Staying up to date is one of the greatest advantages given to us by the internet. With a world full of information at our fingertips, we can be in know as soon as an event occurs. News travels more quickly today than it ever has before, opening up new doors for marketing tactics known as “moment marketing.”
The term often used to describe this new way of receiving and digesting news is known as “sensationalism,” as everyone wants to be up-to-date with stories that are hitting the internet. Whether it be a funny video of a woman wearing a Chewbacca mask, or a power outage at the Super Bowl, interent users and television watchers enjoy being up to date with what others are talking about. Sensationalism is powerful, and it can be used to your advanage by mastering the art of moment marketing.
So what is moment marketing? While often used in eCommerce, let's take a look at a content creation example to get an idea of how this strategy really works: in February of 2016, videogame giant Nintendo announced the upcoming release of two new games, Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. If you have children, you are surely aware of the Pokemon franchise and the dominant hold it has over the videogame and animation industries. When these games were announced, hundreds of YouTube channels released videos about the new games, drawing in millions of viewers within just days of the games' announcement – even though very little information had been given.
This same tactic can be used with marketing. When a major event hits the newstands and the internet, companies can adjust their advertising strategy to use the event to their advantage. This can mean releasing limited products that relate to the event, or it can mean creating a new advertisement that uses the event as a springboard. If the right event is chosen, customers will understand the reference, and will then be persuaded to purchase the product as a result.
While the examples listed here cover only a small portion of what moment marketing holds, the strategy can be used in nearly any industry to coincide with nearly any major event. If an area is experiencing a major weather event, moment marketing can be used to catch the attention of customers. The same can be done for any kind of newsmaking story, and is limited only by the imagination of your marketing team.
Moment marketing matters because fewer and fewer individuals are paying attention to traditional webpage ads than ever before. These ads used to be an efficient way to reach customers, but ad blockers are making it a much more difficult task than ever before. Because of this, marketing teams must turn to social media marketing and email marketing to make up for their lack of ad potential, and even still, these types of marketing methods are becoming less and less efficient. That being said, moment marketing is growing in efficiency, as has grown into a staple of successful marketing in today's ad-free world.
Like all other forms of marketing, moment marketing is not immune to challenges. In fact, moment marketing can be quite difficult for some, depending on the speed at which they can create new advertising campaigns in accordance with popular news stories and viral happenings. In order to master moment marketing, you'll need to have the following:
- Speed: Your success in moment marketing will largely depend on how quickly you can turn sensational happenings into successful and efficient advertising campaigns. You'll need to know which happenings are worth using for your marketing, and you'll need to be creative on the spot. Remember, the more quickly you can use a news story or happening as part of your marketing strategy, the more successful it will be.
- Infrastructure: In order to make the first step of moment marketing a reality, you'll need to the tools and team to make it happen. Having a research team on hand is always beneficial, and having templates for ad campaigns at your fingertips is a surefire way to enhance your moment marketing. Moment marketing can't be done properly without the right tools and team, making it crucial that you invest in experts who will be able to get the most out of sensational happenings as they arise.
- Strategy: Marketing strategies are ever-changing, and using strategies that worked five years ago will very likely fall short today. It's important to be adaptable when focusing on moment marketing. Understand that marketing doesn't work like it used to, thanks to technological advancements and changes in customer interests. Having the right strategy and an open mind are absolutely necessary for success with moment marketing.
As with all marketing, it's vital to stay focused on your customers. If you sell sports memoribilia, major sporting events can be used to springboard your products into the forefront of your customer's attention. For example, advertising signed Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys after a big Super Bowl win for the team is a phenomenal way to use moment marketing, as your prospective customers will be in the market for such products at that point in time. However, a company selling makeup may not be able to use the big game to their advantage in the same way, but it can still be used with the right strategy.
Context is key with moment marketing. Customers should know from first glance what event the ad is referring to, and the context of the ad should be appropriate. Picturing a woman in spring clothing during Black Friday sale may be inefficient given the weather during that time of year, but advertising a “Christmas in July” sale with men and women in summer clothing would be in the right context.
While moment marketing may not be the easiest marketing strategy available today, it is becoming one of the most efficient. Companies using moment marketing are pulling ahead of those who don't, making it absolutely necessary that you begin your moment marketing strategy today.
