It’s one thing to be told that telling a great story to potential customers will increase sales. It’s another to actually create a story that matters and plug it into a structured, measureable marketing campaign that can bend with the needs of the modern digital consumer and clearly show increased sales.
Fortunately, the combination of deep data analytics, more august consumer insight, and increasingly sophisticated methods of engagement has laid the groundwork for developing stories to which you can anchor a winning marketing strategy. A formula is emerging that clarifies the process for building meaningful content and personalized messaging to speak directly to your target audience through outlets they can trust. It’s a formula founded upon the specific “micro-moments” that have the greatest impact on their everyday lives.
Google has defined micro-moments as the rapid, real-time steps consumers take on the digital road on their way to a purchase decision. Micro-moments reflect the staccato-like desires a mobile user will pursue throughout the day . . . I-want-to-know . . . I-want-to-go . . . I-want-to-buy. . . I-want-to-do. These abbreviated, but powerful reactions to pain points and desires for immediate information have opened the door to a fresh way of communicating in the buyer-seller relationship.
The key to unlocking the power of micro-moments is adjusting your marketing strategy to provide accurate information at the very outset of the auto-shopper’s journey and continue to bepresent as they descend the sales funnel. Digital marketing techniques are evolving to integrate the channel most relevant to your customer – be it text ads, social media ads, YouTube videos, website content, location queries, etc. – that echo their micro-moments in real time.
Companies that are successfully mapping micro-moments and using them to guide the narratives that place them front and center when a consumer consults their smartphone are not only establishing themselves as rapid and reliable sources, they are consistently winning business from other brands.
As the automotive industry braces against the flattening growth that the near-future threatens, upping your digital prowess isn’t giving into the fickle inertia of “relevance” in a technological age, it’s smart business. Google reports that “companies that take steps toward becoming moments-ready reap higher ROIs in both mobile and overall marketing investment.” Initially, this approach requires focused time and effort, but overall ad spends are decreasing as digital proves itself a worthwhile investment.
Attend “The Storytelling Approach to Digital Marketing” presentation at the 2016 Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, August 8 – 10 to learn how to focus your data analysis and develop strong, narrative-driven digital campaigns that capitalize on the upsurge of mobile. Presenters Jamil Zabaneh and Paul Ress from J&L Marketing take the hyperbole out of the process and leave you with actionable takeaways and proven methods for commanding the approach that is rapidly redefining the car shopping experience.
