Do B2B Marketers Need to Capitalize More on ‘’Moment Marketing’’?

There is no dearth to the depth of creativity that marketers can infuse into their campaigns today. The limitless capabilities of today’s martech tools and marketing automation platforms can further help marketing teams plan out of the box campaigns that can easily be implemented and executed with ease, even for lean teams.

But First, what is ‘’Moment Marketing’’?

Moment marketing is a process or plan that involves taking advantage of current events, world happenings, trending business dynamics and creating relevant marketing communication or campaigns that connect-to or reference those themes.

‘’Moment Marketing’’ is often used by B2C marketers but with the slowly blurring lines between B2C and B2B marketing trends, maybe it’s time for B2B marketing teams to also capitalize more on this concept.

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A Few Good Examples of Moment Marketing

B2B marketers have also been known to use moment marketing as part of their overall strategies, though it’s more commonplace in B2C. However, over the last year, as 2020 winded down through effects of an uncertain pandemic which continued through 2021, moment marketing was being embraced by more B2B marketing leaders.

Before we discuss the (very many!) benefits of Moment Marketing (and why B2B marketers should start looking at it as a valuable channel!), let’s look into a few recent examples of some pretty good moment marketing:

Emirates hired a stunt woman to stand atop the Burj Khalifa in what went on to become a viral ad

In what was said to be shot using a drone, a recent commercial from UAE based global airline Emirates depicted a stuntwoman dressed in the Emirates uniform, atop the Burj Khalifa’s tallest point;

This ad is said to be the highest ad ever filmed, literally! Emirates reportedly shot this ad to celebrate the opening up of travel restrictions in light of the still ongoing global pandemic and the new decision allowing quarantine-free travel between Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Catch a glimpse of the video ad here:

Bernie Sanders and The Meme!

The image of fully covered and well-mittened United States senator Bernie Sanders sitting with arms crossed at the inauguration ceremony of US president Joe Biden became a much talked about and much-used meme through 2020! It was also the core concept of one of Ikea’s advertising campaigns in 2020!

But this was definitely not the end of it, the Bernie Sanders meme show was used extensively by leading brands, even B2B marketers across channels like LinkedIn where influencers and marketers related it to a recent brand marketing launch or concept.

image source: The Drum

Coronavirus and its ‘’Unprecedented’’ Effects, Adding Value with Information

Covid-19 brought a lot of industries and even economies to a halt, slowed down the pace of progress in many others while also accelerating the need and speed at which digital transformation efforts took over.

For B2B tech marketers, many of whom were already accustomed to the concept of remote work, adjusting to what became known as the ‘’new normal’’ since last year was not that much of a struggle.

But there were patterns that started showing across blogs and content campaigns, with ‘’unprecedented’’ becoming a word that almost every article started featuring.

Covid-19 is still a global concern, as efforts to reduce the spread and increase vaccination continues, marketers have not been falling behind of using the fear and challenges surrounding Covid-19 to bring some relevance into their own brand marketing efforts.

While many B2C brands used the angle ‘’stay at home’’ to create that connect through their advertising and marketing campaigns during that time and to capitalize on the current Covid-19 situation, several others used the Coronavirus effects to share campaigns around ‘’tips to stay safe’’, benefits of getting vaccinated, or even information surrounding what to do if you got infected with the virus.

Tokyo Olympics

The 2020-21 summer Olympic Games in Japan (which took place from 23 Jul-8 Aug, 2021) also witnessed a good share of moment marketing campaigns. Although Covid-19 pushed the schedule of the event, the sport witnessed several sponsors and non-sponsors running campaigns around this theme to boost audience engagement.

Leading brands like Coca-Cola started selling limited edition bottles featuring different designs based on the key message Isshou ni ichido ga, hajimatta (Once in a Lifetime has Begun) and Orinpikku wo ima kara ajiwaou (‘Let’s savour the taste of the Olympics starting now!’) In addition Coca-Cola also extended consumers the chance to win original Coca-Cola merchandise.

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A Few Reasons why Moment Marketing is Great for B2B Marketers

Moment Marketing Offers a Good Base to Boost your Instant Customer Engagement

What’s happening around the world (like the pandemic for instance) is a concern on everyone’s mind. Utilizing a common emotion, a common problem and using it to drive a human connection can enable B2B marketers to drive an instant bond.

During the year 2020, many B2B tech leaders started offering their platforms or services for free during this time, to help their users and audience overcome a few of the challenges they could be facing with the sudden onset of the pandemic and the shift to sudden remote-hybrid models.

This in a way is a grand example of B2B marketers using moment marketing to capture more audience interest and to create a sense of ‘’we’re always there’’ to boost overall brand image.

Provides a Good Opportunity to Run Out of the Box Campaigns

Most B2B marketing leaders know and accept that every marketing plan has to be data-driven and automated to enable results at scale. While establishing strong data practices and choosing the best-fit marketing automation tools to help drive team goals, a core area that can’t be forgotten is the need for creative, out of the box marketing messaging.

Marketing campaigns that start looking and feeling like what other brands and what your competitors do will not help drive optimum ROI and results.

Using moment marketing to identify with a trending topic and event of the day can instantly help fuel those ideas that can be run as part of an overall marketing plan.

Encourages Quick Action

Brands that capitalize on current fears (but in a good way!), current emotions, current trends are more likely to be able to create relevant content surrounding concepts that are already on their customers minds, this can enable faster purchases or instant actions (for example; instant subscriptions, etc).

Last Words

Moment marketing is great for marketing teams who are accustomed to fast turn around times and those who know how to instantly craft messaging, build graphics and plan the right channels to capitalize on a campaign that is connected to a current event or trend.

With the array of one-stop graphic management platforms like Canva, marketing automation tools and access to different kinds of audience data and behavioral insights, marketers who have not yet jumped onto the ‘’moment marketing’’ bandwagon can actually have quick success with this strategy, because of the ease at which martech tools allows them to get campaigns off the ground.

Like everything else in B2B marketing, moment marketing can prove to be a win-win if posted with the right tone and right messaging to the right people at the right time – one of the (many!) holy grails of B2B marketing!

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