Putting Interactive Mobile Marketing in Context

Do you outsource your mobile marketing campaigns to an agency? Most have platforms (or use platforms) that can send broadcast emails or text messages (SMS) to your target list. Okay – so that’s just one side of the equation. Typically, there is some sort of call to action with a link back to your Website to do something. That something could be a coupon, free sample request, Webinar registration, playing a promotional game, or requesting a product brochure. If that something requires filling out a form or entering more than a 4-digit PIN, will a mobile user abandon the effort?

How a customer interacts with your website or “campaign site” is your responsibility - regardless of who writes the code or manages the distribution process. Make sure your agency understands mobile use behavior beyond text messaging or mini-site development. Mobile campaigns should be integrated into your sales and customer retention strategy. To do so requires you have some context about your customer, which makes the interaction personal, local and optimized for their mobile device. If your agency is not thinking about context, ask them to. If they don't respond, get a new agency.

Already building mobile apps? Instead of creating a one-time use promotional mobile app, consider building a re-usable context app and simply change your Web content to reflect your current goals – just as you do for customers arriving via a desktop computer. Think of your app as an interactive “loyalty” or “affinity” card that lives on the device and let’s the user update their “profile” or “preferences, even when they are disconnected from your website. With access to contextual data, you can quickly and easily customize and optimize your Web campaigns for mobile users.

Never built a mobile app? Worried about the download? Millions of mobile users download novelty apps every month. If you offer customers something of value, they’ll download a small app to access that recurring value. Your only barrier to success is determining how your customers define value. And since mobile is the most personal of all the interactive channels, use the flexibility of the Web and personalization to your advantage ...and always remember to respect customer choice about what data to share and when to share it. It's a great way to build trust.

A build once, use many times, contextual app approach can engage and entangle your mobile customers to a whole new level. It can be both effective and cost-effective. What you offer your customers each time they visit your site or respond to a mobile campaign, can be as personal or generic as best suits your needs and strategy. Budgets are tight. Mobile is hot. Make the most of it!

Marketers Take Charge of the Mobile Channel

Mobile can be a challenge. But it can also be an incredibly powerful interactive channel. That means real-time; give and take; a true conversation with your customers, employees or partners. It’s every marketer’s dream. So what’s the key to interactive mobile marketing?

DATA.

I know, you thought I was going to say something sexy or profound.

Okay, I’m not going all geeky on you, but today’s enterprise and consumer marketers know that data is the key to creating relevance, managing policies, and delivering an amazing user experience. It’s the key to knowing your audience and building trust and loyalty. It is the foundation of good marketing. You can’t create a compelling dialog, message, promotion or product if you don’t know your audience.

The Web is interactive. It can remember my name, the books I’ve purchased or the background picture I like best - but for the most part, it’s not personal. It doesn’t follow me everywhere I go. Now a smartphone – that’s personal AND it gives me the ability to marry content with contact. It’s a phone. It’s a Web browser. It’s two mints in one!

The point is, that it’s capable of combining both voice and data on the same device. They can interact with each other, so you can interact more personally with your customers.

A mobile app has it’s place, but you can’t customize it for each user. With a Web-based approach, you can. You can take charge of your mobile channel by sticking to the basics.

1. Know your customers. Ask them their preferences. Deliver relevant content.
2. Know what their device is capable of and deliver content that looks good on their device, not someone else’s.
3. If location matters to your service or campaign know their location. Deliver local results or content, without asking them to type in info every time they change location.
4. Always give your customers the opportunity to say, “NO” to sharing personal information. You’ll earn their trust by respecting their privacy.

Mobile doesn’t have to be some miniaturized or watered down version of your website. It can be more than a text campaign. Apps are cool, but they can’t drive the level of interaction and personalization that the Web can when you really know your customers. Talk to IT. Let them know what you need. Access to enabling technology is no longer the issue. The only thing keeping your mobile channel from being truly interactive is the absence of mobile user data and marketing making its voice heard.

It’s time for marketers to flex their creative muscles by using data, the Web and the smartphone explosion to marry content and contact. It’s time to make your mobile channel truly interactive.