How Much is Zero Worth?

An awful lot, according to Jennifer Howard, head of Google B2B Markets Group, who in September’s Chicago Business Marketing Association’s Marketing Innovations Luncheon indicated that consumers no longer make purchasing decisions they way they used to.

Just five years ago, manufacturer Proctor & Gamble coined the term “First Moment of Truth,” or FMOT, to describe the moment at which consumers decide to purchase a product – the same moment they encounter it, whether by way of retailer, friend, or salesperson.

New research by Google suggests these moments are no longer the point that determines a sale. Their research (registration required) suggests that the moment of “truth” is far earlier, at a point they have named, The “Zero Moment of Truth”,  or ZMOT.

Zero refers to purchases resulting from web-content research and discussions with trusted friends, usually via web-based social media networks. According to Google, this emerging purchase pattern is so pronounced that manufacturers are tracking and scrutinizing it in order to build brand recognition and loyalty as early as possible. To do so, they must be sufficiently nimble to negotiate lightning-fast changes in online communications. By its very nature, the web is dynamic and fluid, and therefore subject to sudden spikes and changes in communication trends, searches, and content consumption. Product manufacturers now need to respond, often in as few as 24 hours, or they can be sure their competition will, with noticeable results.

Google refers to this new strategy the “Five P’s” of digital marketing:

• Pulse – Keeping your finger on the pulse of online activity associated with your brand.
• Pace – Reacting at the rate that change occurs online.
• Precision – Targeting your message in a language and location relevant to your customers.
• Participation – Engaging your customers online.
• Performance – Measuring the effectiveness of your online efforts.

The times, they are a changing. It’s up to you to decide whether your enterprise keeps pace or finds itself in the dust of yesterday’s chatter.