7 Reasons To “Mobilize” in '09
In my last post, I discussed several recent news items from the mobile sector that provided reasons for optimism about the continued growth of mobile in 2009. I also highlighted a couple of the benefits mobile can bring to marketers looking to deepen consumer engagement with their brand and deliver ROI while budgets are under increased scrutiny.
This post picks up on that theme and I’ve outlined 7 reasons why mobile should earn an increased share of budget even if other activities are being trimmed back.
1. Scope of Opportunities
Throughout this post I’ll highlight different types of mobile interactions and there are a couple that will keep coming up. The point I want to make is that there are dozens of ways marketers can mobilize their brand. The key, ultimately, is to find the right touch point for your target audience. Importantly, if I could crib a line from the CMA’s recently released mobile marketing white paper , “the opportunity is, quite literally, in hand” (Disclosure: A Vortex colleague & I contributed to the paper).
2. Make the Passive Active
One of the fundamental benefits of mobile is the ability to add interactivity to static media. You can add a SMS or mobile internet call to action and activation to your campaign for a fraction of the campaign’s budget. What you’ve accomplished is to turn an awareness building effort into an opportunity for consumer action. You can let consumers passively view your TV, radio, print or OOH media or you can give them an opportunity to respond and extend the brand interaction.
3. Always On, Always With
This is a common mantra of the mobile industry, but it’s only because it’s so true. Mobiles are such a highly personal device. They are, in many respects, an extension of a consumer’s person and personality. Wireless penetration is above 80% in most urban centres. SMS and mobile internet use are growing aggressively as is mobile use outside the traditional 18-25 demo. The modern consumer is known to be a media multi-tasker. You can be sure whatever they are doing; their mobile phone is not far away. How are you capitalizing on that?
4. The ‘self-selected’ consumer
I’ve previously talked about the ‘self-selected’ consumer, but it’s worth mentioning again. Mobile is 100% permission based marketing. There is no such thing as mobile marketing spam. When consumers engage your brand via the mobile channel they are actively opting in. In one move, you’ve gone beyond awareness and acceptance and stimulated consumer action.
5. Relevance. Customization
Along with being permission based, another of mobile’s strengths is the ability to provided customized, relevant experiences. We’ve found that assigning unique keywords to different media can provide an experience that is relevant to when, where or how a consumer interacts with your media. Downloadable applications or contextually relevant mobile internet sites can help you push content based on consumer preferences or respond to consumer needs ‘on the go’. Interactive voice calls can create personalized peer to peer interactions or act as platform for extending celebrity endorsements.
6. Consumer Conversion
When a consumer engages your brand via the mobile channel, you have a tremendous opportunity to convert that action towards other brand objectives. Each mobile channel has different conversion opportunities and to review them all requires more space then a blog post allows.
The bottom line is, given its highly personal nature, the mobile channel is an immensely powerful tool for creating or leveraging loyalty. Deliver a coupon and drive consumers to retail or online e-commerce. Help consumers discover the latest deals or comparison shop. Provide sign up tools for events or product demos. Take the interest a consumer has shown in your brand and build a bridge to your ultimate objective – more sales.
7. CRM Potential
Along with the prospect of immediate conversion, mobile offers marketers a new channel for CRM opportunities. It amazes me how few companies have a mobile field when asking consumers for information. This is a ridiculously easy way to build a database of mobile numbers which can be integrated into your CRM activities. Sending information or service alerts, mobilizing ‘flash mobs’, distributing coupons to ‘VIP’ customers are just some examples of how you can leverage the mobile channel to build deeper customer relationships.
So will your New Year’s resolutions include more mobile?
