The Zero Moment of Truth describes the moment after a consumer sees an ad, content or other stimuli that kicks off their buying journey. Thanks to digital technology—the web, mobile devices, social media, advertising on wearable devices—this moment can occur anywhere and anytime. As people filter through a seemingly endless stream of content that follows them from laptops, to smartphones, to connected cars and beyond, much of what they see and hear gets dismissed as they quickly sort through noise to find the signal that is tuned to their needs at that moment.
To ensure that the content, context and timing of your marketing are attuned to customers’ needs, it’s critical that you understand their journey. A recent article challenged ad agencies to immerse themselves in their clients’ products and services in order to better market and sell to consumers on their a brands’ behalf. True. Marketers, both in-house and external, need in-depth, first-hand knowledge before they can tell an authentic story about a product or convince someone else to buy what they’re selling.
But understanding your customers’ journey extends beyond the way they buy and use your product. It extends to how they think, what they believe, how they live, the challenges they face each day and the things that inspire them to keep going. I know it sounds hokey, but making a meaningful and sustainable impact on marketing and sales at the ZMOT involves walking a mile in your customers shows. If you analyze even the most basic purchase, laundry detergent, for example, you’ll uncover deep-seated reasons why people make purchase decisions.
I buy a specific brand of laundry detergent, and I always have. I strayed once, in college, out of severe price sensitivity. I hated the smell and couldn’t wait to finish the bottle and return to what was familiar. Why? It’s not the brand’s marketing. That’s either a prompt to check supplies and add detergent to the grocery list if we’re low, or an unwelcome reminder that laundry looms ahead. I have bought the same brand of laundry detergent for nearly twenty years because my grandmother bought it, and whether or not it’s the best in class, it makes me feel closer to her and like half the mother she was.
That is my zero moment of truth. There is no way a brand can know that by looking at surface level, demographic data. That level of in-depth knowledge would require them to go beyond demographic, and even psychographic data, to look at ethnographic research or connect with me individually. While this is a daunting task when multiplied by millions of customers, there are third-party research providers and social marketing and analytics tools to help marketers gather customer insight, to identify influencers, to understand what drives decisions, to improve their chances of winning at the ZMOT.
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