Posts Tagged "Mobile Applications"

With mobile application investments set to escalate this year, along with an already huge diversity of apps available for the iPhone, promotion and marketing will take center stage in ensuring these investments pay off.  That’s the implication of this article today on eMarketer.com, titled “Mobile to fare better than social.”

“According to DM2PRO and Quattro, 15% of advertisers and agencies spent more than 60% of their app budgets on promotion in 2009, but more than one-third spent less than 5%.  Promotional budgets will need to increase along with overall investment for apps to find their way to users.”

Marketers would be wise to consider the immediacy of text messaging to communicate mobile application availability and directly link consumers to download and install it.  Consider the ease by which signage in store can point customers to a text interaction that includes a direct link to download the application.  Convenience is key to entice consumers to take action and matching their behavior (out and about) with a device in hand is a recipe for success.

At the same time, marketers have the chance to create or build upon their opt in database of mobile subscribers, and learn more about them using engagement techniques like surveys and others that collect information about mobile consumers (like their zip codes or product preferences).  This data can in turn be used to segment the mobile audience in ways aligned with unique offers and calls to action.

Standing out from the crowd is already key to app success, so hoping your effort is discovered in the App Store can no longer be considered an effective strategy to ensuring ROI.  I say “App Store,” because the article points to the iPhone as the platform of choice for the time being, well ahead of Android and others.  Remember, when it comes to budgeting for the promotion of your application, among the most effective means to do so is to connect consumers with your app via creative use of text messaging programs.

This post today on MobileMarketingWatch.com cites a Business Week article in which the Apple honcho bluntly describes his view of the utility offered by current mobile advertising formats.  He also apparently sees this as an opportunity for Apple to innovate and ultimately dominate the mobile ad medium, even in the face of online ad champ Google and its mobile focus.  We have speculated as much here.

Just the other day we blogged about the hype around mobile advertising created by recent acquisitions.  We’ve also covered issues surrounding mobile ad metrics.

We’re keeping close tabs on developments in this area for our customers so they understand where to prioritize mobile advertising alongside their broader customer engagement charters inclusive of SMS text messaging, mobile optimized websites, smartphone applications and social media.

An integrated approach to mobile channel marketing – akin to creating more effective mobile ads – is an innovation which greatly increases the likelihood your mobile marketing efforts won’t suck.

That’s the phrase which popped into my mind upon seeing this January 14, 2010 post on MobileMarketingWatch, titled “Tracking Mobile Ad Click Rates: Symbian Rules.”

Mobile advertising, just like traditional web ads, is an exciting area because of the reach and audience segmentation possibilities.  In parallel with significant investment moves by Google and Apple to get involved via acquisition, the hype around mobile ads is at a fever pitch right now.  I’m afraid customers and investors who fixate here are in for some disappointment down the line, however.

Click through rate, or CTR, is the measure by which mobile and traditional online ads alike are gauged, and the article highlights global research showing that the unlikely Symbian platform is the leader in offering high CTRs, even in the U.S. where it’s not as dominant in terms of market share.

Clearly, a lot of advertisers are thinking “I have to be on Symbian” yet the hype and press would never point an ad buyer at this platform as opposed to the iPhone or a Google Android device.

Advertisers need to remember as well, where are those who click through going to?  A mobile optimized landing page or website?  A smartphone application download?  A coupon or bar code for redemption at the point of sale?  If the answer to any of these is “none of the above” and instead “we’re just happy to have lots of eyeballs seeing our message,” a huge opportunity to drive sales, engender loyalty, or cultivate brand affinity is wasted.

Viewing mobile as an engagement channel that allows businesses to create highly personal interactions that induce action on the part of customers is the real opportunity represented by mobile advertising.  It needs to be viewed as just one part of the value equation, which is why marketers are increasingly coming to Interactive Mediums to leverage our mobile customer engagement platform and expertise around creating effective mobile dialogues with customers across SMS text messaging, mobile web, apps and social media.

Nowhere else was the popularity of the iPhone as a marketing platform on display than at the National Retail Federation’s 99th Annual Convention this week in New York.  So says this article posted today on RetailWire.com titled, “Apple Hits the NRF Show Floor, Sort of” (registration required).

Both attendees and exhibitors alike were apparently personally armed with the devices and reportedly had either iPhone apps already in the market or were preparing them.  Large technology vendors in attendance also had iPhone apps to talk about, from Oracle and Sterling Commerce to Intel.  Funny that Apple itself was absent.

The observations reported in the article highlight just how powerful a marketing platform the iPhone has become yet retailers should not forget about text messaging as an effective mobile marketing method that can reach almost any mobile phone user.  Although applications are popular, engagement via text messaging is being used by retailers to overcome challenges around loyalty and comparison shopping behavior.

The best strategy is a balanced one considering the impact but lower reach of a rich smartphone application as opposed to the almost universal reach offered by SMS text messaging, especially those facilitating promotions such as sweepstakes and contests.  Targeting the mobile customer experience first, then determining the blend of approaches to achieve your goals is becoming the standard of excellence for successful mobile marketers.

Today on MobileMarketer.com there appears an article sure to be read by many.  It’s about the potential threat to retailers represented by mobile-enabled consumers who may be redirected to other stores to find a better deal by performing price lookups on a particular item.  Considering the ease by which consumers are able to perform this comparison, it appears a scary scenario to already margin-strained retailers.

The article concludes with this statement, making it sound as if retailers attempting to create engaging shopping experiences raise their hands in surrender:

“Consumers will care less about where they shop and more about satisfying their purchase requirements.”

I bet you could find similar statements made about 10 years ago around how e-commerce websites would put brick and mortar stores out of business.  Yet that didn’t really happen, as brick and mortar stores such as BestBuy and others created complementary online stores.  Late to game retailers like Toys R Us paid a heavy price, however.  Why would it be any different if consumers can research and compare products while “on the go?”

One way the article suggests is that retailers will be forced to match lower prices if consumers can prove it by showing their mobile device to a cashier, or worse lose the sale as the customer leaves for another store.  Loyalty, already so hard to engender among customers, is literally out the door as a means of creating a steady flow of business.

In reality, I don’t think the situation will be this dire, but retail marketers have a new mandate to create engaging shopper environments to encourage customers to remain in store and make purchases.  Especially for considered purchases versus impulse buys, consumers will likely perform online research in advance of venturing out to stores.  Items such as plasma screen TVs or washing machines, for example.  In these instances it’s highly improbable a consumer will even perform a comparison price lookup in store because they did so already.

There will be exceptions, but I just don’t see retailers hurt too much by this trend, especially if they work hard toward creating highly engaging – and branded – mobile experiences for their customers.  Those who do will be more akin to the BestBuys of the mobile realm as opposed to the Toys R Us’.

Key to a successful mobile strategy is understanding how your customers can be best served in the mobile channel.  Yesterday we blogged about UPS and its research which showed that a native Blackberry application provided its targeted customers a better experience than prior efforts or those offered by competitors.

Homefinder.com drew a similar conclusion when analysis of mobile website traffic showed most browsers used iPhones (that’s a photo of Reuters’ ticker in Times Square displaying the news).  Leading with a focus on the mobile customer experience is no longer emerging as a best practice – it just is.

That’s what marketers should take away from this news today about Target, a retailer ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile channel marketing.  As we have discussed here before, mapping your strategy to the mobile channel identifies the most logical first steps into mobile marketing.  Target has done that across all elements of the mobile customer experience; SMS text messaging, mobile smartphone applications and the mobile web.

It is equally important to ensure ongoing analysis of these efforts.  This can take the form of metrics around specific programs, such as response rates and transactions, but forward thinking marketers like Target take it a step further.  Target integrates a feedback step into many elements of its mobile marketing programs to see what works, what doesn’t – and uses this qualitative and quantitative data to drive better mobile marketing decisions:

“ To overcome these challenges (of getting into the mobile space), we are focused on understanding our guests’ needs by creating mechanisms that allow them to provide us with feedback.

Then, we use this feedback to inform our decision-making and to optimize and improve our mobile tools.”

In practice, marketers need to consider partners that offer this capability in a manner that closely relates to the mobile interactions being evaluated, and offers the greatest reach possible.  Interactive Mediums’ Engagement Platform offers SMS text message based survey capabilities that allow multiple questions to be posed to consumers and answered in real time – using common feature phones carried by virtually every consumer.

Today I spoke with Donna Longino of UPS about her company’s recently announced Blackberry smartphone application.  A leading delivery service such as UPS is a logical fit for mobile technologies, especially for drivers needing to stay connected while “on the go.”

Yes, that’s a UPS truck snapped today outside the local Starbucks, in all the glory of Chicago winter weather on the company’s busiest day – some 20 million packages according to Donna.

Yet, the Blackberry application, like an iPhone version preceding it, is designed to enable business and consumer customers alike to find a drop off location, receive shipping quotes, order pickups and check on package delivery status.  Dig beneath the details, as we did with Donna, and you gain a greater appreciation for what was involved:

• UPS employs an Information Technology group 5,000 strong, who possess deep mobile application expertise and were responsible for creating applications which interact with UPS’ massive global network of package and delivery data.
• Considerable research went into creating the new mobile application, to understand how best to serve their customers and offer a differentiated user experience from competing delivery services.  To these ends, UPS discovered customers wanted a fully native application as opposed to be directed to a mobile website.  Why?  Because application code can be fully loaded on a handset.  From the user’s perspective, this offers a more natural responsiveness consumers associate with desktop computer applications, with time taken only to bring new data across the network.  Navigating a website, even one optimized for mobile, can often seem more cumbersome and of course in the event of a network lapse the session will end abruptly.  Moreover, the UPS app allows consumers to log into the application once, and automatically upon launch relate any packages to their account to view instant status – no keying in of lengthy tracking numbers are required.
• Some UPS business customers are beginning to request the ability to have text messages sent to recipients and/or senders, providing notification of package delivery.  Even greater reach could be possible were UPS to enable customers to text their tracking numbers to receive instant updates – all of which are capabilities available in Interactive Mediums’ Engagement Platform.

Few organizations have the staff, funding or internal systems to execute a mobile strategy to the extent UPS has; for those who lack any of these critical pieces firms like Interactive Mediums stand ready with a flexible Customer Engagement Platform optimized for mobile interactions as well as a wealth of experience developing mobile applications which map to the way consumers want to engage with a business.

As UPS says “What Can Brown Do For You?” we say “How can Interactive Mediums power more effective mobile interactions for your customers?”

Today on MobileMarketer.com Interactive Mediums client Budweiser was featured for their strategic and creative efforts to target customers in the mobile channel.  During the summer of 2009, the company targeted the mobile customer experience to great effect, blending a Smartphone application, mobile website and interactive SMS text message promotion.

In 2006, Budweiser partnered with Interactive Mediums to power a similar SMS text message sweepstakes at the point of sale.  As both established and smaller brands alike take their initial steps into mobile marketing, sweepstakes are a proven approach to engaging customers in the mobile channel to drive sales, improve loyalty or build a brand.  As 2010 is about to open, marketers and promotional services providers in any discipline – branding, demand creation, or loyalty – owe it to their companies and clients to investigate this powerful promotional tactic as part of their plans.

Budweiser’s news is especially timely given recent posts about why mobile sweepstakes and contests are an absolute necessity for brand engagement and best practices for executing winning promotions.

Developing a mobile marketing strategy almost always begins by asking some key questions about your business objectives and customers.  A recently released paper from a mobile app development firm titled, “Beyond the iPhone: Engaging Customers with Mobile Applications” is worth a look for anyone at the onset of considering mobile marketing investments.

Just keep in mind that fixating on apps as your entre into mobile marketing is not the right approach.  Instead, you need to consider your objectives and how they can be met by available mobile marketing approaches, including apps.

The paper cleverly outlines a hypothetical conversation between a marketer and his executive team.  The marketer mentions that mobile presents a unique opportunity for deeper engagement with their customers (true), but the conversation quickly identifies a mobile app as the means (and many questions emerge).

The paper mentions the following:

• What devices, operating systems and handsets allow us to reach the target audience?
• Where does the transaction with the audience occur?
• Why would our audience seek brand engagement though the mobile channel?
• How will success be measured from both internal metrics and external user perspectives?

These are absolutely the right questions as they don’t imply an application is the answer; instead, they speak to mapping your objectives to the mobile customer experience.  Unfortunately, the paper poses them in line with the assumption that an app is in fact the answer.

The paper includes the same diagram we highlighted in this recent blog post where we commented on research into the types of applications most often retained and used.  Applications can be the centerpiece of many mobile marketing strategies, but certainly not all as highlighted in the research. 

Text messaging and other mobile interactions, as well as the mobile web are equal partners in executing mobile customer relationship management strategies.  All or only some may form the basis of winning mobile marketing strategies.  Partners like Interactive Mediums stand ready to prescribe and deliver the right mix for your business.

Today I received an email press release from a Finnish mobile tech firm that’s in part behind National Public Radio’s (NPR) new mobile strategy.  Coincidentally, I came across this article today about the same, but from NPR’s perspective.

Both pieces of information contain useful insights for marketers, even those outside the realm of broadcast communications.

Like many companies, NPR jumped on the mobile apps bandwagon by first building an iPhone application that has thus far experienced a lot of success (millions of downloads and 15 minute average use times).

Although the iPhone made sense initially, NPR found limitations which has led to a revamped mobile strategy that greatly increases the population of listeners who can access NPR content on the go.  What’s interesting about their new strategy is that it is as much about reaching more listeners across a variety of mobile devices as getting its member stations to benefit from mobile.  To achieve this, Google’s Android platform was the ideal choice:

“With the Android app, we can let the stations incorporate their own apps into ours.  Some stations are more advanced digitally than others.  We’re working with them about becoming more robust providers of local news, which will keep them relevant. And we can share our programming and theirs on one app. That expands the opportunities for all of us.”

A much more robust mobile web presence is also part of the equation, and is apparently based on technology from that Finnish firm I mentioned.  Yet it’s the greater flexibility offered by Google Android, relative to the iPhone, that appears central to NPR’s mobile strategy.

This is the first example I’ve seen where the discussion is not about the reach (or lack thereof) offered by the iPhone.  Instead, NPR chose Android because it fit their business model better by offering its member stations a more relevant marketing platform.  That is the kind of logic and thoughtful approach which should help make 2010 the year of mobile.