If, as we posit elsewhere, marketers haven’t gotten a good grasp on mobile marketing, it leads us to ask “Why?” After all, we marketers aren’t dummies. Perhaps like many, we’re just slow to adopt or fearful of overstepping our bounds. As a colleague said to me recently, “SMS texts are so annoying – I wouldn’t buy anything if I got a text from a brand.” It is that type of attitude that makes marketers leery of SMS texting and mobile marketing.
 
That opinion misses the mark – in order to meet their target audience where they spend a preponderance of their time, marketers need to develop mobile strategies that go beyond just SMS texting. At the dawn of mobile marketing, texts were the only real way to reach someone via their mobile device. Anthony Volpe, a marketing executive who has implemented mobile strategies, explains it this way. “For many years, most marketers were, like the rest of corporate America, in love with their BlackBerry device, on which advanced mobile marketing opportunities was hard to view and access. I believe this gave mobile marketing the stigma that ‘Mobile Marketing = SMS Texts.’” Though voice and text are just the tip of what we currently do on our smart phones,
“…stigmas die hard and lag reality — even as many people (including marketers) have shifted to iPhones and other advanced smartphones as of late.”
 
An effective mobile marketing strategy taps into existing digital, is optimized for the mobile handset and takes advantage of features unique to it. Igor Nesmyanovich, Principal of Technoscience, Inc. an agency that integrates digital, mobile and social technologies into key business operations, put it this way: “I believe that every business needs mobile presences and likely multiple mobile applications, both customer facing and internal business applications. Practically every industry is affected by the mobile revolution.”
 
Here are a few suggestions that tap into the full promise of the mobile device:
 
Mobile Sites – As more and more consumers switch to smart phones, we see the rise of the mobile internet. Consumers come to expect a different internet experience on their mobile device, and if you haven’t optimized your website for mobile devices or created a mobile site, you are likely to miss a key opportunity to engage your audience. Develop a site that is simple, easy to navigate, loads quickly and has a call to action that is optimized for mobile.
 
E-mail – As we wrote in previous article, mobile devices will breathe new life into e-mail marketing. In order to increase the percentage of e-mails that are opened and read, make sure that your campaign is optimized for mobile devices and takes advantage of video.
 
Social Media integration – Social media has shifted from the PC to the mobile device. As you create marketing campaigns that leverage social media channels, make sure to consider how your campaign will work in the mobile environment and take advantages of technologies native to mobile.
 
Contextual Messaging – As Nesmyanovich states, “Unlike traditional web experience that is not contextual and disconnected from users location and physical environment mobile users experience is very contextual by location and surrounding.” With geo-loco capabilities, mobile marketing allows for contextual messaging. “For instance – (a) retail store customer searches online for more information about a specific product; (a customer) in (a) restaurant uses passbook app with loyalty card; or a customer in a vehicle searches for a dining location with the best Zagat rating within 5 miles. Users are trying to complete a task as simply as possible. Users also may use multiple interfaces: touch screen, camera, voice to interact with their mobile devices.” Nesmyanovich added.
 
These suggestions lay the groundwork for what mobile marketing promises for the future, just as mobile marketing pioneers laid the groundwork for what we’re doing today. The future is bright. By developing sound strategies and pushing the creative and technological boundaries of mobile, it’s clear that mobile marketing is more than just an SMS text blast, it’s a key way that we will reach and engage our customers.
 
 

As we kick off our Mobile Marketing edition of the Static Newsletter, it would be good to establish two key thoughts:
 
1. Mobile marketing is crucial to reaching your target audience, where they are, utilizing a device through which they will engage with you.
2. Most marketers still don’t have a handle on how to effectively utilize mobile marketing.
 
The following statistics are astounding and back up claim number 1. According to Smart Media Tips:
 
• The average response time to an email is 90 minutes. The average response time to a text message is 90 seconds.
• By 2015, more people will access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet than a PC.
• 79% of people use their phone to make or influence a purchasing decision.
• 91% of smartphone owners have their phone within 3 feet at all times.
 
In other words, they are literally hooked to their mobile device, are reacting to messages faster than via PC and are influenced to purchase based upon these messages. If you’re not interacting with them via the mobile device then you are missing a massive opportunity to reach and engage that client.
 
That leads us to point number 2. According to an e-Marketer report, despite the promise of mobile marketing, it still represents just over 1% of the global advertising spend worldwide. But that number only accounts for mobile ad spend. According to a StrongMail survey of business leaders and marketers conducted in conjunction with Zoomerang:
 
• Just 45% have adopted mobile marketing; while 57% have been doing it for 12 months or less
• 37% cite lack of strategy as top reason for lack of adoption, followed by lack of resources (22%)
 
In other words, not only is the ad spend just 1% of budget, but business leaders are acknowledging the fact that they have been slow to adopt a sound mobile strategy. When we consider the promise of mobile marketing, these conclusions are unfortunate, but represent a great opportunity for marketers and digital agencies.
 
While mobile marketing isn’t exactly new, marketers and agencies need to find a way to leverage the promise of mobile. I discussed this with Anthony Volpe, a marketing executive who implemented mobile and social marketing tactics for Travelocity. “We found out at Travelocity years ago that displaying advertising to consumers on their mobile devices was definitely a winning proposition. As the number of smartphones proliferated and consumers began using them to book online travel of all sorts (flights, hotels, etc.), it was helpful to be right there at their fingertips with relevant ads and retail offers.” For marketers, it means learning a slightly new language, developing new strategies and implementing new tactics. It means taking some risk in order to finally get a handle on mobile.
 
For Volpe, the results were conclusive. “Consumers were engaged with the ads and our CTR and engagement were significant and higher than we anticipated. As a result of our growing success, and in looking to optimize our cross-channel marketing spend, we looked to continually increase our mobile advertising budget to take advantage of the increasing revenue opportunities that mobile afforded us.”
 
As we explore mobile marketing, it is important to understand the power that the mobile device represents and the many ways we have of reaching our target audience via that device. From SMS texting to QR Codes and NFC; from mobile site development and mobile optimized e-mail marketing to social media engagement. As marketers integrate their mobile marketing initiatives into their online efforts, the options are limitless. However, it requires an understanding of the power of mobile marketing and a commitment to a strategy. Until a marketer understands the value of mobile and commits, it will be a golden opportunity lost. But there is hope yet. Keep reading as we explore the unfulfilled promise of mobile marketing.
 

Austin Allen, Marketing Associate

Austin@bars-tone.com

@austin_sf

NFC (Near Field Communication) is the next up and coming mobile technology that should change the game for mobile marketing, again.  You don’t have to have an App or try to fit that ugly little square into the capture area of your phone.  It takes away one step and requires less work than a QR Code.  In Tuesday’s blog I explained why I thought QR codes are dead as a marketing tactic, at least in the U.S.  NFC has a big potential in being more successful than QR Codes because it can transfer the same information without that extra step of having to load an app.  It’s easier to use too…

The future of mobile marketing will look like this.  A tag will be embedded in an ad, poster, and billboard (or on your dog’s collar if you feel the need).  Tap your NFC capable phone near the tag and information is sent directly to your phone.  You’re credit card might already have NFC in it, also called “Contact-less Payment”.  The excitement about NFC is currently building around payment, and receiving a receipt digitally as well, but it will have endless marketing uses as well.  The iPhone 5 is rumored to have this built-in technology as well as the Samsung/Google Nexus S which is already on sale.   When big name phones such as these implement the technology, there will be a new break-through in mobile marketing.  No more reaching over someone’s head on the BART trains to scan that tiny little square!  Bump and go.

Have you used NFC yet? Share your thoughts below!

Austin Allen, Marketing Associate

Austin@bars-tone.com

@austin_sf

If you still think QR Codes have a place in your marketing mix, you should reconsider.  A lot of us were really excited to see this mobile scanning technology take off, but it just isn’t.  We’ve written a few blogs about the subject, and filmed a man on the street short video as well.  Marketers have jumped on the QR Code bandwagon thinking they were becoming a part of a cutting edge marketing trend.  Yes, QR Codes can be found just about anywhere, and there might be more people who are scanning them.  But, it is still a relatively small portion of the people who actually see the add with the QR Code on it.  More non-marketing folk know how to use them and what they are, but it is just too inconvenient (if not socially awkward) to scan that QR Code conveniently located on the wall above someone’s head on that BART train.  There are a few big cities that might see a modest hit count on their ads but I would argue that for the most part, the buzz is waning.

I asked Craig Alexander, SVP of Client Services at Gumas what he thought about QR Codes.  Not surprisingly, he agreed with my position:  ”It’s hard to declare QR Codes dead because, frankly, they just never caught in with the American consumer like they did in Europe and Asia. Although marketers embraced the promise of QR Codes, I suspect that the extra step of having to scan a code to redeem a promotion or to learn more was a hindrance. By essentially eliminating that step, I believe that Near Field technology will allow mobile marketing to take hold in a way that QR Codes never achieved.”

In Bert Heymans’ presentation “QR Codes 2012 beyond the hype?” he touts the success of QR Codes as a marketing tactic because there has been a huge growth in use. For example, he sites a 1400% increase in scanning of codes from Q3 2010 to Q3 2011!  But if you look closely at the data, the “exponential growth” has stagnated toward the end of 2011.  It’s only a matter of time until that new car smell wears off.  It’s easy to achieve high growth numbers when you’re starting at a very small number.

In addition, while “Time on Page” metrics appear to be relatively high, keep in mind that mobile phones take a rather long to interact with on both 3G and Wifi networks. Time yourself the next time you try to fill out an information form on an iPhone.  ”Time on Page” isn’t a good measurement of success with QR Codes.  They aren’t interacting with your landing page for a longer period of time because of the QR Code.  Finally, the demographic most likely to be early adopters of a new technology (18- 22 yrs old), isn’t using them either.  I think that’s  a pretty good sign that they aren’t penetrating.  If the tech savvy demographic isn’t using them, the other demographics probably won’t ever use them.

I see two essential problems with QR Codes:

• QR Code Readers don’t come native on smart phones. It’s a lot of work for people to initially download the scanner apps and figure out how to use them.  The people that do use them know what they are about and how to do it.  Right there, a person must already be interested in using them.  Would you watch a TV ad if you had to go through a process to receive the information in the ad?

• Scanning QR Codes is a bit socially awkward. How cool is it to hold up your phone and try to scan the code?  Is this weirdo trying to film me? Take a picture? Oh, they are trying to scan that ugly bar code on that ad.

I have more faith in the up-and-coming, but not necessarily new, NFC (Near Field Communication) technology (which will be covered in a separate blog on Thursday).  The moral of the story is this: marketers are eager to tap into your handset and unlock mobile marketing, but QR Codes aren’t the solution, at least for the American consumer.  My view on this might be unpopular with marketers because the promise of mobile is so high. But take heart, the more exciting emerging marketing trend will be NFC, which I think has a more lasting place for mobile marketers. What do you think?

Slide 3 - Location based advertising isn’t something new to us. Think about things like billboards and bus stop advertisements – they’re there because marketers know that their intended audience will see them. Today, marketers are able to be even more targeted with their advertisements, and increase their reach ten-fold by using a consumer’s mobile device and combining this location-based data with social sharing incentives.

It used to be that you might see an advertisement, read it and continue on with your day. But now that a large amount of the US population carries a smartphone on them at all times, that interaction has evolved into a more meaningful experience. I might snap a picture and share it with friends via text or instagram, scan a QR code and be led to a behind-the-scenes video or game download. The point is, marketers have so many more tools up their sleeve to attract new customers and deliver interesting content at the most relevant times for them. In this regard it’s no longer about an advertiser having a one-way conversation with its consumers, we want them to interact with us in a more profound way.

Social-Loco itself refers to the consumer’s interaction with brands, products and advertisements through their social networks and applications while on-the-go. Think of things like Foursquare’s Radar feature. It uses your mobile device’s location to determine locations of interest to you based on your expressed interests, and the those of your friends. So, if you’re near my pizza joint, and several of your other friends have checked in here, the chances are that you’ll like what I have to offer to. Remember, birds of a feather flock together.

• The reason Social-Loco is so huge in the ad industry right now is that there are three key opportunities: Reach, Relevance and Results.  

Slide 4 – Think about the amount of personal data that is stored in a smartphone. If you’re shopping downtown, hell even if you’re working downtown, the moment you get on your device and open an app I can deliver a highly targeted ad to you in real-time. What do I mean by that? Well, if I own a restaurant downtown and I’ve done my research on eating trends and times of day to know that my peak hours are between 12 – 2PM, I can use an ad serving platform like Greystripe to deliver promotions to you in prime-time. In other words, I can hit anyone within a specific radius, on a specific app or website at the same time with the same message and then measure the success of that promotion.

Beyond that, and looking back to recommendation engines like Foursquare’s Radar, the more you share your check-ins and experiences with your friends, the more likely it is that said brand will reach them. If I incentivise your sharing a check-in with a special offer, not only do you win as the consumer, but I win as the brand because I’ve now gotten in front of your network of influence.

Slide 5 – Amazon has created a database that is so highly in-tune with what consumers are interested in that it crushed competitors like Barnes & Noble to the ground. Thinking back to Foursquare and their search results… When you run a search on Foursquare it returns results based on similar locations to your previous check-ins and those of your friends as well. What does that mean for me as a business owner? Well, the more I can encourage and incentivise the checking-in process for my customers, the more likely I am to draw in their friends too.

By giving consumers control of what messages they see, and then delivering highly targeted messages we as advertisers can increase the level of relevance for our ads. Thinking back to the lunchtime example, if I’m busy working in the Financial District and lunchtime hits, if you can serve me an ad relating to lunch, potentially with a special offer, why wouldn’t I be interested in stopping into your restaurant?

Slide 6 – Here is an opportunity many advertisers are missing out on. Actually analyzing the plethora of data that we can now receive in almost real-time. This includes things like social chatter, ad impressions and engagements, promotions processed and more. If we’re not constantly analyzing the performance of our promotions, we’re dead in the water. Maybe your initial hunch was to hit the lunchtime crowd with a special offer but it hasn’t been so successful. Does that mean your campaign is wasted? No, you just need to rethink your strategy.

Maybe lunchtime isn’t really your prime target, or perhaps the deal wasn’t good enough. Try getting them after work with a Happy Hour special. The important thing here is to constantly analyze and optimize your promotions using the data you receive from your promotions. It’s not good enough to just say, “we had a thousand check-ins during lunchtime.” Think about what it means for your business, and what tools you used to get there. Could you get more than a thousand check-ins next week? How? Continue to make small changes until you’ve completely optimized your campaign.

Slide 7 - Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging platforms until you find one you are confident will work for your business. Don’t just pick one because it has a fancy name or pretty interface… think about your bottom line and the goals you have for this campaign.

Are you using Social Loco Advertising? Share your thoughts below!