Time to Mobilize

A couple of months ago, a self-proclaimed mobile marketing expert sent out a news release announcing a new website dedicated to mobile marketing best practices and thought leadership. Sadly, the site was not optimized for mobile viewing.

Everyone wants to be a mobile marketing leader. But gaffes like this demonstrate that the path is full of pitfalls.

Mobile marketing is so appealing because it promises to find consumers wherever they areand to be available wherever consumers look.

Mobile is not its own medium so much as its an adjunct to almost every other marketing channel. A mobile device is another computer for consumersonly better, because its always with them and always on. Its a terrific way for marketers to communicate and its an easy way for consumers to respond to direct marketers. They use their phones to search for your brand, to call you in response to your marketing, even to purchase your product at retail with a mobile coupon.

But all of this means you have to get up to speed fast. The key is to develop a strategy that considers every touch point. Here are a few strategies, if youre going to be mobile ready for your target audience.

Use the mobile channel as a hard-working response vehicle. If you ask for a responseand I hope you dobe sure it makes sense for your mobile target. When sending messages that will be received on a mobile phone, a click-to-call button is an obvious choice. But, more than that, make sure your click-through landing page is optimized for the device. And if your target wants to shop at retail, rather than respond directly, be sure to offer a mobile coupon for them to use.

Because we love making responding easy, were very enthusiastic about the QR (quick response) codes. These funky looking bar codes allow people instant access to a mobile site, even when they may already be at a retail location. A QR code on a hangtag, poster or storefront allows customers to seamlessly transition from the physical world to the digital. By simply snapping a picture, consumers can get authoritative information without having to ask store clerks.

Just because targets find you on their mobile phone doesnt mean they necessarily want to continue the conversation on that device. Its all about seamless toggling between online and offlineand even between mobile devices and the desktop or laptop computer.

Use the mobile channel as an advertising platform. You may be considering a full-fledged mobile advertising campaign to drive traffic to your site or to your retail stores. A recent article in Advertising Age pointed out that online display advertising is never going to be good at branding, because those ads are too easy to ignore. Mobile display advertising would, presumably, be even worse.

However, mobile display ads can be more effective in generating sales leads than in branding. Internet marketing is very targetable and measurable. As a direct marketer, Im biased. Thats why I see mobile display as a smart medium for getting consumers to raise their hands to say they might be interested in your product.

Its possible for a mobile display ad to elicit a quick response, but its the rich content after they connect that will eventually get the sale.

Everything you communicate must be mobile ready. People are already viewing your marketing e-mails (and more) on their phones. If your marketing team sends e-mails to your customers, they probably test-send in multiple e-mail clients. Make sure theyre optimized for specific mobile devicesand not only iPhones. Think about your target market. Plenty of people are still on feature phones. If youre a business-to-business marketer, you have to consider the experience of an audience that reads e-mail on the BlackBerry.

Surprisingly few marketers recognize the impact of mobile. Only about a third of e-commerce sites, for example, are optimized for mobile. Thats a huge issue. People expect to be able to shop on their phones. The mobile commerce market is already worth $2.5 billion. Thats a lot of money changing hands. Pizza Hut expects that soon up to half of all its orders will come from mobile sources.

This shift means your market is already being trainedby fast-food companies!to be comfortable on the mobile web.

Remember that mobile is not a single medium or solely a response channelits how many of us engage with brands. Consumers judge your brand based on their experience with it on their mobile devices.

Be entrepreneurial and start small. Dont spend a dollar until you map out a full mobile strategy. Then youll know youre starting in the right place.

Spyro Kourtis is president and CEO of Hacker Group, a marketing communications firm headquartered in Seattle. Contact: 206.805.1500; [email protected] or follow him on the Hacker Group blog.