Micro-Moments — The New Battleground For Brands

In 2000 I worked in a digital agency in Beijing and I talked to many Brand Managers to convince them to go Digital. Most of the Brand Managers had zero budget allocated for Digital Marketing, and the brands that they managed were 100% on traditional media.

Are Women Searching Health Related Issues Online?

One particular client who was managing a feminine hygiene product Gyno Daktarin at Xian-Janssen Pharmaceuticals (XJP) asked me the following questions: “Are women online? Do they search health issues online? Are our target audience i.e. women suffering from yeast infections surfing online?” Amongst many other questions related to how Digital can deliver what Traditional Media can’t. Remember the year was 2000, they were good questions a Brand Manager should ask before shifting budget to Digital.

I gave her the number of women surfing online in China based on CNNIC and how digital can provide on-demand in-depth content compared to traditional media. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the answers to all of her other questions. So, we negotiated for free media space with the top sites in China like Sina, Sohu and NetEase and launched an online survey to find out the answers. And thank goodness for us, the online survey results were positive. Women were searching online for health related issues and surprisingly a good percentage of sample size in the survey had symptoms of yeast infection.

Content Developed To Touch Different Touch Points of Consumer Journey

Subsequently, we used the survey findings to share with C-level executives at XJP and had their approval to launch Gyno Daktarin’s first online campaign in China. We developed content to provide solutions to questions that women had regarding yeast infection. The content created touched different phases of customer’s decision making process.

Google Micro-Moments

Fast forward to 2015, Google has just launched the concept of Google Micro-Moments. With the concept with “We don’t go online anymore. We live online.” Today with 4G and smart mobile devices, this concept definitely sits well with our Gyno Dakarine’s female target audience : “I think I may have yeast infection, what are the symptoms?” or “I am at the local pharmacy, which medication should I buy to cure yeast infection?”

Check out Google’s Micro-Moments video to understand how brands can be relevant when your target audiences are using mobile devices to find solutions. Identify the various micro-moments across the customer journey and map your communications on mobile accordingly.

Looking back, in 2000, we provided Micro-Moments solutions for consumers. Perhaps not on mobile, perhaps not as bit-sized. However, we provided content and solutions to help move our customer closer to purchase and loyalty. Today, with everyone requiring immediate and relevant content when they are searching on mobile, understanding micro-moments and providing content solutions to move your customers closer to purchase is definitely important.

Google has definitely coined the term “Micro-Moments” so perfectly. Now, I start to wonder how we will use the internet in 2030.

Audrey Ang is a Digital Marketer. She has worked on brands like eBay, Dell, Intel, Xian Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Disney Channel and CNN. She is also a co-founder of 2 tech startups in Bangkok and Singapore. Audrey can be contacted via Linkedin: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/audreyang or audreyang2011@gmail.com

Video: Think with Google. Product Photo: Xian Janssen Pharmaceuticals