Top 10 Learnings on Mobile Marketing from DMA Conference

Here are ten takeaways from Bill Baird from the Mobile Marketing DMA that you can use as a springboard as you plan and implement

I recently took a fascinating two-day course on Mobile Marketing from the Direct Marketing Association recently, with a plethora of smartphone-related content. Here are ten takeaways that you can use as a springboard as you plan and implement your mobile marketing and content strategies.

(As with any new media workshop, there were some ambitious predictions for the future as well — by 2016 we’ll all live in glass houses in the sky and our cars will have wings, etc. — but I’ve skipped them and stuck to what’s practical for here-and-now subscription-based websites.)

1. OFT-REPEATED QUOTE: “It’s not the strongest that survive, it’s those who can adapt to change.” – Charles Darwin

2. REVENUE STATISTICS. While not formally tracked, one can assume that mobile marketing is currently an advertising play, followed by retail, then followed by eCommerce. The latter is limited by consumers’ reluctance to type lots of order information into a wee small screen (which is side-stepped by the Apple store.)

For eCommerce and subscription websites the options are not optimal. Once a universal payment device emerges (Apple Pay?), eCommerce and subscriptions will grow significantly, but until then sales will be a challenge.

3. AD STATISTICS. Mobile ad spending worldwide will increase 84.7% in 2014 to reach $32.71 billion this year, eMarketer estimates, totaling nearly one-quarter of all digital advertising spending (which includes paid media spending on ads of any format delivered to any internet-connected device).

4. APP STATISTICS. Typically 7-10% of a brand’s audience installs its app, dominated by its most loyal customers and fans. While the average smartphone has 41 apps, 73% of users only use 1-10 apps; almost 50% use only 1-5 apps.

5. SMART MARKETERS TO WATCH. Walgreen’s, Target, Lowe’s and Best Buy. For more, go to the PC Magazine “Best Apps” library (click here http://www.pcmag.com/reviews/mobile-apps.

6. SMS (TEXT) MESSAGING. 46% of marketers who use SMS/MMS (text messaging ads) rate them as extremely or highly effective. Worth a look.

7. CASE STUDIES/MORE INFO. Check out the Mobile Marketing Assn, IAB and Mobile Marketer websites.

8. PLANNING. To develop your plan, think first about your objectives (see list below) and what devices your audience is using. Next think about what your consumer is doing and experiencing. Then think about how to use mobile as an adjunct to provide them with value or solutions in that experience (see “Features and Functions” below).

9. OBJECTIVES. These can include:

Awareness
Acquisition
Traffic
Transactions
Engagement
Loyalty
Retention & Win-back
Viral Activity

10. FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS (use this partial list for ideas:)

Provide reference content (articles, video, database, etc.)
Drive to store
Reward loyalty points (e.g. for strolling through store)
Viral send-to-friend forwarding
Directed shopping – guiding customer to path of purchase (beacons)
Payment device
Augmented Reality
Build list / CRM data capture
Surveys/customer feedback
Business operations – transactions, customer service, shipping/tracking
Assist with in-store navigation
See store or website inventory
Coupons to drive instore (or drive total spend)
Sweepstakes
Poll/vote/quiz/trivia
Games
Brand-related content (e.g. hiking maps for REI)
Location-driven messaging – macro (near a location) or micro (beacons in the location)
Crowd-sourced data
Things to do with photos