The Rise of the ‘Micro Moment’ For B2B Brands And What This Means For Connected TV

What is a Micro-moment?

Nowadays, it looks like it takes more than eight touchpoints to win over a customer—especially a B2B customer. “Micro-moments” are gaining traction, as prospective customers do their due-diligence, including viewing detailed product specifications, comparisons and reviews. “When you put it in the context of micro-moments, customer needs are changing. They’re getting informed faster. They have access to more information at their fingertips,” says Bence Gazdag, Vice President of Global Marketing Technology at Oracle. A study by MicKinsey & Company revealed that B2B decision makers not only use multiple channels across the purchasing journey, but also within each buying stage of the journey—and many opt for the autonomy that digital self-serve channels provide. Not to mention, they’re spending big; between $500,000 and $5 million on a single interaction on remote or self-service channels.

Additionally, there exists four types of marketing micro-moments:

• I want to know
• I want to go
• I want to do
• I want to buy

Being able to address each of these moments within a company’s marketing strategy helps drive competitive advantage, as well as provide a window for brand’s to learn about customer intent. This gives them the intel to shape their consumer’s preferences, and ultimately drive conversions and win over customers in the long run. 

Gazdag highlighted a few examples of how micro-moments have continued to shape the B2B space: 

• Audience segmentation goes niche, since every customer is unique and differentiated—especially in the context of micro-moments.
  
• Hyper-personalization is the new personalization. Every touchpoint—whether that be Connected TV, websites, display ads and emails, will need to be personalized according to the customer.
  
• Optimization plays a bigger role, with the expectation that advertisers will learn (and build off) every action taken by a user. “It’s all about meeting your customer in these micro-moments, which is the right time, right channel, right offer and the right experience,” explains Gazdag.

How to Create Big Moments in a Micro-Moment, Multi-Channel World With Connected TV

Creating big moments doesn’t necessarily require big budgets, but necessitates a bit of creative thinking. Firstly, considering that micro-moments and omnichannel go hand-in-hand, the first step is ensuring that every single touchpoint is buttoned up. Connected TV as an advertising channel complements, and is integrated with, a brand’s other marketing channels like search and display.

Additionally, since Connected TV advertising efforts can be directly attributed to bottom-line performance like revenue and conversions, it’s also vital that a brand’s website and landing page is optimized for SEO, and even mobile and voice search.  A study by Statista revealed that 132 million people in the US use a digital voice assistant at least monthly, so sprinkling in some of these keyword phrases across all of your channels is key.

Voice keywords aside, brands should also heed the preferred types of content on the channels frequented. In the case of Connected TV, Gen Z viewers are streaming natives—eight out of 10 stream TV content at least weekly, with less than half (45%) watching via cable or satellite TV. And, contrary to popular belief, the older generation (55+) are following suit, as it’s increasingly recognized as a powerful medium to reach this age group. 

Let’s take MNTN’s recently launched Steve-O Hottest Demo Ever commercial as an example of how Connected TV is harnessing the power of the micro-moment. The star of the commercial being the humble (but tear-jerkingly hot) Carolina Reaper pepper. In this video, Ryan Reynolds challenged MTV personality Steve-O to eat a pepper while setting up his hot sauce product ad using the self-service MNTN Performance TV platform. There are a few elements that made this creative go viral, and hit three of the four types of micro-moments with a few clever creative best practices:

• I want to know: While this video is longer than the standard CTV ad format, there’s little no likelihood of bouncing off the screen. In fact, it prompts the viewer to ask  themselves the question “Can he accomplish this challenge?” and continue to watch the entirety of the creative.
  
• I want to go / I want to do / I want to buy: The creative itself doesn’t encourage viewers to re-enact this challenge per se, but it does pique curiosity (and further interest) once they get a glimpse into the platform’s efficacy. Utilizing snapshots of the platform’s interface, mingled with a funny script and standout prop (reaper pepper) is all that’s needed to breathe life into pre-existing assets without completely reinventing the wheel.

Conclusion

Brands need to think small in order to drive growth in today’s ever changing advertising landscape. These “Micro-moments”, defined as high-intent moments when preferences are shaped and decisions made, and are continuing to shape B2B marketing. It’s observed that Connected TV can address these micro-moments through some creative strategy hacks, including repurposing existing content, making sure other linking channels (like website and search) are optimized for success, and a clever script (and a ‘prop’ that will prompt conversation afterward).