Mobile Marketing

Yesterday we posted again to Technorati, this time a two part article titled “Playing to Channel Strength Key to Successful Cross Channel Marketing,” in which we describe the importance of “channel strength” in determining a winning cross channel strategy.  By “strength” I am referring to the relative benefits of various digital channels such as mobile, email and social media.  Outlined are some of the high level distinctions to consider.  In Part 2, an example of cross channel marketing in action is provided that applies to any multi location business, such as a retailer or restaurant chain.

Location technology is the hottest thing going in mobile marketing these days, with new “check in” style apps emerging seemingly every day. News today of a rather unique location application today here and here at first glance sounds very exciting. I say “first glance” because despite the utility of recognizing a customer upon entering a store and getting them immediately engaged in a (potentially) relevant shopping experience, the fact only iPhone users can participate limits the potential reach of the program.

Not only does reach suffer, but participating retailers must have hardware installed in each location that triggers the “check in” process. Limited reach, combined with hardware requirements, makes app-based location programs such as this one far less desirable than they otherwise could be.

To that end, the better solution is one that all customers may participate in while preserving the ability to create the most relevant offers and communications. Especially if the goal is rewarding loyal customers, it’s a shame to exclude customers based on the device they happen to be carrying.

That’s what popped into my head upon reading an article on Brandweek.com today titled “Why Companies ‘Click’ on Twitter.”  The article title is misleading, because it’s about results of a survey conducted by email marketer ExactTarget into the reasons consumers follow brands on Twitter – not why companies host a presence on the social networking service.

Based on the research, it looks like a lot of consumers follow brands on Twitter to participate in a marketing relationship.  Consider this excerpt:

The opportunity to save some money was also prominent among followers’ motives for keeping up with a company via Twitter: 31 percent said they follow a company “to receive discounts and promotions,” 30 percent “to get updates on upcoming sales” and 28 percent “to get a ‘freebie’ (e.g., free samples, coupon).”

Like any channel, it’s not all about marketing, but the research suggests consumers view Twitter like they do any digital channel like email or mobile.

Brands fixated on Twitter as a listening platform to discern positive or negative attitudes among its followers should take advantage of the unique opportunity to develop their “socially loyal” customers – by attempting to understand their preferences and ultimately obtain permission to provide relevant and timely offers – not blanket, anonymous discounts or coupons.

The channels available to marketers to reach their customers are varied, but it appears all are converging on mobile devices.  Text messaging and Twitter are native to mobile, while email, mobile web browsing and social networking are increasingly seeing usage on handhelds.  As we’ve been recently reporting, the marketing battleground for consumer mindshare will be the small screen more so than any other.

Today on eMarketer, an article titled “Email Dominates Mobile Web Time” cites Nielsen research showing that email is among the most common activities of mobile internet users.  Social networking is not far behind:

“Social should continue to make gains in the mobile realm, however.  comScore reported it was the fastest-growing mobile internet activity between 2009 and 2010, rising 80% in usage, while email grew more slowly.  Bridge Ratings predicted in June that mobile social networking would grow twice as quickly as email during the next 12 months.”

It’s going to be ineffective for marketers to target consumers in isolated, stand alone channels like mobile messaging, email and social media with all these activities taking place on mobile devices, most of the time.  Orchestrating marketing efforts intelligently across channels, in consideration of consumer preferences and permissions, will be key to success.

We recently blogged about a customer of ours, alcohol brand VeeV, who utilized our Location Campaign to point consumers to the nearest store that carries its product.  Calls to action for mobile marketing programs vary widely, from a Facebook post (as in the case of VeeV) to more traditional media such as billboards, signage in and around commuter stations, television and radio.  As I’ve said before, mobile really is all about cross channel marketing.

My colleague Amanda Gilmore today came across a radio advertisement by DVD-rental kiosk giant Redbox, in which they similarly promote a text interaction to help consumers find the nearest Redbox.  Click here to listen to an audio clip of the ad, courtesy of Amanda.  Consumers simply text the word Redbox to 50101, after which they are instantly prompted for their zip code then presented with the closest Redbox kiosk address.

For the curious, this ad was featured on B96 in Chicago, one of the city’s most popular radio stations.  To learn more about connecting customers to your store locations using ubiquitous text messaging, contact Amanda.

OK, it’s not precisely an SAT question, but this August 7 article I came across on DestinationCRM pretty much claims the future of CRM will happen in the mobile channel by virtue of powerful location-sensing technologies.

Titled, “CRM Is Still All About Location,” the article describes a session at this week’s annual CRM Evolution Conference, put on by CRM magazine.  An analyst chaired a session track and began by saying:

“If you’re trying to make a lot of money off Foursquare and mobile marketing, you’re in the wrong place.”

He goes on to explain a really fine point lost on many in the mobile marketing industry; that the ability to trigger an offer based on location is not the end game where a lot of value is created.  Value will only happen by blending location with relevancy, which is a function of powering these interactions by analytics informed with customer data.

“…he envisions applications that are dependent on location information but not reliant on it. Instead, these location services will utilize historical customer data, customer provided data and personalized information to instruct businesses on how best to interact with their customers. Also, location-based interactions will be less focused on marketing/advertising and will become two-way dialogues between customers and brands.”

Reading between the lines here I think explains why few mobile messaging-only technology companies have been able to grow substantially over the past 10 years.  Focusing so much on the plumbing and delivery to the exclusion of the hard stuff (analytics and data integration) has probably done more to gate mobile technology companies from greater success than any other factor.

Fortunately, Interactive Mediums has long foreseen this trend and has worked diligently to build an open platform that can quickly incorporate customer data to inform more relevant promotions, offers and alerts.

In fact, our value proposition is heavily geared around CRM-enabled features that offer marketers capabilities more often associated with traditional enterprise campaign management and CRM software.  That value proposition is about to gain strength as Interactive Mediums moves swiftly to add Cross Channel Marketing capabilities.

A couple days ago I posted a reaction to an article a few months old that spoke to the challenges involved with cross channel marketing.  Notably absent in the article were concepts of time and location which are fundamental to mobile marketing – I’m speaking to the instantaneous/bi-directional nature of mobile messaging and the emergence of powerful Location Based Services.

My sense is that firms such as Interactive Mediums, which is coming at the cross channel opportunity from a position of strength in mobile, will be the only viable approach given the built-in mobility of consumers.  As I expand upon in this Technorati article, “the mobile channel is going to be the place where all the cross channel marketing action happens.”

That’s the thought that came to mind upon seeing an article today titled “Online Trends: Mobile E-Mail Replacing Desktop E-Mail.”  This excerpt sums it up:

“According to the Nielsen study measuring online activity of 200,000 users and comparing results from 2010 to the previous year, e-mail use on the desktop dropped from 12 percent to 8.3 percent, and fell into third place behind social gaming like Farmville. Meanwhile, time spent on e-mail on mobile devices went up from 37 percent to 42 percent–clearly dominating other mobile online activities.”

While the article focuses on the viability of desktop email clients such as Microsoft Outlook amid this changing user landscape, it also helps explain why established email marketing software providers such as ExactTarget, Responsys, Lyris and others are all bolting on mobile channel components to their offerings.  Even the marketing services firms that specialize in email are getting into the act, what with Epsilon’s news today on MobileMarketer.  As consumers move away from desktop to mobile email, competition for consumer eyeballs intensifies with all the options available on a mobile device – sms text messaging, mobile applications, the web, and email.  So it’s natural that email providers hedge their bets by tapping into the mobile trend to remain relevant to marketers.

For marketers though, the cross channel marketing challenge is not about accounting for different best of breed communication platforms, it’s about orchestrating marketing campaigns that consider available channels and consumer preferences.  An additional hurdle for marketers will be discerning between the hype generated by email providers and legitimate cross channel marketing solutions such as offered by Interactive Mediums.

The other day I came across an article a few months old that had a really interesting title, “The Coming Cross-Channel Confusion.”  Written by an executive from email provider Responsys, the article highlights the challenge and opportunity presented by marketing wisely to your customers across available channels such as email, mobile/sms, the web, and social media.  As he says, single channel marketing is easy, cross channel marketing, not so much – thus it can be confusing.

The example he highlights involves a Sears email promotion which also was pushed to the company’s pages on Facebook and Twitter.  The author raises the specter of coordination, which is really important with offers that at first target your email subscribers but then later become available in the social universe.  Staging this activity should be a key input into the promotional planning process.

Channel preference, message relevance and the sequencing of offer distribution/communication are all important elements marketers need to account for when considering cross channel marketing.  Notably absent in the article, however, are issues of timeliness and location.

The nature of today’s consumer – “on the go” and often armed with a really intelligent mobile device – I think places a premium on the time and location dimensions of a promotional offer.  Mobile-centric technology providers such as Interactive Mediums are well equipped to help marketers address these aspects of marketing effectively to today’s consumer.  The real-time, instant nature of messaging and emerging Location Based Services can be leaps and bounds more effective in driving response than an email centric approach.

That’s the implication of this eMarketer.com article.  Titled, “Marketers Slow to Integrate Mobile Tactics,” the article cites a study that found the majority of marketers on the fence with respect to mobile marketing, much more so than social media.  Think about what’s reported in the study and the distinction between mobile and social, and it’s easy to see why this is the case.

The study found few marketers understand their customers’ mobile behavior such that they could not confidently craft a strategy for targeting them.  That basic research is absolutely essential.  The resolution?  Study a representative sample of your customers, how they engage yours and other businesses while “on the go,” and how their experience might be better served.  That seems logical based on these stats:

“63% of marketers told eROI they were not measuring how many of their email subscribers were viewing messages on mobile devices.”

“…just 23% of marketers reported having a mobile-optimized website. The vast majority of those sites were limited versions of the full company website designed to include information relevant to mobile customers.”

The barrier for social media, I think, is much lower for marketers.  Social is about injecting your business into the social universe, an audience of “fans” and “followers” who you engage with within a system controlled by a third party (Twitter, Facebook).  The rules of participation are much clearer in social networks, which are driven much more by the audience than the business.

To market effectively to customers directly via mobile or other channels, the business must FIRST create a personal network of sorts with its customers tailored to their preferences.  That’s a wholly different challenge that I think explains why mobile trails social at this point.