The ZMOT Marketing Strategy |The Art of Authority Podcast Ep 2 Mike Saunders, MBA | The Authority Positioning Coach

Welcome to the Art of Authority podcast, bringing you interviews and episodes to help you radically optimize your authority and influence to become the go to expert in your field. Here's your host, authority positioning coach, Mike Saunders.

Hey, guys, Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach, bringing you another authority positioning asset. Now, today we're going to talk about something really important and it's almost invisible until you see it in action. And it's called Z mot Z M O T and it stands for the zero moment of truth. You know, back in the old days, people would interact with a brand or a business and that would be the moment of truth. You know, they had their experience with that brand or that company, and they would have to determine if that experience lived up to what they were expecting, because that was the moment of truth. Right? Here's my product or my service I just got from XYZ company. Did it live up to the moment of truth? To what the expectations were? Well, today, with technology being what it is, there's a zero moment of truth. And it happens before anyone even engages with your brand. Now, sorry to have to tell you this, and it might hurt a little, but people don't care about you. They just don't. Right? They want to fulfill their desires and their needs, and they want to fill in that gap and locate something to fill that in with the least amount of resistance as possible. And so they don't really care or know until they start going around and looking online or social media to find things that would meet that need. Right? And if you think about it, if the moment of truth is when they experience your brand or your service, the zero moment of truth is what they see before they reach out and interact. And you have to win at the zero moment of truth to even get up to bat, right? So I'm not really a baseball fan, but I do know that the more times up to bat you get, the more chance you have to make a hit. So here's something to, you know, do a little homework assignment or do this little exercise. It's. It's totally free. And you, you really will benefit a lot from this. Just go Google the phrase Zmont Zmot. Just Google Zmont and you'll see you get a free download of this book. It's a PDF download and it's written. It's either by a current or an ex Google employee, but it's really.

Really quick read as well. And it's something that I'm basing this episode on because it's something you need to put into Your business, in your authority positioning strategy, in your business development. And I pulled up a couple slides and I just love these slides where you can look at graphics and the slides are right in the PDF book where you can download. In fact, probably if you do the Google search and click on images, you'll probably see the slides that I'm talking about. So what you want to look at is a stimulus. So what a stimulus could be is maybe even something negative that's happening in your prospect's life or in their business. And they go, man, I gotta figure this out, right? So they go online and search it out. And so here's just an example. Let's say that you're a runner and you're coming back after doing your normal run, your normal length of time. Maybe it's five miles, two miles, whatever it is. And you know, your ankles hurt and maybe your shins hurt. So you go and Google, you know, why are my ankles hurting all of a sudden after running? Because it's something that you're experiencing that's new. And what you're going to find is this zmont, this zero moment of truth. So you might find an article where people are talking about the same thing. You might find a video. And then all of a sudden you start reading through this article or video or interview or a press release. Because the first moment of truth might be finding out what the product or service is that would solve the problem. Okay, that's the first moment of truth. Then of course, the second moment of truth is you buy it, experienced it, and did it fix that problem, you know, and you might even circle back around and put some forum post or Facebook post, you know, hey, this fixed it for me as well. And that's called social proof. But the zero moment of truth is what you're finding out there online before you even see what the problem is. So I think this is something to really keep in mind. So using this running example as this little case study example, I want you to think about this. If your customers were having this, you know, quote unquote problem, you know, or ankle or shin problem, and your business might be, you know, building websites, or your business might be coaching clients through leadership and executive.

Situations. So it doesn't have to be running, but your client, your target audience will be experiencing something. And maybe it's not even pushing them to find the best coach for this problem. They don't even know they need a coach at this point. They're just curious at why this thing is coming up. You know, why are my Employees always complaining about X, or in this example, why are my shins hurting? So now at the same time you're, you're, they're going out there and they're searching and what they're looking for is a quick solution to that initial problem. And it's like the tip of the iceberg. They don't even know what their true problem is, but they know that their shin hurt or their ankle hurt. And that's going to be what you need to focus on in your authority positioning. Because people are not ready to buy at that point, guess what? They're willing to do. Learn. So you need to be there to teach your target audience at these really, really preliminary levels of moments of truth, the zero moments of truth. They need to learn about that problem and that problem is going to lead to the next step in your solution. And finally, it might mean that they need to reach out to you and talk on the ph or download your report on whatever the case might be. But this is such a critical idea to keep in mind because the zero moment of truth is where they need to feel your authenticity, your transparency, your authority, your expertise. And it cannot be a Groupon, you know, and it cannot be a buy now or a deadline or here's the link to buy. They don't know what they need to buy even at this point. They're just trying to figure out this one little problem. And if you can figure out 3, 4, 5, 6 of these little trigger and flags in your customer's buy buying experience, your clients buying experience, now you can build around some educational teaching assets, authority positioning assets, as I call them, and have them out there online and on social media for your target audience to find. And let's, let's use that as an example. The asset could be an article you wrote, blog post, it could be a press release written, it could be being interviewed on a podcast, talking about this one problem, not the whole 30,000 foot view, but this one thing. Okay, so when people are out there searching and even some of your clients are talking positively about you, that's called social proof. And we'll talk about that in upcoming lessons real soon. But here's how you can position your brand as an authoritative voice in front of that first moment of truth. You know, right smack dab in the zero moment of truth. So as we talked about, it's a lot of things like search engines or website or educational content or you know, on your social media out there just having some good educational content. So here's something that's not on the list, but it's kind of like a little writer downer. It's called integrated marketing. So let's say you have a strategic alliance with a company that has the same target audience as you do and you can provide for them a content. Maybe it's an article or a video or, or some type of teaching. Maybe it's a, you know, a course book or a case study or a checklist, something small and quick that is about the specific problem, like what we just talked about. So the solution to their CL problems. And it's not a sales piece, but it's just a nice educational piece. Well, now those prospects might be searching out there online social media through this strategic alliance's content and they might find that out there because maybe they are better positioned than you are. And they find that article and they trust that other strategic alliance because they've been following their brand for so long. And you see where I'm going with this. This is something really spectacular where you're taking two concepts and t them in together. Number one is being that educator and advocate for your target audience in providing good content from an authoritative source point of view. Right? So you're not coming off salesy, you're coming off as a teacher. And, and it by default that they look at you and they feel that that piece of content is authoritative because they don't feel pushed, they don't feel really put down for not thinking one way or the other. They are understanding all of the options and the pros and some of their choices. So they love that teaching educational piece. But then the other aspect is you might not have the luxury of reaching out to that audience because they're your strategic alliance's audience. And so now that strategic alliance might put this piece of content on their website, social media, you know, membership site, email list, whatever the case might be. But they're gonna find that piece of content because of your strategic alliance that they already follow. So it's exposing your brand to them through a really powerful means. So I think that's something that you really need to wrap your head around. And here's something to think about as well. I put together this strategy called Catasa C A T A S A and it stands for competitive advantage, target audience and strategic alliances. And we'll go into deep on that on some upcoming teachings here in the podcast. But basically your competitive advantage is how you can articulate your message to market in one succinct, you know, message. What's your unique selling proposition? What's your, you know, elevator Pitch, if you want to think of it that way, then your target audience is obviously the people that you work with best to help solve their concerns and their problems. But then that essay, that strategic alliance, how can you communicate your competitive advantage to that target audience through your strategic alliance contact? So I think that that's a really, really big piece to keep in mind because many times we just say our solution is the most incredible, perfect solution for my target audience. They're getting wonderful results, but I got to get the word out there. And so that's one thing you have to totally keep in mind is tighten up your message and then find who already has an audience with your target audience and they're not a competitor. So you have to think about that. You know, think about a business owner and you want to speak to business owners and you know that your product is wonderful and you know you're not a cpa, but you have a CPA that has a lot of business owners and so you go and connect and develop a relationship with that CPA and show them some of the teaching content that you have and then that alliance can form. So that's a really, really big thing to keep in mind. Because when you can position your brand as an authoritative and credible source at that zero moment of truth. Because remember, building your authority is your number one priority. And that zero moment of truth is so critical they won't even reach out to pick up the phone and talk to you or send an email request to learn more about you. You've got to have that, that positioned in their mind first and foremost before you even get a chance to speak to them. So I think that's a big in mind. And what do you look like online? What do you look like on social media? Sometimes you just gotta get a little, get your finger on the pulse of how your brand is positioned out there. And I run an authority audit. I've got a product called the Authority Audit and it's a 30 minute phone consultation with myself. And, and you'll be able to take a look at your authority positioning online and social media. You get an authority scorecard and a plan of action. So if that's something that would help you out, that's one thing that I'd be happy to work on with you. So you can look at more details on@undermission positioningcoach.com but this is the lesson that I want you to take away and I want you to use this as a actionable item, an implementable item in your business this week. Think of one problem that you solve for your target audience. A small, even a small problem doesn't have to be a major problem, but a thing that you do, a feature and a benefit of one of your products or services. And when you can go out there and you can talk about that in a, let's just call it a one page article or think about a small short blog post if you can articulate that as a easy solution to that problem and talk about the pros and cons and talk about the options that someone would have when choosing this solution that you provide. And it doesn't have to be a buy now and a call me right this second. It needs to be a solution. It needs to be an educational piece, maybe with some links over to some research that you have found online about this problem. So I'm being very vague because I want you to realize that this is not for a specific industry or type of business. This is something that you solve a problem for your target audience. Think about your best client, your best customer, someone that you just did business with that just raved about your product or service. What was it about that that really stood out to them? And talk about this in this first educational piece and then put that out there. Maybe you're going to put it into a two page PDF, get started with that as the first step. Put it out on your social media, your blog post, your email list, and then look for a strategic alliance that you could connect with and maybe you already know. So let's start with the easy low hanging fruit. What is a strategic alliance that already has your target audience you would love to connect with? And you get this one little piece, this one little checklist that you have put together and you email it over to them and say, hey, let's jump on the phone and talk through this because this is a really helpful piece of content that I think your clients may get some benefit from. And as, as long as that content is not a big sales pitch, then they are much more willing to say, yeah, that'd be awesome. I'll send that out to my clients. It'll make me look good for coming up with some good information for them and gives me an excuse to talk to them by email again. Yeah, I'll post that on my social media as well. So that is an actionable item that you can do this week. It is so simple, so easy and it helps you to establish your authority positioning. Because remember, remember, building your authority is your number one priority. And until next time, make it a great day.

You've been listening to the Art of Authority Podcast. Are you interested in building your authority positioning as the number one strategy to grow your business, brand and influence? Book your authority audit today. This seven point audit of your current authority position will uncover opportunities and show you how to be seen as a leading expert and authority your industry looks to. For advice, visit www.awarenesspositioningcoach.com.