Moment marketing involves creating marketing messages and collaterals around a particular event or a trending topic to promote a brand or a particular cause. It can be an effective marketing tactic to raise awareness, build and maintain relationships with existing customers or audience, or supplement other marketing activities.
However, maximizing it requires a clear understanding of how and when to use it, as well as the common pitfalls to avoid. This article provides a definitive guide or a list of tips on how to effectively use moment marketing as a one-off marketing communication or part of the marketing campaign of a brand or an organization.
A Definitive Guide to Effective Moment Marketing
The Do’s: Tips on How to Maximize its Effectiveness
The advantages of moment marketing center on enabling marketers to make the brands or organizations they represent stay relevant. Creating and disseminating marketing messages and collaterals around moments can help in reaching an active and on-the-look audience, promoting conversations and creating possibilities for conversion, maintaining and improving relationships with the customer or audience base, and
It can also complement existing social media marketing activities or an overall social media marketing strategy. Content based on a particular moment has a likelihood to be shared on social media platforms. It also has the potential for becoming viral while also encouraging engagement from existing and untapped social media audience. Tapping influencers can also maximize the reach of a particular content built on a particular moment.
Below are the tips on maximizing the effectiveness of moment marketing:
• Choose ongoing events or trending topics that can are suitable for the message you are trying to convey. Make sure that this choice is not forced. Do not ride on a particular moment just for the sake of doing so.
• There should also be an alignment between the brand image, the specific marketing collateral, the chosen moment, and the target audience.
• Another tip to maximize the effectiveness of moment marketing is to create a content calendar. This entails doing advanced research on upcoming events around your area or those that have a potential impact on your target audience.
• It is also important to remain alert or vigilant on ongoing conversations or so-called trending topics on social media and even on traditional media.
• You can also use widely-recognized events such as Halloween or Christmas and New Year holidays to create specific sales promotions. These events can also be used as part of existing email marketing efforts to existing and potential customers.
• Taking advantage of moments can also be part of a push or pull marketing strategy. Using ongoing events or topics can attract intermediaries or end-use consumers.
• Capitalize on the power of emotions and storytelling. You can create collaterals that have a narrative value or relatability. Trigger emotions that resonate with the image of your brand or the mission and values of your organization.
• Actively respond to your audience. Create and maintain conversations. Doing these require creating engaging collaterals or online content.
• Be witty. Look for opportunities that can increase the possibility of your audience sharing your content on their social media platforms. Bank on viral memes and the power of humor and entertainment.
It is also important to remain authentic. Remember that alignment is important. Utilize events or topics that resonate with your brand or organization.
The Don’ts: Reminders and Pointers on the Things to Avoid
Of course, there are drawbacks. The disadvantages of moment marketing center on the possibility of misuse and abuse. Marketers must have a conscious effort on ensuring that they get their messages across instead of creating confusion or negative publicity. This means they need to create collaterals that are aligned with their marketing goals and objectives.
The specific disadvantages include the possibility of backlash especially when the collateral or content built on a particular event or topic is forced or done in an insensitive manner, adding to the clutter and overall noise of an ongoing conversation, and running the risk of making brands or organizations becoming too predictable when overused.
Below are the common pitfalls that should be avoided in moment marketing:
• Avoid riding on tragic events or highly controversial issues or topics that can alienate existing and potential audience just for the sake of promoting a brand or cause. These include natural and manmade disasters or sociopolitical issues.
• You are still free to use an unfortunate event or a hotly-debated issue. However, lessen or eliminate hard-selling promotional messages.
• Do not react to anything or everything. Remember to choose moments that are aligned with your marketing goals and objectives, as well as the mission and values of your brand or organization. Overusing moment marketing can make you predictable.
• Timing is everything. Do not post too early. Do not post too late. Remember that this tactic capitalized on a particular moment as it happens.
• Refrain from using moment marketing if it is not aligned with your overall marketing strategy or the image of your brand or organization. Doing so can create confusion among your existing pool of customers.
• Do not ignore negative feedback from your audience when a collateral or content built on a moment backfires. Accept criticisms and own up to your shortcomings.
• In addition, although timing is important to effective moment marketing, never prioritize it over quality. Make sure that your collaterals or online contents remain appealing to your audience and aligned with your branding.
• Avoid tactless copies. Remember that it is important to remain sensitive. Do not ignore the defined characteristics of your audience.
• Do not imitate collaterals or content from other brands or organizations. It is important that your messaging and copies are not only original but also quick-witted to avoid drowning in the clutter of an ongoing conversation.
• Finally, as a rule of thumb, make sure that you are not exploitative. More specifically, make sure that your message comes from a place of genuine intention.
FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
- Balis, J. 2021. “10 Truths About Marketing After the Pandemic.” Harvard Business Review. Available online
- Yeung, N. 2021. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Moment Marketing.” Profolus. Available online
- Willemsen, L. M., Mazerant, K., Kamphuis, A.-L., and van der Veen, G. 2018. “Let’s Get Real (Time)! The Potential of Real-time Marketing to Catalyze the Sharing of Brand Messages. International Journal of Advertising. 37(5): 928-848. DOI: 1080/02650487.2018.1485214
