I am pleased to join Interactive Mediums as Director of Marketing, and look forward to contributing to the company’s blogging efforts. For my first post, I wanted to relay some insight from the non-mobile world that I think could help marketers unfamiliar with the medium quickly grasp how best to leverage it in their own plans.
As I begin thinking about the application of mobile marketing techniques to foundational marketing processes such as customer acquisition and retention, it makes me wonder how mobile is different than other approaches such as direct email/snail mail or multi media advertising.
Within a competitive context, I see mobile as highly unique in that it provides an avenue to customers in near real-time, wherever they may be. For example, a new brand entering the market could utilize a mobile marketing campaign to more quickly gain marketshare in a space usually coveted by a few gorilla brands. Advertising a short code on billboards or during sporting events to register for coupons or product samples, for example.
Not to be outdone by more nimble new entrants, established brands may also use mobile to nurture relationships with existing customers, preventing newcomers from gaining ground. This might take the form of a loyalty program geared around driving consumption of the brand’s product via a points rewards system. Like the new brand, traditional media might be used to encourage registration via mobile means.
What’s interesting is when both happen simultaneously and there is competition for the customer’s mindshare. In this case, the medium truly becomes the message.
The way a customer perceives the delivery of a message via mobile medium, as well as the contents of the message itself, work in concert to achieve a desired outcome. For this reason, I think it’s key for marketers to remember that when considering mobile as a marketing channel they also plan the message accordingly, for both its content and form.
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