our audiences in the moment they’re searching for it?
Discover your audience
Let’s start off by looking at phase one – discovering your audience – a crucial but often neglected element of building relevant experiences. Today, we have a wealth of data and platforms available to us, helping us to understand and segment our audiences which we can then use to work out their behaviours, interests, lifestyles and attitudes. Once we have our segmented audience data, the next step is to work out what the search landscape looks like for your product or service niche – how big is the search opportunity in each moment, what are competitors doing, and what battles do we need to pick and commit to?
Defining the user journey
The next stage is to define the user journey so we can build highly relevant experiences to win in the moments that matter most. To do this, we need to think about all key moments which might lead a user to interact with your brand. What are they doing? What triggered their search? What platform are they on and what device are they using? Once we’ve listed out as many interactions as we can, we can use data to prioritise the moments. Then the magic happens – we can start creating effective content experiences which are tailored to our specific audience with a relevant offer or message helping to add valuable touch points with your brand. A good litmus test is to look at your own brand reflection. Grab your own mobile and do searches around potential moments which are relevant for your own audience. Do you appear? What platforms are showing up? What moments are most important and what experiences are you not providing your customers?
Designing relevant experiences
Now that we understand the user journey, we need to build new and highly relevant user touch points and experiences. There’s two ways of doing this – first by building new experiences on your website with rich, tailored content to engage with your audience’s desires and motivations. This should be underpinned with traditional SEO optimisation to support its effectiveness. But we also need to build user experiences off site, and be selective of the platforms our audiences are interacting with. We need to create content in these places and amplify it directly to our users so they can find it exactly when they’re looking for it.
Delivering to your audience
There’s no point in committing to an experience-based approach if you’re not willing to commit media dollars on the platforms which will matter most to reaching your audiences at the right time. Brands that effectively use paid search and highly relevant moment keywords to capture the attention of users when they’re searching in the moment will be rewarded with new audiences. You can then retarget your newfound audiences using programmatic and paid social, and build more relevant and meaningful brand interactions as they go through their own purchase journey. Ultimately, it’s this relevant and tailored messaging which will bring your brand front and centre when it comes to purchasing.
Evolving to succeed
Ultimately, there is no ‘one size fits all’ framework that will suit every brand when thinking about the consumer decision journey. The models of yesteryear were created before the digital universe started to interact with every facet of our lives. If you want to start relating with your audience in meaningful ways and influencing their path to purchase, it’s essential to start thinking about non-linear journeys and working out the moments that matter most to them. The brands that carry this out most effectively will be rewarded with a more loyal customer, and one who comes back time and again, with a smile.
Latest News

Social Media: Does Its Value Equal The Hype?
In his first post for 2021, B&T regular Robert Strohfeldt points his magnifying glass at digital media’s hype and argues it’s possibly not cracked up to all it purports to be… In the past few months, I have seen many CVs of young graduates seeking a career in marketing and/or advertising. I could fool myself […]

Melbourne’s Fed Square Unveils New Brand Identity ‘Anything But Square’ Via Interbrand
B&T's stopping short of calling Fed Square ugly, but we're betting it'd have a tough time getting Tinder dates.

Barbie Is Bisexual? Apparently, According To Twitter
News out today that Barbie is possibly bisexual. Meanwhile the rumours dogging Ken also refuse to go away.

TikTok Unveils Second Australian Brand Campaign
TikTok's not just for nine-year-olds and adults with a bizarre unicorn hobby says latest brand campaign.

Google Delivers Australian Businesses And Consumers $53B In Benefits: Report
Google Australia releases latest report in charm offensive apparently unaware we'd all use it regardless.

Integrated Marketing Agency, McCorkell, Wins Spot In Global Rainfocus Partner Program
B2B marketing agency McCorkell has announced that it has been appointed an official Asia-Pacific partner of RainFocus, the next-generation event marketing and management platform. The collaboration will see both companies come together to shake up the end-to-end event service model across APJ. “As the only true integrated event marketing and management platform servicing everything from […]

Domino’s Launches Five New Chicken Products “Worth Crossing The Road For”
Domino's unveils new chicken range. Not that you care given your new year/new you fitness campaign, however.

Plant-Based Brand Oatly Releases Witty Guides, Controversial TV Ad To ‘Help Dads Quit Dairy’
It's rare you hear the words "vegan" and "sense of humour" in the same sentence but apparently it's happening here.

Fitness Guru Joe Wicks Unleashes Mega Fart In Front Of 800,000 Online Fans
Do you drop bodily functions so awesome they simply have to be heard by the entire room? You'll empathise with Joe here.

Radio Station 927 Returns To GfK Survey In 2021
Making slightly more work for B&T's radio reporter, Victoria's 927 has decided it wants back in on the ratings numbers.

Lars Lehne Appointed As Group CEO Of Incubeta
Lars Lehne named as group CEO of Incubeta and who is not to be mistaken with Superman's nemesis Lex Luthor.

Google Data Reveals World’s Most Popular Takeaways; Chinese Tops For Aussies
New study reveals the world's favourite takeaways and it appears bad news for lovers of the haggis and the pangolin.

Entertainment Appoints FutureBrand Australia To Lead Brand Transformation
FutureBrand starts the new year with a new client win. Which arguably means a client loss for another agency somewhere.

Nine Announces Mega MAFS Reunion Special
Further evidence that truly awful people somehow make good reality television comes news of a pending MAFS reunion.

Established Brands Join Forces To Launch New Comparison And Advice Hub, Compare Club
New comparison site Compare Club unveiled amid concerns the name's possibly a little on the predictable side.

2020 Sees Over 80% Of Aussies Turn To SVOD
Clearly ignoring mum's veiled threats that too much telly gives you square eyes, Aussies' SVOD viewing soars.

Reports: Lebron James Leaves Coke, Set To Back New-Look Mountain Dew
Lebron to quit Coke for rival Mountain Dew. B&T strongly suspects there was a large cheque in there somewhere, too.

MKTG Australia Unveils New Leadership Team
MKTG Australia apparently on the lookout for slightly larger boardroom table after unveiling new leadership team.

Get A Wriggle On! Entries Are Open For B&T’s Women Leading Tech Awards
Surely B&T's Women Leading Tech entries should include some difficult to fathom algorithm to decipher, but it doesn't.

SpotX Joins The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 Initiative
Turned off by this slightly techy headline? Well, get set to be really bamboozled by the overly techy body copy.

Triple J’s Hottest 100: Only A Few Hundred Votes Separate First And Second Place!
Hottest 100 top songs of the year are neck and neck. B&T editor still working out who G Flip and Mallrat are.

Some Funny Bugger Has Stolen Pauline Hanson’s Website And Redirected It To The Refugee Council
It's a safe bet to assume "I don't like it" was uttered a few times up in Queensland this morning.

LinkedIn Launches Jobs Bootcamp To Make “2021 The Year Of Your Career”
B&T's hoping Uber Eats or Diageo will be the next company to launch an all-day Bootcamp.

WhatsApp Takes Out Full-Page Newspaper Ad To Address Privacy Concerns
After spending the last decade sending newspapers broke, Zuckerberg finally decides to throw them a bone with these ads.

Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner & Precious Lee Front Latest Versace Campaign
B&T's editor is more of a Lowes than Versace man, but he has been known to sport a colourful kaftan from time to time.

Greg ‘Blewey’ Blewett To Join Bernie And Jars For The Drive Home On Adelaide’s 104.7 Triple M
Adelaide's prodigal son is returning to the airwaves. Greg Blewett that is, not Guy Sebastian.

Lotame Extends New Cookieless ID Solution With Magnite, Sovrn, Eyeota And Advance Local Integrations
Dissapointingly, Lotame not rolling up sleeves and baking double choc cookies, as featured image would suggest.

Landor Australia Rebrands Women’s Tennis Association
Women's Tennis Association undergoes first rebrand in a decade, and not one tennis racket was thrown in a tantrum.

Collingwood Women’s Football Team Partners With AIA Australia
Collingwood women’s football team partners With AIA Australia. B&T hears it was a beautiful ceremony.

“Focus On Paying For Original Content”: Treasurer Slams Google’s Move To Block News Stories
Not one but two stories about Aussie politicians today. No, you're not reading The Guardian.