The Me Generation – this is how experts describe consumers today. Our customers demand more focus on their uniqueness and individuality. They want to share their stories and excitements, share their perspectives of brands and influence others what to buy.

The well-advised customers

Because the me generation is heavily involved in the brands that they use, they are also known as the well-advised customers. The well-advised customers search almost everything online through their mobile phones before they make a decision. In fact, Google’s statistics showed that the use of the word “best” in searches had grown 80 percent for the past two years. And with this, the consumption of product reviews has also increased by 35 percent in almost the same time frame.

What are micro-moments

Nowadays, when consumers search through their phones they do this in bursts of real-time, intent-driven, micro-moments of curiosity, research, and decision. When they search online, they do so in four areas, also coined as critical touch-points or micro-moments that must be present in every brand marketing strategy.

1. I want to know moments (ex. exploring or researching a product or service)
2. I want to go moments (ex. looking for local businesses or considering to buy a product nearby)
3. I want to do moments (ex. needs help in completing a task or trying something new)
4. I want to buy moments (ex. needs help in what to buy or how to buy)

Micro-moments, introduced by Google in 2015, are intent-rich moments when a person reflexively, acting on an impulse turns to the nearest device to act on a need – to learn something new, make a decision or get things done.

What does micro-moments mean for companies?

It is critical for companies to cater to these four micro-moments for their brand marketing strategy to win the market. Micro-moments are reshaping the marketing funnel and eventually how companies position their brand message to efficiently market and sell their products. Companies must learn how to capture the attention and steer customer experiences in a real-time, fleeting and intentional manner; otherwise, they will miss on the vital chances to connect.

The micro-moment strategy

Using micro-moments as a brand marketing strategy is vital to creating a strong brand message. However, identifying the right micro-moments is both an art and science. Here are four steps to jumpstart it to your business

Step 1: Know how customers search your brand or category

The first step is knowing how your customers structure their search queries not just on mobile but also on websites and various applications to get a complete picture of their journey. These are the micro-moments that need to be captured and analyzed for a more targeted marketing. By knowing how customers search your brand and category, you can create brand messages that focus on what matters most to them.

Step 2: Analyze search queries to determine the right content

Know what are the common questions beginning with what, when and how. By doing so, you enable your brand to tap to a couple of critical touch-points. For example, the search: what are the top cloud storage products, can lead to a mobile video or advertisement of your brand. It could also be a web page with articles showing objective and unbiased opinions about several cloud storage products. The idea here is to be present at every possible moment to help customers in the search and cement the decision of purchasing a cloud storage. Remember, creating a powerful brand message is all about being present when the customer needs to make a decision.

Step 3: Design creative that will delight your market

Now that you know how customers search your brand and what type of content will capture their attention, step-up your game – design something that will delight them. The secret here is to be hyper-relevant. Utilize data such as location, time of day and even whether to deliver highly customized creative that customers will engage. For example, EA Sports partnered with Google to launch the Madden GIFERATOR to allow users to create GIF highlights of the game. This application paved the way for EA sports to generate more than 400K user-generated GIFs that not only the company used to advertise but also allowed users to share to their friends.

Step 4: Measure, learn and iterate

The last and most crucial step of creating a robust brand marketing strategy is to measure the results of your campaign, learn from it and iterate your approach. Measure the effectiveness of your brand message across devices and channel and how it contributes to the success of the campaign.

The me generation is a well-advised customer that makes quick decisions through doing immediate and intent-rich queries through their mobile phones. Businesses can consistently capture attention and steer customer experience, through winning their hearts and minds. However, bear in mind that this brand marketing strategy will not work if your website is not optimized for mobile and takes more than three seconds to load. Data shows that 53 percent of abandoned mobile sites are due to site loading take longer than three seconds. Finding the right balance of digital marketing and technology to strengthen your brand message is essential. Micro-moments can give us a glimpse into the user’s world, their needs and their values. Being there can influence decisions, preferences, and loyalties. Use micro-moments to engage, create brand loyalty and add value through an enhanced customer experience.