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JEN HOWARD: So to win at the zero moment of truth, you need
to first be visible.
And that means you need to be there to answer the questions
that your potential customers have about your brand, your
service, your product at the moment that they ask it.
So obviously, we believe that this can happen on the search
engine results page.
And when people are looking for information in a search
engine, for you to be there to answer the question.
But some of the things we're seeing in changing search
behavior is really important for the B2B marketer.
The first thing is this notion of day parting.
It was once believed the B2B decision makers were making
their decisions between the hours of 9:00 and 5:00.
So we saw some campaigns being slotted during only the
traditional work hours.
Yet what we're finding now is that 40% of business decision
makers are doing their work-related searches outside
of the hours of 9:00 to 5:00.
It would make sense.
This is the time they don't have meetings.
They don't have other commitments
during the work hours.
So research is actually happening 24/7, and our
always-on campaigns need to start reflecting that.
Another key change in B2B is also the length
of the query itself.
We're seeing searchers become much more sophisticated, up to
the point where now seven-term queries are actually not
uncommon at all.
And in fact, two to three terms still tends to be where
the majority of searches happen, but seven is actually
equaling in that volume.
So being very specific and knowing exactly what your
customers are looking for and making sure that you are
represented on those types of terms is
increasingly more important.
So when you get the moment of truth, it's also about
persuasion.
When you're talking about the search engine results page,
you have 95 characters to get your message across.
And more and more B2B marketers are taking advantage
of search, and so we've seen the number of ads on the page
increase 37% in the last year alone.
So you need to be compelling and very persuasive to draw
attention to your brand at that zero moment of truth.
And one of the surprising trends that we saw when we
were evaluating search query activity was the difference
between green and sustainability.
It was interesting to us because many of our customers
are very active in promoting their green initiatives, what
they're doing for the environment, what types of
organizations they've partnered with and so forth.
Yet what we're learning is that the B2B researchers and
the B2B purchase decision makers are less concerned
about green today than they are actually about
sustainability.
And in some cases, the terms could be interchangeable.
Yet, if you're talking to your customers about green when
really what they're interested in is sustainability, you're
no longer going to win at that zero moment of truth.
So knowing what your customers are interested in, talking to
them in their language, and making sure that you're there
at that zero moment of truth will allow you to win.
The final way to win at the zero moment of truth is really
about being flexible.
One of the things that we prioritize at Google is speed
beats perfection.
It's not important to have your marketing plan perfect
and completely established the moment that you
begin your new year.
In fact, it's better to have different strategies that
you're employing that you can test, learn, and then iterate,
so that way you can scale the successful solutions for your
business in a better way.
We've seen a lot of customers that have had issues with
whether it's a PR crisis or an issue with their brand, a lot
of activity about their company in the news.
And if you have a marketing plan that doesn't allow you to
be flexible and actually get in front of these stories,
then you're not going to be able to let your voice be
heard at the moment that your customers are looking into it.
So in order to win at the zero moment of truth, you have to
have a plan that will allow you to be flexible and,
ultimately, react.