When it comes to vying for consumers’ attention and share of wallet, brands face an increasingly varied mix of competitors. Take Netflix, for example: Its investor FAQ page explains that its competition is not merely other streaming services but also other leisure activities such as reading a book. Similarly, in a shareholder letter last year, Netflix declared Fortnite to be one of its biggest competitors in the race to capture consumers’ time.

As historically distinct categories collapse into a battle royal for consumer attention and dollars, two truths become very clear. First, building a great product or service alone isn’t enough to succeed. The true winners are creating compelling experiences over the course of the customer journey that build on the foundation of a base offering. Second, effective customer engagement is more personalized, faster, and more granular. Firms distinguish themselves by engaging in consumers’ moments.

The good news is brands have multiple facets through which to win, serve, and retain customers. Brand experiences and engagement can become key competitive differentiators if marketers and customer experience pros can meet customers’ expectations in their moments of need.

What does this mean for marketers? Last year, we made the call that martech must evolve to deliver moments-based engagement. Campaigns will continue as the traditional — and effective — backbone of marketing, but moments are critical for delivering a helpful, relevant, and positive customer experience.

To bring moments-based engagement to life, marketers will need a new approach to recognize and act on moments and new planning techniques to establish balance between moments and campaigns. To pull it off, they’ll need the data and technologies that can turn signals into insights and to identify the moments that matter and deliver interactions precisely at the right time.

To learn more about how your brand can master marketing in customers’ moments, join us at Forrester’s upcoming CX North America event on June 16–18 for “Moments Based Engagement: Optimizing the Moments that Matter” during the Day 1 breakout sessions. Register today!