What Is ZMOT To A Nigerian?

ZMOT is a four letter acronym for a marketing concept developed at Google by Jim Lecinski. It stands for the Zero Moment Of Truth. 

In digital marketing, a ZMOT is the most crucial stage in a shopper's decision making life cycle, and it presents tremendous opportunities for marketers who are serious about taking the lead in their industries in this new digital age.

However, to the average Nigerian business person, this may not mean much right now. But I am willing to bet that it would mean a great deal to many of you in the next 3 to 5 years. Especially if the country continues to grow and develop at this rate.

DEFINITION

In a marketer's hypothesis of a customer's path to a purchase, the ZMOT is the stage that comes immediately after the potential shopper receives a stimulus (advertisement, or other form of initial proposition) and before a decision is made at the store.  

Before the dawn of the digital age, stimulus was believed to play a decent role in the customer's mind to get him to a store. Advertisements are expected to grab your attention and sell you an idea. This is called the stimulus stage, and it usually comes long before a decision is taken at the store shelf.  

This decision stage is called the First Moment Of Truth (or FMOT). A stage where wise marketers who realize they cannot rely completely on the message in the initial stimulus to get you to make the purchase.  So by doing some additional promotion in this Shelf stage (the packaging of the product, in-store advertising, etc) marketers want to influence your decision at the point of purchase (like a store).
If this is done right, marketers could even "steal" the customer that was brought in by a competitor's stimulus. 

After check out at the counter the customer takes the product or service (after a deal or contract has been made), and uses it. This is the Experience Stage and the amount of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) that the customer gets with the product is aptly called the Second Moment Of Truth.

BEFORE

AFTER

Meanwhile, the Zero Moment Of Truth comes after the Stimulus stage, but before the First Moment Of Truth. It became a recognizable phenomenon as the world got more and more transformed by the internet and mobile phones. 
And there is more than enough evidence to show that it is playing an increasing role on how modern day shoppers make their final decision at the counter. The most crucial role in many cases.

Consider someone who enters a shop to ask for Product XYZ, with serial number 123, with accessories ABC. 
Such a case is that of someone who did his homework well before going to the store, right? That is how to understand the ZMOT.

To make it simple:
The ZMOT phenomenon is a new way we behave;  like when you argue with a friend about who the top goal scorer in LaLiga is. A long time ago, such arguments often ended with guys making bets. 
These days, few young men are confident enough to take these bets, because they know that the other guy would get the answer within a second of bringing out their smartphone.

And many of us have extended this "swift answer mentality" to our shopping behavior as well. 

So the ZMOT is not only a concept, or a moment in time; it is a whole new mentality. A new and increasingly frequent destination we go to before we make a purchase.


In the new digital age, people no longer easily buy the B.S. of advertisements as they used to (pardon my expression). They want to investigate and learn more about the service or product. And this is simply because it is getting easier and easier for them to do so these days. Technology is changing the way the market behaves and you have no choice but to adjust to it. That is if you wish to remain in business for a long time.

HOW CAN ZMOT STRATEGY HELP MY BUSINESS?

Now I know some of you have heard about SEO (or Search Engine Optimization). While many more of you know a little bit about Online Advertising and how it is more target & intent oriented than the kind of advertising that you have in the real world.
Some of you might also be lucky to have learned a few things about Web Analytics, so you know that it is profitable for you to analyze how people interact with your website. And you all probably know more about Social Media Marketing and the fact that people are getting more and more advanced at using social networks (like Google+ and Facebook) as marketing and sales platforms.


But now, try to think of the ZMOT as an angle or an approach through which you pilot your business to greater success.  It's a method that often ties those other digital activities together in one powerful strategy. 

Imagine that you are managing a store in Ikeja that sells a particularly rare beauty product (XYZ).
Then imagine a woman who lives in Surulere and who wants that product XYZ really badly.
But now imagine that some creepy sales-rep from another beauty company is at her house trying to sell her an alternative product ABF.

So while she reluctantly thinks about buying this crappy product ABF, she thought to share on her Twitter, Facebook and Google+ profiles, a post asking her friends, "Does anyone know anywhere in Lagos where I can get rare cream XYZ?"

What kind of strategy would you adopt in engaging this kind of ready customer at the Zero Moment Of Truth?
You have to start thinking along those lines from now.
Not just launching digital campaigns for the sake of "needing to go digital with your marketing". 


Some more examples are:

• A cocoa farmer searching on Google for the most appropriate fertilizers. 

• An Abuja-based couple browsing for affordable hotels in Calabar for their honeymoon, and suddenly discovering that one of their friends has left a 5-star rating and an online review for an affordable guest house there.

• Or....Surprisingly making up your mind to buy an iPhone4 instead of the Blackberry Z10 you had previously planned to buy, after searching the term "Best Smartphone for business in Nigeria" and finding a very compelling blog article where someone was comparing a number of smartphones. 

In these examples, the suppliers or providers of fertilizer, or hotels and guest houses in Calabar, and of Androids and Blackberry phones can do something to give their own businesses the advantage. They don't have to rely on luck.

It requires a ZMOT strategy…Or it requires that you actually know how the digital realm works and how it shapes user behaviour.

So it is more about having a certain mentality than it is about being a super computer genius, wizard or guru. Or any of those other meaningless tags that people throw around these days. 

I would also say that it is more about adapting traditional marketing principles than it is about IT proficiency. I mean, you can always get computer geeks working for you, while you coordinate them. But not everyone really understands what Ogilvy meant when he said "To be interesting, be interested".

A ZMOT TESTIMONIAL

Here is something that I discovered while eavesdropping on a conversation between two ZMOT-minded professionals:
In answering a question about understanding where their customers were in their shopping life cycle, and what were the right messages to meet them at each point, Laurie Tucker (the Marketing Executive of Fedex) captured the essence of a ZMOT-minded strategy here; and I am slightly paraphrasing what she said:

"We've put up about 150 videos on our YouTube Channel to say, 'how do you use Fedex?'….But at another level we start to understand how our customers respond to our content, and we begin to grade them based on their engagement with us. We look for look-alikes; Test; Repeat; Repeat again; and then (we) begin to get sophisticated….So I start to think about this and realize that marketing is the new sales!"

Now, if you didn't get that, it is only because you are perhaps really new to digital marketing concepts in general. But please note that all I really need you to take away from what she said here is really just one word…

…THINK!

The marketer here (Laurie Tucker) gained a level of awareness by constantly engaging her customers at their ZMOTs. She is clearly rewired for the new digital age, and quite frankly the company she works for would reap the rewards of this.
ZMOT mindedness would do this for you as well.

As a Nigerian, you can surely testify to the increasing usage of mobile phones by all and sundry to browse the internet, and you know how often you hear people say, "google It!" nowadays.
This is our present reality. And the future will surely see it increase in this direction. If you are in business, you should be thinking of how to take advantage of this by now.

Thank you.


Did my article do anything for you?
Please let me know what you think?
Do you disagree or agree with anything? I look forward to hearing from you….

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Clean Water Can Boost Africa's Economies

"There is a causal relationship between access to water supply and higher income levels". 
This quote came from a W.H.O. report by M. Sanctuary, H. Tropp and A. Berntell.

They found that, "Poor countries with improved access to clean water and sanitation services enjoyed annual average growth of 3.7%." While those without improved access averaged per capita GDP growth of only 0.1%".

I am glad that you are reading this article to learn more (I guess) about the new wave of events and happenings in the economic future of Africa. 

Hopefully, you got here from a link from my previous post about why Africans, most of all (and not just foreigners) need to invest more effort and resources in Africa. 

In that article, I talked about the benefits of staying up to date with discussions at the World Economic Forum on Africa as well as the US-Africa Business Forum hosted by Barack Obama and moderated by Bill Clinton.

In this one, I will address an issue that was raised by author & futurist Chris Lang, who felt it was an important issue to consider where ever there is development. 
The issue of access to clean water.

It Is About Access And Cleanliness!

I live in a private estate (in Lagos, Nigeria) where there are still a few undeveloped pieces of property. And like most people in my country, I actually supply my own water and provide most of the electricity that I use. 
I have a borehole and a pumping machine to pump water into a large tank that is suspended above my roof (Most people who live in suburbs and urban areas in Lagos have the same kind of arrangement).

I personally choose not drink the water from my borehole (I buy my drinking water) even though some of my neighbors say it is safe and do not even bother filtering it. Anyway, every now and then when there are constructions going on close by, the workers come to me to ask to fetch water for their work, and they sometimes drink directly from the tap in my backyard. 

I always warn them that the water has not been tested or verified to be good for drinking but they don't care. They often say that they've drank water that is visibly scary looking, and not clear like mine.

Now on the other hand, you could probably use any kind of dirty water to mix your cement for construction, but it still helps a great deal to have immediate access to that water wherever you're working. Also, being able to easily get the water you want when you want it, and not having to get medical treatment for consuming it is indeed an economic advantage to the society at large.

Think about it! 
There would be less burden on our already overburdened hospital systems in Africa because of easy access to clean water.  Medical attention and resources can then be focused on other challenges like malaria. 

Common diseases that are transmitted through dirty water

Humanitarian & Philanthropic Efforts

The image above is very scary isn't it?
Of course it is!

Former UN Sec Gen, Kofi Annan, said: 

"We shall not defeat the diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation, and basic health care."

Hollywood actor, Matt Damon and Gary White founded Water.org in 2009, and this is a non-profit that provides access to drinking water and sanitation in developing countries all over the world.

I mention them here because of their method:

1. Forge partnerships with local change agents.
2. Involve the local community at every stage.
3. Select appropriate technology for particular environment.
4. Integrate with health & hygiene education.

Sometimes some people criticize celebrities for  humanitarian work in Africa and other underdeveloped regions, arguing that they seek some kind of "vain" glory. My response to that would be to ask those who benefit from these efforts if they share such a shallow sentiment. 

Another person I really must mention is the young Canadian, Ryan Hreljac who began his Ryan's Well cause when he was only 7 years old. 
The story is so moving because not only was young Ryan able to raise enough money (by doing extra chores) to start a trend that eventually grew into a life changing foundation, he also made a friend in Uganda at the same time.

7 year old Ryan Hreljac looking on as a
 borehole is being constructed in Uganda,
thanks to funds he helped to raise

Jimmy Akana walked miles to fetch dirty water that his family used for drinking, cooking and bathing. The efforts of Ryan's Well Foundation helped his village tremendously. And even when Jimmy lost his parents (under very horrible circumstances) at a very tender age, Ryan's family stepped in and offered him their home in Canada. 

Jimmy Akana and Canadian Ryan Hreljac became friends
when Ryan visited Uganda to inspect his first well.

A remarkable story if you ask me.....

But now I want you to ask yourself, what can we do MORE, in Africa, to improve on the improvements in the accessibility of our people to clean water?

(Pardon me for a moment, but I feel like posting a number of photos here right now. :-) )

Jimmy attended high school with Ryan in Canada.
And in 2012, he graduated from
St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

Today, Jimmy Akana Hreljac is also helping with the foundation
by speaking publicly to create awareness of the foundation. 

Africa Has To Fix Africa

Ryan and many foreigners have done their best, and we are indeed grateful. But now it is time to challenge our governments: It is time to fix things!

Now I know that there is clearly a lot of misconception about Africa in the perceptions of the global community at large, thanks to the foreign press. 

While a few foreigners still assume that we live in a wide open safari with hyena packs running around, and our babies are perpetually starving to death; others are taken by the shallow depictions by foreign media which have a tendency to regurgitate only images like this one: 

By the way, our own governments prefer to focus on images like this one  :

But that is not what is important here now. What is important is that for development to be beneficial to any society, it must be inclusive.
There is no point having some scattered portions of Africa developing into futuristic utopia's, while most other parts are neglected by the government, to suffer a perpetual lack of electricity and access to clean water. 

I want you to take a look at the data gathered by the WHO and UNICEF back in 2012, when they announced that the world had already met its Millennium Development Goal on access to clean drinking water which targeted 2015.

However a large part of Africa hasn't quite gotten there yet. But the good news is that a lot of effort has been made all round Africa, and there is reason to be confident that these goals could be met a little later than 2015.

Here are a few numbers:

Data summary for a select few African countries...

The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) water supply improvements - summarized by The Guardian (UK)

Country	2010 National Water Total Improved (x1000)	2010 National Water Total Improved (%)	1990 National Water Total Improved (x1000)	1990 National Water Total Improved (%)

Nigeria              92,581                                 58                               46,131                              47

Zambia              7,937                                   61                              3,852                                 49

S/Leone            3,225                                   55                              1,520                                 38

Togo                  3,694                                   61                              1,794                                 49

Uganda             23,929                                 72                               7,667                                43

Kenya                23,762                                 59                              10,259                               44

S/Africa             45,792                                  91                              30,411                               83

DRCongo          29,891                                  45                             16,211                               45

Ghana               20,894                                  86                              7,913                                53

In truth, all of the African countries listed did somewhat well, when you compare the levels of access from 20 years before. Countries like Nigeria did reasonably well over the past 20 years, but Ghana and Uganda did way better....relative to their population!

Again, these figures represent the increase in improved access to clean drinking water which has been found to be both correlative and causative of economic growth.

The point I am trying to bring out in this particular case is that the data shows that there is indeed progress. It can also drive more progress as the knowledge of the successes of some African nations would inspire/challenge others to work harder, in my opinion.

By the way, I believe I must also point out a thing or two about the Grand Inga Dam Project (which I will be writing a whole article on at a later date) that seeks to provide much electric power to Africa, and (by extension) enhance economic growth.

I believe there is a need to consider some possible negative effects on the water in the DRC (Democratic Republic Of Congo) where the dam is to be built. Dealing with this now can save us a lot of wasted lives and resources later.
You may stick with this blog to read about that and more. Just scroll down the right side bar (below my photograph) to join the blog list (I don't usually post more than twice a month, so I won't drown you in my posts). 

In the final analysis, I would say Africa is largely on the right path in terms of democracy, trade, and recent economic policies. What we need now is to keep our children alive, healthy, and enlightened, so they can help build our continent into it's true wealthy self, and not the shadow of it that it is today.

Obama & WEF Urge Investment In Africa

The World Economic Forum And You

First, I must refer you to a short update that I posted on my Google+ social profile a few days ago, titled "Revisiting The World Economic Forum on Africa". 

The WEF on Africa was a true game changing event that took place in Abuja, Nigeria in May 2014.

In my update, I argued that you should lessen the amount of attention you pay to those who constantly bicker about  "drooling foreigners who want a piece of Africa....to steal our natural resources with the help of our corrupt and greedy politicians."

I asked that you change this overly simplistic and suspicious viewpoint because, when you really think about it, it doesn't make much sense to keep going on and on about something that we all know is more-or-less part of human nature!

All business transactions are driven by selfish interests. And this will not exclude the selfish interests of a foreign investor, the selfish interests of our governments, or YOUR OWN selfish interests.

If one of the parties claimed not to have any selfish interests whatsoever, that is when I would almost certainly become suspicious! 

So it's time to grow up and learn how to negotiate the terms of these deals in a way that favours our people. 
This is what I believe the WEF event did for some of us....It made us give our attention to the technicalities of the economic realities of our future.

I, for one, am now less interested in  which political party Akinwunmi Adesina belongs to, or in the colour of the skin of the US President. I am more concerned about who will talk the talk and walk the walk that will lead Africa into greater economic diversification.

So right now I need you to become "selfish" as well. 


Or have you not heard? 
Some of the great social scientists of old (including Adam Smith) found that selfishness was indeed a social virtue that leads to social progress. 

So to rekindle this virtue, I would strongly recommend that you start paying close attention to, and following the WEF events. Try to stop seeing such things as boring.  

We can no longer just sit down and complain to deaf ears. We (as many of us that do care about the future of our kids on the continent) need to find a way to be part of the developing story. 
We must try our best to be co-scripters of it! 

We must embrace competition, evoke innovation, enshrine capacity building, and also, engender the rapid return of our brothers and sisters who migrated, schooled and acquired diversified skills abroad (i.e. the brain drain). 

Barack Obama & The US-Africa Business Forum

But the WEF on Africa is not the only big conference that I would need you to pay attention to. About three months after it, Barack Obama hosted 45 leaders from Africa (Presidents and leading business men) in the US-Africa Business Forum, moderated by former US President, Bill Clinton. 

Referencing the story of Indian born African billionaire, Ashish Thakkar  as a glowing example, Mr Clinton spoke of the US mission as being driven to help develop the African home as a place of opportunity for Africans and for those who want to work with us.

So right now, I need you to NOT be pessimistic, but really pay attention: 

Most of the panelists agreed that they are committing to green field investments in Africa. This means that they intend to build or construct facilities from the ground up, as opposed to merely purchasing already existing operations in Africa.
President Obama feels that this is the right way to go to ensure that both the US and Africa gets the best out of this tightening relationship. Green field investing inclines towards hiring and developing a younger local workforce, and this means a great deal to me and to Digital Africa. And it should mean a lot to you as well.


So why does President Obama care so much about Africa and our dreams to arise? 

Well, it is easy to assume that because his father was an African, it boils down to him trying to give back to his roots. I know that is the story many Africans would want to tell.

Errrr.........Not so fast!!!

I am a digital marketing consultant, therefore I tend to look at things algorithmically and strategically. I have no sentimental bone in my body. Hahaa!

So let me briefly recap some things that preceded the US-Business Forum. Hopefully that would give us a hint about what is really happening here....

First of all, Obama was absent at the WEF on Africa held in Nigeria; that we all know.....And it did not surprize me, by the way.

But then, the whole world was shocked to see the Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, stop by to show China's support for the event. (This definitely sends a clear message to the West, as China already has huge investments in Africa, and plans to increase it's stakes in our continent)

Meanwhile, President Obama tells African rulers that he believes (in terms of foreign direct investment in Africa) "the more the merrier". 
However, he was also quoted as telling them to ensure that the roads don't "just lead from the mine, to the port, to Shanghai."

Note that US trade with Africa is $85 billion, while China does a staggering $200 Billion. So you can guess what is really going on here!

My thinking here is that neither of these countries is short on selfish interests. But please try remember not to take that as a negative thing because it is really not. We can gain from "their competition". In case you haven't been paying attention, the US is endowed with really "developed" businesses that will (apart from the obvious - create jobs and invest cash) bring lots of innovation, and impart diversified skills into our young people. I really cannot emphasize this point enough.

To illustrate, I will use the growing solar industry.
Africa can gain a lot by making itself very attractive to US and European solar energy companies that would find it much easier to sell solar energy to a continent that has very poor electricity distributing infrastructure.
We would give them a very lucrative market, while we get from them the training and skillsets that our people would need to develop our own solar systems in the future.
It is win-win, because the maturity of energy distribution in these countries (especially the US) makes solar relatively difficult to sell over there. 

In Conlusion

Bill Clinton says, "Intelligence, dreams, and the will to work are evenly distributed throughout the world! 

Investments, opportunities, and systems that reward smart behavior are not"


The writing is on the wall. The data speaks for itself:

Most African countries are enjoying their longest spells of democratic civilian rule in our history. 

Africa has 50% of it's population aged under 20. Which means that Africa will have 25% of the global workforce by 2050 and the lowest pensions burdens.

It has 60% of the world's agricultural land.
With less than 20% power supply (electricity) Africa still manages to grow it's economy at 5.5% annually.
What will happen when we have steady electricity? And when other basic infrastructure become things we can take for granted?

I would love to discuss much more. And about the NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa's Development) driven Grand Inga Dam project in The DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) just to show you examples of what is possible and what we can do now to take our future firmly into our own hands. 
But that would come in another article, soon. 

For now, let me leave you by insisting again, that you pay close attention to the things that are gradually unfolding.
This is to empower yourself and your future generations in this new spirit of "Inclusive Growth". 
You and I must forge ahead through our personal "selfish interests", through informing ourselves properly in these matters, through the acquisition of skills that we clearly do not have an abundance of, in Africa, and through greater participation in intra-Africa trade partnerships.

It is time to Arise Africa!

So if you have anything to add to this discussion, or if you have anything you disagree with, or if you have a question about anything,

Please feel free to do so here, otherwise you can ask your question on the Digital Africa Community On Google+.

Thanks.

So I leave you with this very interesting and even slightly entertaining discussion panel hosted by CNBC-Africa editor in chief, Bronwyn Nielsen.