It’s no secret people are interacting with their smartphones more and more every day. That’s great for advertisers, right? More phone time means more time to get impressions, doesn’t it? Not necessarily!

Sometimes, a user’s phone interactions are very personal, such as sending an email or checking social media. During these moments, people mostly don’t want to be seeing ads or interacting with brands.

So what does that mean for marketers? It means brands must take advantage of when mobile users actually want brand interaction, or when the consumer needs something from a brand. It’s when a consumer wants to know (they need information), go (they are looking for a business/product/service), do (they need a how-to) or buy (they need specific information before purchase).

These moments of need are what Google calls Micro-Moments: they are “critical touch points within today’s consumer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how that journey ends.”

Brands have to optimize and act fast to gain valuable impressions in these moments – hence, the term “micro.” There are three major things to consider when making the most of a Micro-Moment: be there (make sure the consumer can see you), be useful (stay relevant to the consumer’s needs) and be quick (keep your app or site running smoothly and quickly).

Red Roof Inn knows how to do Micro-Moments right. They mastered being there, being useful and being quick when they learned flight cancellations stranded tens of thousands of people every single day. Their in-the-moment ad for hotel rooms attracted weary travelers with cancelled flights, which resulted in a 60% increase in bookings.

Technology is key to being seen right at the time that the consumer needs you, or they won’t pay attention to what you’re saying. Beacons and geofencing can help with that: they use location technology to send a signal to a smart device when the consumer is in the targeted area. Want to drive hungry shoppers at a shopping center to your restaurant? Use beacons and geofencing to target the shopping center with an ad or notification and let those ravenous consumers know that you have what they need right at that moment – during peak dining hours!

Once you’ve got their attention, it helps to take the moment a step further into the physical world. Add an extra punch by having a mobile billboard or armored vehicle circle the area around the shopping center.

By catching consumers on their path to purchase and when they need you, AND by integrating a digital and physical interaction, you’ll certainly grab their attention. That’s definitely making the most of a Micro-Moment.

If you want to intercept shoppers in a Micro-Moment, we can drive your digital messaging in the physical world.