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My friend Larry Bruce posted “Why ZMOT is BS”  onto a number of sites. Of course this immediately drew the ire of the  ZMOT advocates. I contend both sides are right, and also wrong.



 What is ZMOT?


 ZMOT is a concept that Google came up with a few years ago. Their VP  of US Sales, Jim Lecinski, recently wrote an eBook titled “Winning the  Zero Moment of Truth” describing the concept. It appears as though the  aim of ZMOT was to convince marketers of what used to be thought of as  impulse items, that their buyers were doing research before the purchase  in a way they had never seen before. Here is what the Consumer Behavior  models look like:


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 Why ZMOT is stupid – for automotive marketers


 ZMOT starts, using as a foundation, the 3 step behavior model in  place for decades when folks bought cheap impulse items… and then adds a  fourth step. The problem is that the process for high-involvement items  (like cars) was documented by folks who dedicated their lives to the  study of consumer behavior decades ago as well. Hundred of textbooks,  thousands of pages have been dedicated to this study. It is already well  defined and was NEVER the 3-step model; it’s always been the 5-stage  model. ZMOT takes it a giant step backwards from the Five Stages of  Consumer Buying Behavior for a number of reasons.



 Here’s an example of where ZMOT can lead us astray; ZMOT advocates  view much (all?) traditional advertising as “Stimulus”. But very little  automotive advertising is actually “Stimulus”. Stimulus is the billboard  you drive by on the highway that makes you think “Yeah, pizza does  sound good tonight”. Most automotive billboards, on the other hand are  designed with a strong branding component rather than stimulus. They are  also in place to raise awareness of the dealership after a need has  been recognized – to add the dealership to the customer’s consideration  set. Branding can be a big factor in the high-involvement Purchase  Decision stage. Having a strong brand can tip the scales in your favor  at ‘ZMOT’.



 With high-involvement products it’s almost impossible to spark the  need, but advertising can be very influential in the Information Search  and Alternative Evaluation stages. The ZMOT folks see traditional  advertising as Stimulus because the ZMOT model starts with Stimulus  (many times external) – the automotive buying model doesn’t. It starts  with recognition of a need (almost always internal). While much of the  automotive buyer’s research is done online, the factors that contribute  to the Purchase Decision aren’t limited to the Internet. The strong  brand a dealer has created offline will come into play at the online  ZMOT.

 So here’s the problem, ZMOT’s foundation is the wrong buying process –  the buying process for chewing gum, pizza and pantyhose, one that goes  from Stimulus to Purchase Decision. It’s added a step for sure, but when  you’re marketing a car dealership at a high level, your foundation  needs to be more advanced.



 If you look to the 5-stage model, you’ll see that traditional  advertising isn’t inherently a bad thing, but you’ll understand exactly  how it influences consumers. That said you’ll also recognize the vital  importance to a consistent branding and cohesive messaging.



 Here’s Jim Lecinski, when asked if he thought ZMOT changes the buying decision:

“No, ZMOT was an attempt to catalogue, characterize and give a sticky name to the behaviors that we are seeing from consumers. What  is new on a consumer-behavior front is that consumers who used to use  this Zero Moment research model to inform their buying decisions only  around high-ticket or so-called high-involvement products -- white  goods, cars or travel -- are now so comfortable with and  reliant on that behavior that they are now applying it to what you would  call everyday items.”




Consumers have always followed a much more advanced model with auto purchases.

 


 Why ZMOT is Brilliant


 Way too few folks in the dealership world have a strong foundation in  marketing. The birth of the Internet hasn’t helped. It’s focused  dealers on the First Moment of Truth, the Purchase Decision. Whether we  call it conversion, a lead or an “up”, we put all our focus on one  stage. ZMOT delves into how we should be looking at all 5 Stages (or 4  if you wish to use the ZMOT model). If you do focus on the entire  process, you WILL sell more cars. I’ll still contend that the Zero  Moment of Truth is nothing new, but I fully agree that the more  attention paid by dealers to the traditional 2rd and 3rd stages (ZMOT),  the better off they will be.



 And ZMOT is brilliant because it does just that. If a catchy little  acronym is what it takes to get dealers to pay attention to the entire  process – the entire cycle – then the dealers will be the winners.



 This little eBook from Google and its advocates have sparked dealers’  interest in Consumer Behavior. Marketing, at its core, is about so much  more than where you spend your money – it’s about having a better  understanding of your consumer. ZMOT may well be the most important  thing to happen to automotive marketing in a long while.


 

 The Solution 


 Use the ZMOT concept to wake your dealership up but don’t base your  entire marketing plan on an eBook written by the guy Google has in  charge of selling you AdWords. Dust off your old marketing textbooks and  dive into them. If you’ve never actually studied marketing, take a  class or two. Do some reading. Study concepts like Purchase Intent,  Awareness, Branding, Consideration Set and the like. They will serve you  well in your quest to win the ZMOT.



 The core foundation of your ZMOT efforts should be the proven Five  Stages of Consumer Buying Behavior and not the behavior of folks buying  bubble gum. From what Jim Lecinski says, he based ZMOT on the consumer  behaviors that have always been at play with auto sales, he just dumbed  it down a little for folks selling gum. Go back to the original material  on which he based ZMOT. (he does have a Masters Degree in marketing, he  knows what he’s talking about)



 And one last bit of advice: Don’t just optimize for the sale, optimize for the research.