Tag Archives: mobile marketing

Let’s Get Personal (But Not Too Personal): A Relationship-First Approach to Mobile Marketing

Posted on February 13, 2013 by | 1 Comment

This year nearly 10 trillion SMS messages will be sent. 90% of those will be read within three minutes. The opportunity for marketers is huge, but sending generic, blast messages is a recipe for failure. Success requires delivering individualized messages that align with each and every consumer’s journey.

I attended a session on Mobile Marketing during OMS 2013 today and got just a peek at the nuances of mobile marketing strategy. Wacarra Yeomans  from Responsys led an informative session with great takeaways.

Amazingly, we are all intense multi-taskers.  86% of people admit to checking their phone while doing other things- at a meal with someone else, while driving, at a religious service, and even on the toilet.  Even with all this segmentation and lack of attention spans, the customer is demanding a different type of relationship, one where they are in the driver’s seat and determine the level of access and type of interactions.  Savvy customers in 2013 expect more from marketers.  Interactions need to move from campaign based to customer focused.  They expect you to “know me”, “engage me” and “lead me”.

According to a study by mobile technology consultant Tomi Ahonen and commissioned by Nokia, we are so dependent on our mobile phones that on average, we check them every six-and-a-half minutes, or about 150 times per day.   A statistic like this makes it sound like it should be easy to reach customers on the mobile devices, but it’s much more complicated than that.  Courting mobile customers and having them build a real relationship with your brand is a bit like trying to court the most fickle girl at the dance, the one who might dance with you, but is always looking around the room for the bigger, better deal, and who also might walk away and not dance with anyone if she doesn’t like the song.

44 % of opt- in email subscribers also welcome SMS marketing messages, but almost all users find text spam much more offensive and invasive than email spam.   Half of all users have actually ditched a brand entirely because of a poor mobile experience.

In order to avoid a poor mobile experience, it’s important to have a very clear intent to engage your target audience.  You must be relevant, but there are so many more personalized factors that you need to consider.  Some of the main categories of engagement are:

  • Interest- product availability and discounts or coupons
  • Desire- like texting your zip code to find a store near you
  • Action- notifications to keep you informed, like “your shoes have shipped”
  • Experience- allowing users to interact with customer service
  • Loyalty- polling and voting

It’s clear that a billboard by the side of the road or a spot on local radio is no longer the only way to reach your target audience, and that the personalization of the message is the key, especially when the  message is being delivered to a device in their pocket.  Mobile marketing is here to stay and will likely evolve to include video and other multimedia content in the very near future.  As long as brands are willing to pay attention to the voice of the consumer, we will have many messages to keep us checking our phones at inappropriate times for many years to come.

Author Heather Williams is a national account manager for MultiVu, PR Newswire’s multimedia division.

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Mobile Marketing – Size Matters!

Posted on January 16, 2013 by | 2 Comments

In the last 12-months, there has been a 179% growth in video consumption on mobile devices.

1/3 of time on the Web in the United States is spent on mobile devices.

Nearly $1 out of every $10 discretionary dollars are being spent online via mobile devices, according to Comscore & The US Department of Commerce, which equates to a 4x increase in the last 2-years (coincides with a spike of tablet ownership).

The secret is out, marketing communications folks… people love their mobile devices and they’ll use them to watch stuff, spend time online, and buy things. But how they use their different types of mobile devices is set to play havoc with mobile marketing campaigns.

According to a very insightful discussion that I attended by Comscore’s Mark Donovan (@joygantic) at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it is not enough for marketing communications pros to merely know that B2C/B consumers are tethered to their mobile devices and that a huge engagement opportunity exists.  Marketing communications pros must also understand the type of mobile device their consumers are using to devour information.

With today’s evolving consumption habits, marketing communications pros cannot just think “mobile”. They must understand the differences in how their targeted audience(s) use tablets (and even different sizes of tablet) vs. smart phones and adjust their campaigns appropriately.

Consider the following…

  • According to Flurry Analytics, smartphone users use more apps each week than tablet users but tablet users spend more time per app engagement.
  • Search is the top category for tablet usage. The bigger screen is the big difference here.
  • Smartphone usage is evenly distributed throughout the day. Table usage spikes during key “down time hours” in the evening when consumers are home and are likely using their tablet as a diversion during commercial breaks, according to beta data from Comscore multi-platform metrics and information from Flurry Analytics.

A comprehensive mobile campaign must take search, apps, and device category usage into consideration.

Companies like Google are now selling marketers and advertisers ads that will be displayed on smartphones during some points of the days and on tablets during other times. Content and site optimization remains very important due to 33% of time spent on the Web occurring via mobile devices. And a mix of apps and mobile-optimized Web content is key, thanks to differing smartphone and tablet usage habits.

With more and more metrics available about tablet (and soon, 7″ vs. 10″ tablets) vs. smartphone usage, there cannot be a one-size–fits all approach to mobile marketing.

4″, 7″, 10″ screens…. size matters when it comes to mobile marketing campaigns!

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Call Me Maybe | Mobile-to-Mobile (M2M) Means More for Marketers

Posted on January 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment
Via NMSUA.edu

Via NMSUA.edu

Jim Kohlenberger, President of JK Strategies, and most recently served as Chief of Staff for the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), was my favorite panelist during an International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) session on The Future of Mobile-to-Mobile (M2M).

During the course of the discussion, Jim and the panel discussed how M2M can easily be defined as “connecting or communicating with anything that is wirelessly enabled in a variety of ways ” – in other words, we aren’t just talking phone calls – or even phones – here. Wireless traffic lights, proximity sensors, vehicle tracking services, infotainment systems, thermostats, in-store payment systems, etc. qualify in the M2M world. Mobile devices connected to mobile devices.

To help illustrate this, and to help show how marketers and communicators I turn to Carly Rae Jepsen for an assist.

I threw a wish in the well. Don’t ask me, I’ll never tell. I looked to you as it fell. And now you’re in my way.

One of Jim’s projects for the White House OSTP was working on advanced policies to spur a broadband revolution through spectrum reform. The biggest obstacle in path of continued advancement of M2M communications, benefits, marketing, and advertising is spectrum bandwidth.

According to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, “Moving forward, we won’t just be talking into our devices, they will increasingly be talking to each other. This isn’t science fiction. This is here and now.”

A lack of bandwidth could be in the way of appropriate application of M2M. This is being addressed.

Your stare was holdin’. Ripped jeans, skin was showin’. Hot night, wind was blowin’. Where you think you’re going, baby?

Two applications of M2M technology that were most interesting to me were in the retail and transportation sectors.

Imagine walking into a mall. A savvy marketing department for Jeans-R-Us (2nd Floor near the food court…) knows that you complained on Facebook about a hole in your jeans and you’re in the market for a new pair.Because of your location near Jeans-R-Us, an email, an ad on your Facebook page, a FourSquare alert, a text message, an ad played via your in-car entertainment system, and/or a Tweet can be crafted which promotes 25% off of a new pair of jeans. Right when you approach or enter the mall.

I’m glorifying this a bit of course but based on proximity sensors, social networks, always-on Smart Devices, and sophisticated options for markcomm and advertising professionals this could very well be one application of M2M.

Also, consider today’s roadways, particularly with rapidly growing urban environments. Intersection sensors, scattered wireless sensors & transmitters, and cameras can be used to communicate alternate routes to driver infotainment systems or mobile devices or emergency response professionals in case of congestion, accidents, or events. Such systems may decrease transportation times (saving companies time and money), improve emergency response, provide advertisers and marketers target people based on where they are and what their myriad of social networks say they like, and help our example from before sort out how to find that Jeans-R-Us.

Before you came into my life I missed you so bad. I missed you so bad. I missed you so, so bad.

Marcomm and advertising has never been a pinpoint practice. Sure, media can be bought around potential audiences, online consumers can be retargeted, e-mails can be sent, and so forth but all of these things are peanuts compared to the ability to engage with targeted audiences based on where they are, their current activities, intent based on online discussions and statements, and other creepy 1/2 stalking|1/2 targeting opportunities that haven’t been dreamed up yet.

5, 10, 15 years down the road marcomm/advertising pros will wonder how they managed to deliver their respective results before M2M technologies came into their lives and unlocked the mysteries of customer behavior and intent and location.

M2M technologies will be a constant for the rest of our lives. How we manage the technology, support it through bandwidth availability and investment, and understand how to apply it towards all facets of life is yet to be seen. I am excited to see what’s next.

Want to provide your input? Call me.

Maybe.

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Your Smart Phone Can’t Taste*

Posted on January 8, 2013 by | 1 Comment

*…but it can see, hear, and touch.

When Steve Jobs and Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007 it was not a phone. It was a collection of sensors with potential.

It could see through a camera. It could hear. And it responded to touch.

Check out this statement introduced during a session at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show:

“When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole.  We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance.  Not only this, but through telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone.  A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”

Who is the soothsayer behind these wise words? Nikola Tesla, an engineer, inventor, and philosopher, made this statement. In 1926!!!!!

Yes. That 1926. The one from 87 years ago even though this statement could have been made in the early 2000′s.

A prevailing theme at CES this year is mobile-to-mobile connectivity. Cars, headphones, televisions, computers, tablets, phones, gaming systems, peripheral devices, apps, and more are on display. And most of them support direct connections to each other, the Web, or both.

From a marketing, advertising, and communications perspective mobile has enabled new ways for consumers to be targeted, engaged with, researched, monitored, and sold to.

Sadly, this piles on to all of the traditional and still applicable modalities for communications and marketing and advertising. Conversations that I will share over the next few days will highlight what companies at CES think about incorporating mobile into their advertising and marketing plans.  I anticipate that a majority will be trying to figure it out. And that’s ok.

Even though we were all given a clue that this was coming in 1926.

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The Cross-Platform Consumer: New Communication Imperatives

Posted on September 3, 2012 by | 6 Comments

A new study titled “The New Multi-Screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior” from Google suggests that reaching your audience on one device isn’t enough.  The research reveals that 90% of people use multiple devices – mobiles, PCs, tablets, smart phones, TVs – to accomplish a goal.

The study concluded there are two modes of multi-screen media consumption:

  • Sequential – where we move from one device to another to accomplish a goal.  An example of this would be researching a destination for a day trip at your PC, and then using your smart phone once you got there to make decisions about which restaurant to visit. According to the study, 9 out of 10 people use devices sequentially.
  • Simultaneous – when we use two or more devices at the same time.  The simplest example of this is watching TV, and tweeting about what you’re watching on your tablet. 77% of people watch TV with another device in hand.

 So what does this mean to marketers?  If anything this underscores the necessity of increasing our clock speeds and adopting an agile approach to engaging our audiences.  This reality is central to why PR Newswire has long advocated a multi-channel approach to distributing press releases and multimedia content.  It’s simply not enough to rely upon a web site or two any longer.

Additionally, Google makes several important conclusions about how consumers interact with information across devices:

  • Search is the connector between devices.  People use search engines to “pick up where they left off,” according to Google.
  • Turn “spur of the moment” activity into valuable opportunity.  The study suggests that 80% of searches from smart phones are done at the spur of the moment.  A great mobile presence can be instrumental in converting that opportunity into a sale.

Imperatives for communicators:

  • Ensure that your web site is not only search friendly, but formatted for mobile devices too.  Be sure your phone number, location and other information people access most frequently on your web site (business hours, menus, products, special offers, etc.) render quickly and prominently for mobile users.
  • Coordinate online and off-line campaigns.   One famous example of a brand failing to do this is the Snickers campaign that featured made up words such as “hungerectomy” printed on a Snickers wrapper.  This campaign was purely analog, appearing on billboards, the sides of busses and in print.  However, the ad’s creators overlooked the fact that offline messaging drives online behavior.  They have any digital presences designed to capture online interest in the campaign, and they didn’t buy search engine ads against the very words upon which the ad campaign centered.  Understand that offline messaging will trigger online activity, and plan accordingly.

The Google study is interesting reading and underscores the connectedness of our audiences and how the advent of mobile devices has significantly changed the decision making process.  It’s critical for brands to develop intelligent presences everywhere their audience is going to look – from search engines to social networks and from print to mobile.

Author  Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media, and is the author of the free ebook Unlocking Social Media for PR.

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Mobile Marketing – It works and the time is now

Posted on September 15, 2011 by | 3 Comments

Mobile marketing powerhouses just took the state at IMS11.  And they’ve frankly changed my mind about mobile marketing.  Now, in all honesty, I’m a bit of a crank when it comes to marketing messages and my cell phone.  I appreciate a well designed mobile site and have made plenty of buying decisions from my phone.   But I really don’t have the vocabulary to adequately express my hatred of promotional text messages.

 

The panelists included:

  •  Rich Miner (@richminer) Partner, Google Ventures (he founded Android)
  • Tim Hayden, (@TheTimHayden) CMO 44Doors
  • John Puterbaugh, (@JDPuterbaugh) Founder & CEO of Nellymoser Inc.
  • Matt Cutler, (@MCutler)CEO Kibits Labs

 

My personal feelings aside, the stats are dang compelling. Here are a few gleaned from the discussion:

 

  • 70% of mobile searches result in action within an hour.
  • 39% of restaurant searches are done via mobile phones.
  • Embedding short codes, QR codes or other types of “action codes” within print advertising can generate significant lift in campaign results – a 15% to 20% lift, in fact.
  • Mobile specific ad campaigns – 10% higher response rates.

 

Some things to keep in mind:

Mobile users respond to and use content differently.  You need to have click-to-call numbers, content that renders on the 4” screen, use action codes in prints, signs, etc. People will readily use the codes to enter contests, get samples, etc.

 

The opportunity to convert on mobile devices is fleeting.  You need more than a “like.”  Users need directional data – a map, a coupon.  Example:  Kendall Jackson wine.  Necktags have QR codes, SMS and a URL.  If someone inBostonscans the code, they get a regionally appropriate pairing & recipe (chowder & chardonnay) vs what someone inHoustonwould see (bbq).

 

Some other good advice from the panel:

  • Don’t do mobile, QR codes haphazardly – putting QR codes on billboards next to a highway, for example, is a terrible idea.  The codes don’t scan well from a fast moving car.  And, of course, in many states, drivers are legally prohibited from scanning those codes.
  • The panel encouraged us to experiment with free services – such as appending free QR codes to online content – and tracking the results.
  • SMS works best within 2 or 3 exchanges max.  People are going places, they have better things to do than trade text with your brand.

If information is relevant, mobile users will act on it.

Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.

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