Posts Tagged "B2C"

We recently blogged about challenges facing organizations as they begin considering mobile within their marketing and customer relationship development mixes.  From mobile getting confused with email as a tactic, to convincing top marketers that mobile is a key interaction channel, mobile faces barriers to adoption.  Add in potential confusion over the need to first obtain permission to contact your customers via mobile and the consequences of not doing so, and the discussion often comes to an impasse.

It need not though, and today I came across a good article on DMNews.com with some sage advice for marketers sitting on the fence with mobile.

Titled “Why SMS messaging is more than a teen tool for marketers,” the author makes some good, common sense recommendations about how to obtain opt in permission and thus begin marketing to customers through the mobile channel:

“…when a customer visits your Website and signs up to receive updates on sales, new products or services, offer the customer the option to receive updates via SMS in addition to, or instead of, email alerts.”

“For those businesses or product lines with standard customer agreements in place, the consent to receive important updates and offers via SMS and other communication channels can be added directly to the customer agreement, securing an opt-in immediately upon the origination of the business relationship.”

I thought the latter point was notable, as I have not seen such a recommendation before yet it makes complete sense, for both B2B and B2C customer relationships where some agreement accompanies the transaction.

The takeaway here is that opt in doesn’t need to be the centerpiece of a complex or costly marketing program with various calls to action.  In fact, gaining permission using existing forms of customer communication means the opt in step may be right under your nose.

Today I saw this catchy headline on desintationCRM: “The Strategic Mobilization Of the Enterprise.”  As I have observed before here, B2B mobile applications are becoming as prevalent as those in more consumer focused businesses.  What is interesting about this article is that it describes B2B trends also prevailing in the B2C world.  This suggests best practices are emerging for mobile technologies that apply to any business.

Included among these is the trade-off between a tactical and strategic focus on mobile:

“…if mobility is viewed as a key part of the company’s long-term vision, then it would make sense to consider a platform approach that aligns with the technology mission.  However, a short-term project for a demanding business unit might require a targeted mobile solution to deliver fast results.”

Of course whichever path a company pursues may be appropriate at the given time, but just like B2C mobile marketers, taking a strategic view and building mobile into forward looking plans not only offers the best payback, it avoids potential problems down the road:

“Companies traveling along a tactical road will soon find themselves at a roadblock unless their mobile strategy is supported by a platform mindset and a view into the future.”

The article also highlights a specific customer example to illustrate these points, one often cited around B2C mobile marketing as well – Coca Cola:

“Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) recently found itself at a crossroads: One path involved a large reengineering project, the other leveraged new technologies to enhance existing business processes and systems. Choosing the latter, CCE gained a strategic mobility platform that modernized its legacy systems for a new age. To help achieve its goals of higher productivity, greater supply chain efficiencies, improved resource management, and better operational insight, CCE developed and deployed merchandising and timekeeping applications on employees’ BlackBerry devices. In addition to realizing tangible benefits — such as saving more than $1 million in toll-number charges — CCE laid the groundwork for the future. By fully implementing mobility into its technology strategy, the company can continue to deploy mobility applications without reinventing the wheel every time.”

This all points to a promising future.  When a channel like mobile becomes technology enabled and used across different types of businesses, the entire ecosystem elevates.  This should yield even better return on investment over the near and long terms as mobile weaves its way into all business’ IT, operational and marketing infrastructures.

One of the challenges facing brand marketers is the distance between themselves and their customers, which is a function of the brand or consumer packaged goods (CPG) business model. A distribution or value chain exists to bring branded products to consumers and includes many entities, with the last mile typically owned by either retailers or wholesalers.

Brand marketing has thus focused on panel or other research and development of product attributes to be communicated en masse to an audience as targeted as media allows. What’s fascinating about the mobile channel, among many things, is how it can help brand marketers move closer to their customers than ever before, develop relationships with them, learn about their behavior and use this insight to drive increased consumption of the brand’s product.

This Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capability enjoyed by B2B marketers almost exclusively to date can now be extended to Business to Consumer (B2C) marketers. Unlike media that relies on consumers to observe advertisements on billboards or flyers, or even digital media like email and web which requires access to a computer, mobile media allows brand marketers to initiate contact with and develop an ongoing dialog with their customers directly.

The “on the go” consumer, with their mobile device or phone turned on and ready to submit and receive messages or other content, has been shown responsive to incentives and messages designed to drive interaction with brands. The first step, ironically, is for the marketer to utilize traditional media to communicate a short code and keyword that enables consumers to opt into receiving communications from the brand. Thus begins a relationship which creates a data asset that builds over time, providing previously impossible actionable insight into a brand’s customers.