Four ways to take a bite out of mobile marketing
Just as more and more businesses understand how to harness the tools of conventional social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, new forms of marketing are making their way onto the scene.
Enter Jeff Hasen, author of a new book titled, “Mobilized Marketing.” The book, which recently caught the attention of the editors at Entrepreneur, includes insight from some of marketing’s utmost gurus, which Hasen was fortunate to have access to.
According to Entrepreneur, “Hasen details the strategies and tactics that move products and build loyalty through mobile devices, arguably your most personal means of communicating directly with customers.”
Here are four notable quotes from the book that can offer a glimpse into today’s successful mobile marketing methods:
1. Do some people watching. -- Barbara Williams, a senior-level marketer at Microsoft.
"This is something really simple. . . . If you're not sure if you should be doing mobile, take a page out of classic consumer research mode. . . . Go to the store, go to the mall, go out to dinner, and sit back and watch people. Just watch. Old school. And you see everyone is on their devices and they are spending quite a bit of time on their devices and they're not making phone calls necessarily and they are not just doing SMS [short message service] -- they are doing a lot of things.
"When you see that happening around you everywhere you go, think about how can I insert my product or my brand or my message into these experiences.”
2. Keep an eye on what "the little guy" is doing, as well as the titans. -- Mario Schulzke, founder of IdeaMensch and director of digital strategy at marketing firm WDCW.
"Do what makes sense to you, and always think about the value you provide to your audience. Focus on the fundamentals. Respectfully communicate with your customers via all channels. Don't pretend to be something you're not, and do the right thing."
3. Create interactive "rich media" designed specifically for your mobile site. -- Microsoft's Williams.
"When you think rich media and digital, you tend to think of the standbys like a whole-page takeover or part of an ad will be in the leaderboard at the top of the page and move into one of the units on the side. . . . On mobile, it's a completely different type of experience. You don't have the flexibility but you have the entire device. You can incorporate rich functionality where you can shake the device or where it is actually using the camera function in augmented reality or the location function. There are so many other vectors or parameters that are unique to mobile that I think make rich even richer on mobile. But you have to think about it in a different way on mobile.
4. Find out how your customers want to communicate with you. -- Eileen Woodbury, director of marketing at Clear Channel Los Angeles.
"People will communicate with you the way they want to communicate. . . . So texting isn't replacing the Web. The Web didn't replace the phone call. People who want to call will want to call. People who never called us before hopefully will engage with us through text. Some people prefer Twitter or are on Facebook all day.
"This is the age of choice. People communicate the way they want to. With every new thing that comes along, we're adding to our arsenal."