We didn’t realise it back-when, but a decade or two ago the world of marketing was so much simpler. The internet has changed all that.

But it’s not just the new plethora of marketing communications channels which has changed the world, it’s also about how consumer behaviour has been revolutionised.

In the old days marketing theorists used to talk about the first and second moments of truth in consumer behaviour. The First Moment of Truth (or FMOT) was when they stood at the supermarket or bookshop shelf and decided whether or not to reach for your product. The second moment of truth was when they actually used, ate or read that product. That would determine future purchasing patterns.

Google has released some fascinating research that takes a step back, referring to the Zero Moment of Truth (ZeeMOT in the States, ZedMOT in Australia). This insight is worth thinking about.

The point of the ZMOT is that contemporary consumer behaviour has shifted substantially now that we can access all the information in the world via the phone in our pocket, the iPad on the couch or the computer on the desk. We make our decisions differently by searching our meaningful information before we commit to the purchase. Allow me to quote from Google’s excellent eBook on the subject: “Winning the Moment of Truth“:

A Zero Moment of Truth is:

A BUSY MOM IN A MINIVAN, looking up decongestants on her mobile phone as she waits to pick up her son at school.

AN OFFICE MANAGER AT HER DESK, comparing laser printer prices and ink cartridge costs before heading to the office supply store.

A STUDENT IN A CAFE, scanning user ratings and reviews while looking for a cheap hotel in Barcelona.

A WINTER SPORTS FAN IN A SKI STORE, pulling out a mobile phone to look at video reviews of the latest snowboards.

A YOUNG WOMAN IN HER CONDO, searching the web for juicy details about a new guy before a blind date.

I’d like to add a couple more ZMOTS which are particularly relevant to my Professional Services clients:

A Zero Moment of Truth is:

A fellow CEO checking out a peer’s profile on LinkedIn before a scheduled luncheon meeting.

A prospective client hearing that a friend’s experience at the dentist was surprisingly pleasant before Googling the dentist to check out their website.

If you’d like to learn more about these Moments of Truth I can heartily recommend a visit to http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com to download the free eBook.

Yesterday I had a phone call from a Sensis call centre in Melbourne. The genuinely friendly Aussie on the line was offering me an amazing opportunity to achieve top ranking every time someone searched for a marketing consultant on Google.

I held my tongue between my teeth. I was of course itching to talk about how Yellow Pages publications are now the medium for less than 20% of people searching for a local business compared to more than 75% just five years ago, but of course this wouldn’t interest a guy trying to earn a crust in a call centre.

So now Yellow Pages has teamed up with the very organisation which has stolen its multi-billion dollar business from under its collective noses. Of course I wanted to hear more.

The script read by the Aussie (I’m assuming it wasn’t an operator from the sub-continent who’d received intensive training by watching Neighbours) breathlessly informed me that my website would be listed in the top three appearances for a search of any one of 100 key words. All I had to do was sign up for a six month contract at $110 per month.

We ended up spending quite a while on the phone. I asked numerous questions which weren’t mentioned in the training manual the very patient operator had in from of him, so he had to turn to his supervisor a few times and ring back with more information a little later. Poor guy had probably had half a day’s training on Google Adwords before being told to get some customers.

Eventually I was able to dig out the key points of the offer for the benefit of you, my valued reader.

What Yellow Pages DOES offer in Google Adword services

Yellow pages will run your adwords campaign for you. Their entry-level $120 per month contract (currently reduced from a minimum 24 months to six months minimum) will spend $80 of the $110 in media costs. Their “expert search engine consultant” will write your ads for you and assign 100 keywords. If the $80 doesn’t get used in a given month the remaining funds will be used in the next month’s allocation. When queried what would happen if a lot of the media revenue hadn’t been used after the contract term I was assured this would never happen. I really dispute that based on my own experience of niche businesses in a limited market like Adelaide.

Limitations Yellow Pages won’t tell you about

It took a lot of probing to learn that once you sign the contract with Yellow Pages, you get no come-back at all. If you don’t like the wording of the ads they design for you, well that’s just too bad. If you get a lot of revenue-burning clicks because of misleading keywords or inaccurate wording of your ads, there is no mechanism in place to rectify this. The only person you’ll ever be able to discuss your specific business requirements with will be the (very) inexperienced call centre operators who have probably never set up an Adword campaign in their life.

Deceptive marketing by Sensis

Seems to me that in an effort to regain some sort of revenue stream to make up for the decimation of their business has experienced over recent years, Sensis are resorting to marketing which is somewhat deceptive and is far from transparent.

The telemarketer’s script studiously avoids referring to the actual name of the product they are promoting; Adwords. In fact they appear to deliberately confuse potential customers by referring to paid search results as if they were organic search results.

They also promote their subscription service by offering features which are entirely free to anybody who signs up to Google Adwords, including Keyword Generation and campaign analytics, both of which cost Adwords customers nothing at all.

The telemarketer I spoke to also made one further significant claim which I have no way of verifying but would love to find out about. He claimed that Sensis would achieve more appearances and far better Pay Per Click rates on the Google Adwords platform compared to regular customers because of the “Premier SME Partnership” with Google. Google have stated that “all AdWords accounts have the same opportunity to achieve a high-quality performance regardless of who is managing the account”.  If anybody can offer clarification on this claim by Sensis I’d love to hear from them.

A better way

I take a very different approach with my clients. I charge my usual hourly rate to teach them how to run their own Adwords campaigns, setting up their own platform with them. In particular I show them how to test their specific market with different keywords, regularly changing the wording of their ads and measuring the results. By empowering my clients to learn how to run this very effective advertising medium themselves, they may pay a little more up-front, but they will learn how to achieve far better results over the longer term.

In my last posting I mentioned the ‘usual suspects’ of the social media marketing revolution; of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, You Tube and blogging. But there’s a much bigger landscape beyond the immediate playing field.
Here are just some of the other players to watch:

Foursquare

Foursquare in Australia is still trailing many countries in adoption rates, but recent statistics indicate Foursquare is gaining significant traction in Sydney in particular and probably isn’t far off from reaching the critical mass to achieve universal awareness in the general population.

Foursquare is operated largely through mobile devices such as smart phones and iPads. Participants “check in” at various sites such as retailers, sparting events, night spots, etc. It’s a way of letting their friends know where they are but is also a game of sorts where participants build points and status.

Founded in 2009, there are reportedly over a million Foursquare users worldwide. A few big brands have jumped on board and this would have to be one of the biggest opportunities for small businesses if it takes off in Australia. Retailers and other businesses will be able to attract more customers through special offers and various other incentives, some of which are still being developed.

Tumblr

A sort of cross between a blog and Twitter, some commentators are suggesting Tumblr could rival Twitter in the foreseeable future.

Tumblt participants “reblog” news sources and other blogs they find on the internet which is of interest to them. The net effect is that content with a common theme is aggregated. By following the leading rebloggers you can keep tabs on general trends on the web and by positioning yourself as a commentator on a specific topic you can build your own loyal followers.

A new innovation on Tumblr has added particular relevance for marketers, the ability for anyone to ask a blogger questions (which can then be replied to publically). An important feedback and PR opportunity.

Larger brands have started to use Tumblr to raise issues important to them and build their image as responsible corporate citizens.

StmbleUpon, Digg and Reddit

I’ve lumped these together because they largely fulfil a similar function. In essence they are content discovery tools used by participants to point their networks to websites, blogs or news articles which they consider to be significant.

These tools are probably more significant to larger brands for marketing functions, but they have yet to gain traction in Australia.

Platforms such as YouTube, WordPress and Twitter have made it easier and more affordable than ever for brands to create and distribute their own content, thereby becoming media companies in their own right. Brands are investing accordingly — whether they’re hiring editors, producers and social media managers, or expanding the roles of their existing teams — to create editorial, visual, audio and other kinds of content.

The world of social media is a big one. By now just about everyone has some level of awareness of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, You Tube and blogging, but beyond this familiar territory the global playing field is constantly shifting with a multitude of innovative ideas jostling for world domination.

Remember it was as recently as 2005 that Rupert Murdoch bet over half a billion dollars on acquiring MySpace. Three years later it was overtaken by Facebook and today has been well and truly sidelined. There have been recent reports that News Corp has been trying to offload MtSpace for as little as $50 million.

Any social revolution is going to be highly dynamic in its early stages. Perhaps the world of social media will continue to be fad-driven for the foreseeable future.
The challenge for businesses is to figure out how to respond to this rapidly shifting playing field.

Sitting on the side-lines with a wait-and see attitude is a poor decision. The fact that the marketing playing field has changed forever is undeniable. Right now there are outstanding opportunities to use social media to build brands and increase marketing exposure.

My suggestion to my clients is to engage this brave new world as a way to build corporate experience. There will never be a better time to jump in to test the waters. The only question is just how much of the marketing pie to allocate to social media.

The hype around social media marketing reminds me of the days of the dot-com boom and bust. Remember when it was cool to have a dot-com on the end of your business name? Remember the massive excitement about new technology which sent stockmarket prices into orbit? Remember the arguments about how the new paradigm was going to change the world. Remember the bust?

Well actually our world DID change. It just took a lot longer than many imagined, but the internet continues to profoundly change the way we work, shop and entertain ourselves. Luddite cynics may have felt vindicated by the bust a decade ago, but ultimately they have been proven wrong.

Much like the tech boom, the social media revolution is creating a lot of heat in the world of marketing and there is no shortage of naysayers, people who scoff at the effectiveness of Facebook or Twitter. Funny thing is, the ‘marketing experts’ I’ve met who fall into this category have barely cottoned on to how to use their email program properly. They are largely tech-illiterates.

I don’t believe social media marketing is the miracle marketing strategy that will launch your business into the stratosphere, but I do believe it is a vital component of any marketing strategy today.

I also believe social media marketing is the marketing communication channel which can give many small businesses the most effective return on their marketing spend.

Today I received an email announcing the arrival of a new social media site which has been developed by News Ltd. And I’m completely mystified about how so much money can completely miss the point of Social Media.

Described as “A new media brand that combines the power of word of mouth, social media and mass media to spread your good news” (deep breath now) the site seems completely pointless. No specials, no sense of community, no compelling reason to participate.

Perhaps this is some sort of desperate ploy by News Ltd to recoup some of the half a billion dollars they lost on the My Space acquisition. Arguably the demise of this once great site occurred because they didn’t ‘get’ social media back then either.

From what I can make out, the point of welikethis.com.au is to provide a platform for people to express their views about ‘products’. What products? I hear you ask. Well apparently every product you can think of.

News Ltd COULD have taken a safer line and imitated Yelp, the Social Media review site which is so wildly successful in the States and now gaining momentum in Europe. Yelp has yet to make it to Australia and I wish they’d hurry up. But the new site from News Ltd has tried to reinvent the wheel and I’m predicting another dud.

I can just imagine the meeting around the boardroom table which unleashed this mystifying dud. It probably started out with some executive bemoaning the rise of social media, stealing market share from traditional news sources and threatening to drive many more large old-world retailers to the wall. The half baked idea was probably developed by some young bright spark and given the go-ahead by decision makers who, over a quiet beer, might confess to having no idea about the point of Social Media anyway.

There are a zillion sites in cyber land which hope to become the next Facebook or Twitter. Some of them are ingenious and I will continue to watch with great interest to see which ones succeed, but the vast majority will never reach critical mass.

And at the end of the day, not even a Rupert Murdoch sized budget will substitute for ingenuity.

Compared to Brits who’ll stand in neatly ordered queues for little apparent reason, or Yanks who seem to hero worship their politicians, the Aussies are an unruly mob. Telling them what to do is a bit like herding cats. To an outsider this Aussie trait can take a lot of getting used to, but take it from a convert, this is one of the most endearing part of the Aussie character.

Australians are a bunch of bloody individuals and this has frequently been their greatest strength. Just ask any of the old diggers.

So why is there so much advertising around which virtually screams at its audience? Do it NOW!

The cynics will say because it works. An aggressive, brash approach to marketing for a brash society. Thankfully I see light at the end of the tunnel. Those days are numbered.
Too many advertising types have mistaken brand equity with brand awareness. Marketing is about to undergo a significant revolution with the rise of social media and brand owners, along with their advertising agencies, are being forced to listen to their markets a whole lot more.

You see, it’s not enough just to raise brand awareness just by throwing a lot of money at mass media, it’s more important to cultivate respect and loyalty for the brand.

And if ever there was an endearing trait about a bunch of bloody individual Aussies, it’s their intense loyalty. Once it’s been earned.

Perhaps it’s one of the uglier sides of the Aussie character, this pleasure which so many Australians seem to derive from seeing highly successful people being brought low.
I’ve noticed, though, this is seldom a fate suffered by elite sports stars, but can apply particularly to business people. Why is this?

Seems to me the ugliness of the tall poppy syndrome is actually to do with much more endearing Australian traits. A lot of Aussie character was forged through hardship. Australia’s favourite poem; A Sunburnt Country by Henry Lawson is eloquent testimony to this perception. Life was really tough for the early settlers and to this day the “Working Class Man” is still celebrated at the true Aussie hero.
Australians find the image of highly successful and wealthy people flaunting their wealth to be highly distasteful. This is backed by an innate suspicion their wealth was acquired by taking advantage of their fellow man or, at the very least, just being lucky. Perhaps that’s why sports stars are more respected, there’s no denying the basis of their success.

So how does this relate to marketing?

Successful brand marketing is all about creating a widespread love affair for a brand. And unlike other cultures, Australians aren’t likely to fall in love with a brand because of a connotation of elitism.
SME operators in particular need to remember that simply promoting their brand as “the best” will never be a successful marketing strategy. Instead they need to DEMONSTRATE why their product or service is so good. And if it’s going to convince Australians, those reasons had better be good.

Larger Australian brand owners must avoid the temptation to reproduce campaigns which have been successful in the USA or the UK. They won’t necessarily translate to an Australian context.

An old Aussie saying goes; “the bigger the hat, the smaller the property”. Aussies really dislike show-offs. One of the first things I learned about the Australian way when I moved here many years ago is that you will never get away with being a snob in Australia. You’ll just end up lonely.

This was in such stark contrast to the country I grew up in where authoritarianism ruled.

If you want to be respected by an Australian, you’ll have to earn that respect. It’s a big part of that famously egalitarian characteristic dating back to the convicts.

If you want to market your professional services, chances are your professional brand will be something of an extension of your personal brand; the face you present to the world as an individual. You’d do well to pay attention to the subtle cues you’re communicating through your marketing.

The American way is to look slicker, wealthier, more successful and better looking than you really are. In Australia they’ll just think you’re a wanker.

So quit using your marketing to feed your ego and try the friendly approach instead.

Along with politicians, marketing has evolved a language all of its own. A mode of communication loaded with hyperbole and exaggerated claims. It’s reached the point where we all use an inner filter to try to suss the truth. We EXPECT advertising to be exaggerated, so we discount the claims we hear by about ninety percent. We simply filter out all the guff we don’t believe any more; “the best”, “amazing new” and “lowest prices”.
Aussies might not be the only lot who have developed this ‘marketing filter’, but they are a whole lot more sensitive than most when it comes to effusive language.
Australians are automatically distrustful of anyone whom they perceive might be pulling the wool over their eyes. They’re a pretty straight talking bunch and will always respect you more if you tell it how it is.
I think the recent campaign for Commonwealth Bank addressed this trait beautifully. You’ll recall the presentations by the fictitious American advertising agency, contrasting the American way with the straight talking Aussies.
If you really want to cut through when marketing to Australians, forget the hype and find a more creative way to tell it how it is.