3 Key Steps for a Successful Moment Marketing Strategy

“That’s really all that life is, Sister. A series of moments. Why don’t you seize yours?”
– Loki, Dogma (1999)

As Matt Damon’s character Loki philosophises in the Kevin Smith cult classic Dogma (1999), life really is just a series of moments–a sentiment that highlights not only the importance of making every moment count, but also our responsibility as marketers to augment these moments for the people we’re trying to reach with our messages.

For marketers, moments can be considered as habitual patterns: in moments of research, consumers either want to know something, buy something, go somewhere, or do something. That means that it is imperative for brands to consider the right context for their messages, combined with a focus on understanding which content is most useful, what we call “moment marketing.”

The Evolution of Mobile Commerce

“We’ve seen how technology can make online shopping more efficient, with lower prices,
more selection and increased convenience.” – Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google

We check our phones more than 150 times each day–not surprising if you consider that 91% of consumers turn to their phones for help or useful information during everyday tasks and 81% of online shoppers consult editorial content and reviews (outside of social media) before purchasing a product or service. This year’s Thanksgiving holiday shopping trends only serve to further highlight this fact: in the U.S., e-commerce sales for Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday reached a combined $18 billion this year, with Cyber Monday alone seeing about $8 billion of that total, making it the U.S.’s biggest single-day online shopping day ever.

Traditionally, mobile browsing and buying was clunky and inefficient, to say nothing of the risks associated with using personally identifiable data (PII) on mobile apps and sites. As Salesforce Commerce Cloud VP of industry strategy and insights Rob Garf recently pointed out, today’s mobile sites and apps are cleaner and quicker than ever before, but even more important are the improvements in data-driven personalization that allow shoppers to see offers they’re more likely to want without having to swipe through products or load new pages. As a result, many retailers have shifted from fearing what they described as “show-rooming,” or consumers’ propensity for browsing brick-and-mortar stores while looking for cheaper options (from other retailers) on their phones, to embracing mobile as one of the most important sales channels, particularly during the holiday shopping season.

Three Simple Steps for Moment-Based Marketing Success

There are three steps that are imperative for brands to succeed in reaching consumers with the right message in the right place at the right time:

1. Identify your moment.
The first step to successful brand advertising is identifying your moment. We do this by considering the most searched topics and keywords for your brand or category; using past conversion data to identify and understand your buyer persona(s)–beyond simple demographics; and asking ourselves what consumers want to learn about our category, products or services, i.e. what are they doing with our products or services once they are using or have purchased them, what they are aiming to achieve by converting, and what experience they are expecting.

2. Determine your path to purchase.
It’s imperative that brands understand not only how consumers are navigating and reaching the point of purchase on your own website, but also working with technology partners to understand your full range of consumer touchpoints, including how consumers find your brand on the open web. What are they researching when they find your brand? When or how do they first encounter your brand? Are they arriving via paid or organic marketing and advertising? And perhaps most importantly, how are they reaching your brand just prior to making a purchase?

3. Take the journey yourself.
Would you serve dinner to guests without first checking the seasoning? Probably not. The same is true of your advertising; as marketers, we shouldn’t ask consumers to interact with our brands without first making sure our approach is working properly! This includes searching for your topic, branded category and keywords; conducting visual, text, social, and independent web searches; and asking yourself if you like what you see and whether your brand is present. If it is, then it’s time to ask whether you’re delivering a useful and valuable message, or interrupting consumer moments with an irrelevant message.

At PowerLinks, we work with major global consumer brands agencies, helping them automate growth and decrease advertising waste by using moment marketing to deliver the best possible consumer experience. For example, we were able to help a European travel company looking to generate a new audience of highly engaged consumers, using a combination of content amplification, real-time data analysis (dwell time, page views, engagement), data-based targeting (local or regional, etc.), real-time optimization; and waste reduction (eliminating bots, brand unsafe environments, and out-of-moment advertising). The results were outstanding: nearly 50,000 new, engaged users; average dwell time of 65-70 seconds; an average conversion amount of $1,700; and a 765% return on advertising spend.

To learn more about how we can help your brand maximize their moment marketing strategy and meet your business goals for 2019, visit www.powerlinks.com or email info@www.powerlinks.com

Today’s blog is written by Kevin Flood, co-founder and CEO of PowerLinks. To learn more about PowerLinks for brands follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram or visit www.powerlinks.com.