The Zero Moment Of Truth For Buyers And Sellers
TheZero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is really what sets internet marketing apart from traditional marketing. It’s probably the linchpin around which the digital economy works. It really emphasises why digital marketing is already the must have business skill set for our times. Lets have a look….
Over the weekend I’ve been watching the recorded footage and training from an advanced Youtube marketing workshop held by Stuart Ross in London earlier this year. It’s just been made part of the DEA Gold curriculum. The course begins with an explanation of the Zero Moment Of Truth.
So ZMOT is a new addition to the marketing principles of FMOT (first moment of truth) and SMOT (second moment of truth). These refer to the moments when a consumer decides to make a purchase. In the traditional world these are the key moments when a sale is made.
They’ve relied on traditional advertising methods to get a consumer to the point where they go to see (and hopefully get sold) a product – the first moment of truth. When they reach the point of sale, a sales person explains the features and benefits of the product that has interested them.
The Zero Moment Of Truth For All Businesses
The internet of course has changed all that. Now the first place most of us go to research a product or service is the internet. That then according to ZMOT is where we should be marketing our products and services – make sense?
So if we are talking about a product that has to be bought, or at least collected offline – a car for example – we can do all our research first then just turn up cash in hand. We don’t need to be sold to in other words – the selling can be done at the zero moment of truth.
Obviously this is even more exciting when we look at digital products that can be not only researched online but can be bought and consumed right there too.
Advertising products and services to people via search advertising – especially via video, as in the DEA Gold course I’m working through, is very powerful. Here’s an example of how that would work.
Say you’ve decided you want to master Internet marketing – for obvious reasons. You might type something like – “learn Internet marketing”, or “Internet marketing training courses”, into Google or Youtube. Chances are that you are already at or close to a buying decision.
The Importance of Relevance
All of the results from your search will be relevant because the ads and content are targeting those keywords. If you see a short, punchy video that answers all your questions and gives you an opportunity to click through to get more info or even to buy – how likely are you to do that? Very. Or so the theory goes.
At that point the digital marketing process begins – the Zero Moment of Truth. If you don’t buy a course right then you’ll probably at least venture an email address in return for more info. Then you’re on a list and can be provided with more information and incentives over time. You are in a sales funnel.
As an Internet marketer this is an amazing opportunity. More so when you consider that with the right training (DEA Gold) you know that even in a paid Youtube pay per click, ad campaign, many of your clicks will be free.
ZMOT and Video Advertising – Awesome
Stuart Ross – Crushing It With Youtube – Gold DEA Training Course
There are 3 ways to do Youtube advertising that target consumers at the zero moment of truth:
1. Organic – a keyword based video that links to a landing page or sales funnel.
2. In Stream –those annoying little – skip this ad in 5 seconds adverts you can’t wait to skip. The truth is though that many if not most are irrelevant to the video you actually wanted to see. They are very effective though if they are super relevant.
3. In Display – A full size short video that features as part of the video you view.
Youtube advertisers can choose to place the latter two video ads either by keyword search or by actually selecting the videos they want their ads to appear on. Imagine the power of that: You pick a highly relevant video that has gone viral and place a short, super relevant ad on it. That ad has a clickable call to action on it. Get this right and you can simply scale it up ad infinitum.
Of course this just describes the basics. There is a bit of a science to getting the targeting, video content and sales funnel right. You only get 30 seconds after all. That’s all covered in the training I’m taking advantage of through my DEA membership.
If you’d like to learn more about advanced digital marketing at the zero moment of truth and beyond, either for your own business or to offer services to your clients follow the link below for the free SFM and DEA introductory video course.
