Are you familiar with the term "zero moment of truth"? If not, don't worry - you're about to become an expert.
In recent years, there has been a lot of buzz about the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). In the e-commerce world, the "zero moment of truth" (ZMOT) is a pivotal moment in the customer journey. It's the precise moment when a potential customer becomes aware of a need or want, and begins researching solutions online.
Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is a term coined by Google in 2011 that refers to the time when a consumer first turns to the internet for information about a product or service. This may be prior to making a purchase decision, or even before considering anything beyond what they can see on their desktop or mobile screen. For businesses, this means that ZMOT is one of the most important opportunities to influence customers and drive conversions. In other words: if you're not nailing your ZMOT strategy, you're losing out on sales.
So what exactly is ZMOT marketing? And how can you make sure you're doing it right? We'll cover all that and more in this episode. So listen, and read on to learn everything you need to know about zero moment of truth in marketing.
Listen to the Episode
Atiba de Souza: Z what? ZMOT? Zero Moment of truth marketing. What the heck is that? Yeah, that's what a lot of marketers are saying today. However, Google answered the question back in 2011. Yeah.
Hey everybody. Welcome to thoughts on thought leadership with Atiba. I am your host. Guess what? I'm Atiba. Welcome. If you are in a place where you've come to realize that you need to do more, to grow your business and to grow your brand, you're in the right place, because I'm here to share with you how thought leadership and understanding and mastering thought leadership is the future.
It's the future. I'm not even saying it's the current because people aren't even recognizing it yet. I'm saying it's the future. Okay. And a big part of it is understanding this term that Google coined back in 2011. Now full disclosure, the concept of moment of truth marketing existed long before Google got its claws on it.
But in 2011, Google made a very, very important distinction in the moment of truth marketing ecosystem and coined this specific little term and opportunity because that's really what it is called. The zero moment of truth. Now, what are moments of truth in marketing? Moments of truth are those moments that are definable,and super, super important in your customer's journey to becoming your customer and what Google defined way back in 2011. Forever. We've only ever defined the fact that there was a stimulus and then, there was contact as moments of truth, but in 2011, Google defined that there are other moments of truth.
And back then they were just thinking it was one, the zero moment. There was one moment of truth between when a customer is stimulated, usually by an ad or something that happened. That then caused them to call your business or brand. And what they said back in 2011 was, so what we're seeing now is instead of just calling a locksmith, because they need something done with their lock.
Instead, people are going online and asking questions and trying to get answers before they decide which locksmiths to call. Now. Point of fact, this is nothing new. This is absolutely nothing new. Like lets think about it for a moment. Have you ever purchased a car? Right. Just think about your process of purchasing a car.
I want you to close your eyes with me. I'm going to open mine in a second, but I want you to close your eyes with me. And remember the last time you purchased a car, you didn't just show up at a dealership and say, Hey. Jeep, never heard of you guys. I want to buy a car. What you got? It's not what you did.
That's not what any of us do. And as a matter of fact, right? None of us do that. What we do instead is we start to say, okay, I want to buy a car. Well, what kind of car do I want? What are would I need? Well, I need an SUV or do I need a sedan? Do I need a two-door? What, what do I need? Right. Who's this car for?
How am I going to use it? And then we start to consider, okay, that's what I want. Then what brands have the best of those types of cars? And then we go online and we start to do the research and we start to try to get answers to questions. You see, all of those, my friends are zero moments of truth.
Zero moments of truth are critical moments in your buyer's journey that happened before they contact you. Before you walk into that car dealership, you already knew that this was a Kia dealership, a Chrysler dealership, a Toyota dealership. And you came in to see this make, this model and probably even this trim level. That's the carI want to go test drive.
That's the car I want to go test drive. That's the car I want to go test drive. You walked in knowing this information. How did you get there? How did you get to that point where you knew all of that information? Those are the zero moments of truth. Now. Why do we stick the word marketing on the back of zero moments of truth?
What are we really talking about? Or what are we really saying here? But what we're saying is for you and your brand understanding that your customer has the exact same experience that you had when you were buying a car, when they're coming, looking for your product or service, understand that they're out considering what the options are and trying to learn and get answers to their questions before they ever contact you.
Matter of fact, in B2B business, the most recent studies in 2021 actually proved that most B2B transactions, when they start in terms of contact by the customer, the customer's already over 70% towards a buying decision before they contact the business.
That means there were lots of zero moments of truth. There were lots of moments of decision that happened long before you even knew you were being considered. So the word marketing is on the end because obviously as business owners, we want to start to consider, how can we master those zero moments of truth?
How can we market in those zero moments of truth? How can we show up to our customers in those zero moments of truth? That's the logical brain thinking, because of course that's what you want to do, but let me tell you this. Let me tell you this. The reality is, brands that show up and master those zero moments of truth for their customers land more customers, secure more business.
Why? Because customers want to trust the brand that educated them. When they had a question, they found you, you answered their question, then they're going to want to trust you. They're going to want to. And there've been tons of studies to prove that matter of fact, there was one done up at Harvard. I think it was called the Milgram study.
And in this study, they actually proved that people are more likely to just blindly follow someone that they think is superior educationally to them. So if you come in and educate me on a topic, I am more likely to blindly follow you because you educate me. Just think about that in your customers. For What if, when they're having those zero moments of truth, you educated them.
By the time they pick up the phone, according to Milgram, they're more than likely to just blindly follow you to the sale, Blindly follow you to the sale. Think about that for a moment. That my friend is the power of the zero moment of truth marketing. That my friend is why zero moment of truth is so very, very important. That my friend is why I created this show to educate you about thought leadership, because thought leadership is all about mastering zero moment of truth marketing.
Thought leadership is all about that. It's all about creating you as a leader, as someone who is trusted, who is willing to share great information and great answers so that your customers will then blindly more than likely follow you to the sale. Blindly follow you to the sale. So let me ask you a question, do you know what the zero moment of truth moments are for your customer?
Have you mapped them? Have you figured them out? Do you know how many they are? Does it change per customer segment? Does it change per product that you sell? Do you have any idea? You know, if you don't it's time, this is the future. Not the past, not even the current, this is the future. This is your opportunity to get so far ahead of your competition.
Right? Google said this back in 2011 and marketing still hasn't really caught up to it yet. And this is your opportunity to get so far ahead of your competition by understanding and mastering the zero moments of truth. Mastering those for your customers, showing up for those. Now, if you don't know what they are, or you don't know how to master them, don't worry.
We can help. Don't worry. We can help. All I need you to do, click the link down below. Okay. And go take our thought leadership readiness quiz, and we will start the process of showing you and helping you understand your zero moments of truth for your customer and how you can master them. Now, if you're on the other side and you are like, dude, you are preaching to the choir.
I know this stuff. I'm doing this though. I want to hear about it. Let me know, leave me a comment down below. Let me know what you're doing. Let me know. What did you define as your zero moments of truth for your customer? How did you find them? How are you reaching them? Because I want to celebrate you. I want to put you on a pedestal and show the world that you are ahead of the game. So let me know.
All right, everybody. I will talk to you guys real soon, but remember, it's time for you to start mastering the zero moments of truth. This is your opportunity to get ahead, to get ahead and not be behind. All right, everybody. See you later.
