“Forget SUCCESS, Remember DIGITISATION”: Four i’s To Ensure Mobile Marketing Glory

The word ‘success’ doesn’t have any I’s in it… But it should. In fact, it should have four of them! Because four I’s are what you should be addressing when attempting to achieve a successful mobile advertising strategy for your organisation. So, because our English language has failed to consider digital marketing strategies as the basis for the way they’re spelled, let’s take another word:

Digitisation.

Remember digitisation – remember four I’s – achieve total mobile dominance. Perfecto!

Individualise, Involve, Integrate, Initiate.

But first…

Why should organisations care so much about mobile advertising?

Mobile marketing is a crucial component of any successful marketing plan; we’re progressing into a reality where not having access to a mobile device or being reachable at all times is against the norm. Compare this to fifteen years ago, and the picture is quite different. “The world of social media is evolving at warp speed; what is considered science fiction today might be reality tomorrow.” (Kaplan, 2012, 136) If you want to be a real competitor, it’s imperative that you address this mobile trend and utilise it to its full capacity, otherwise you risk lagging behind more innovative and fierce firms.

According to smartinsight.com, mobile media usage has been greater than desktop and other media since July 2015, with US figures showing mobile digital media usage at 51% in comparison to 42% on desktops. Despite the use of successful mobile marketing being an obvious necessity for competitive firms, Bosomworth (2015) claims that advertisers are still missing out on huge opportunities regarding mobile advertising; from total internet advertisement expenditures of $50b, only $13b is being spent on mobile-specific advertising.

Come on, guys! There is literally billions of dollars’ worth of opportunity being foregone (even more disturbing is the total expenditure on print advertising in comparison to consumers’ consumption time spent on print advertising… some firms clearly haven’t gotten the consumer-movement memo…).

Source: smartinsights

The four I’s presented in this post are designed by Andreas M. Kaplan (2012), and can be examined in greater depth in his paper “If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing the mobile social media 4×4”. This is simply an outlining and attempted contextualisation of them, because they are so absolutely relevant and necessary for successful mobile marketing implementation (or digitisation, as I like to put it).

1. Integrate your activities into your users’ life to avoid being a nuisance

The use of a mobile device in contrast to a desktop varies when it comes to the level of intimacy involved in user interactions. No, I don’t mean like when Raj falls in love with Siri in Big Bang Theory, but there is an increased sense of trust initiated between a consumer and organisation when the consumer consents for that organisation to contact them on their personal mobile device. If firms are too intrusive and bombard mobile users with obnoxious advertising, pressure to complete surveys, unnecessary alerts at 2am in the morning (the absolute worst), then they run the risk of betraying a very precious consumer-organisation relationship before it even has the chance to come to fruition. Instead, try targeting mobile users when content is relevant – for example, send a little message when they’re in close proximity to a sale, or if they’ve shown interest in a particular trending subject that relates to your product/service. The trick is to be an enhancement in the consumers life, not an intruder.

2. Individualise your activities to take account of user preferences

This is a given; mobile devices typically only have one particular user, unlike traditional desktops which may belong a collective group such as a family. Marketers should capitalise on this. Accessing attitudinal preferences and enabling location tracking on devices allows customised content to be delivered to certain mobile users, hence creating a tailored experience that will reach the appropriate target market and achieve better results! Kaplan (2012) highlights that campaigns employing generic, instead of customised, content often perform less well. Undifferentiated advertising may more economically efficient than tailored approaches, but its effect on mobile marketing is quite unimpressive.

3. Involve the user through engaging conversations

Consumers are demanding, they want something and they want it now. What’s so great about mobile marketing in this regard? We have the ability to optimise on real-time response activities that create highly engaging conversations with both current and potential consumers. Utilise this capability by connecting with consumers on mobile devices through interactive schemes. You’ve probably encountered this before in marketing scenarios where you can ‘check in’ or ‘scan’ particular locations in exchange for some form of reward. By employing these mobile advertising efforts, you are enhancing the consumer-organisation relationship and encouraging participation with your brand.

4. Initiate the creation of user-generated content

This is what Kaplan & Haenlein (2012) refer to as the Holy Grail of mobile social media usage. At the end of the day, despite what an organisation says about itself, nothing is more credible than our best friend (or potentially worst enemy): Word of Mouth. Ensure your mobile marketing activities give consumers the opportunity to share positive thoughts and feedback with other users. Similarly, also ensure that negative comments are heavily monitored and addressed ASAP. If you’re unsure of how to turn negative feedback into a golden opportunity, here’s an interesting article on 7 ways to handle a negative comment by Linda Doell (2015) (). Otherwise, if you’re after a more cynical (but amusing) read, try 5 Ways Brands Respond to Negative Social Media Comments.

So there you have it, “four eyes see better than two” as Kaplan (2012) informs us! If you’re aiming to achieve a solid and effective mobile marketing strategy, then ensure that you consider these four points.

Forget ‘success’, remember ‘digitise’!   

Alright, so that doesn’t have the motivating undertone I was hoping for, but you get my point. Have you heard of any other mobile marketing tips and tricks? How do you feel organisations are making the most of their mobile efforts?

Sources:

Bosomworth, D. (2015, July 22). Mobile marketing statistics. Retrieved August 23, 2015, from http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/

Kaplan, A. (2012) If you love something, let it go mobile: Mobile marketing and mobile social media 4×4. Business Horizons, 55, 129-139.

Kaplan, A., & Haenlein, M. (2012). The Britney Spears universe: Social media and viral marketing at its best. Business Horizons, 54(2), 1.