When Google published their research into online customer behaviour, Google Micro Moments entered the content marketers’ vocabulary.
Read on to find out what Google Micro Moments are and how they can inform your content strategy since we learned how to define your value proposition and dominate your niche in the previous article.
Based on the extensive data they can access, Google were able to analyse and name key ‘moments’ or points along the customers journey. Most importantly, they were able to analyse WHY consumers were turning to their devices to search for something, when they were doing it and how soon they were going to act on the information they found. The findings were fascinating…
“Right now people all over the world are trying to make the most of every moment. Are you there?” Google – Micro Moments
In 2015 Google published research on Micro Moments
“when people reflexively turn to a device—increasingly a smartphone—to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something”.
These moments correspond, albeit loosely, to the ‘AIDA’ model:
I want to know moments Awareness
I want to go moments Interest / Desire
I want to do moments Desire / Interest
I want to buy moments Action
“They are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped. In these moments, consumers’ expectations are higher than ever.” The Micro-Moments Marketing Model – Think with Google
Your brand needs to reach them at every point in this journey and serve them the information that they’re looking for. Customer insight has never been more essential, but neither has SEO and across your paid, owned and earned media you need to reach them ‘in the moment’.
There are three stages to the Inbound Funnel: Top of Funnel; Middle of Funnel: Bottom of Funnel
Top of funnel content is designed to make someone ‘click’ or ‘tap’ on a link that brings them to your website. This could be posts on social media, a piece of PR about your brand on a publisher’s website, or a ‘call to action’ in your email campaign. It is supported by SEO (search engine optimisation). If you ‘optimise’ your content by adding keywords that reflect your customer’s own language, needs or desires, you help your content appear in Google search results. A big part of blogging is to help SEO!
Middle of funnel content is designed to make someone who is on your website, share their contact details with you. This could be an ebook, an online brochure, a virtual event or webinar that require an email address (or occasionally mobile number) to deliver the content asset to them. The term ‘lead magnet’ has been coined to cover this type of content. It also includes subscriptions to your mailing list or email enquiries via your website.
Bottom of funnel content is designed to convince and convert: your customer has found you, you can satisfy their needs and you are now on their ‘short-list’. It needs to answer the question: ‘why us’. It includes case studies, comparison guides and webinars that demonstrate the value you have delivered to past customers or clients. It’s why you sometimes need longer content as it allows you to drill down into the detail. It’s especially important if yours is a high-value service, a product they haven’t bought from you before or online before.
Part 3 of our online programme, Content Marketing Conquered is called The Inventory. In it, we guide you step by step as you audit your current and past content, online and offline. For many it has been their ‘ah-ha moment’. You can finally see where the gaps in the road are for your customer as they proceed along their research journey. This journey can last a few minutes. This journey can last a few years. It may take in a few online stops en route, or it may take the ‘scenic route’.
Create content that fulfils your ICA’s Micro Moments
Don’t forget: your inbound funnel should work as an on-boarding process, whether its a series of emails, SMS, website or hosted content. It should be tested and refined repeatedly. Consumers change behavior and preferences over time; software changes too.
Try to avoid: an onboarding journey that has ‘stops’ in it. Your inbound funnel needs to move customers smoothly on at each stage in the journey. Your marketing software may let you down.
Why not try: to include small, easy ‘calls to action’ at each stage. Your content marketing needs to educate customers to make ‘micro-commitments’, encourage them to take ‘micro-actions’, to make ‘micro-decisions’ and ‘micro-purchases’.
I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of marketers as they embrace or fine-tune their content marketing and have concluded that success is built on three pillars:
- Empathy & Customer Insight
- SEO & Targeting
- Content Planning & Distribution
You can certainly compete on quality and you may not need to win the quantity game depending on the sector or industry you are in.
In the next article, we are going to cover Why Search Engine Optimisation Is No Longer Optional.