Unlocking the Power of Mobile

Could a brand in the hand be worth two on a billboard? Rebecca Goozee investigates the impact that mobile marketing is having on a cash-strapped sector.

With over one billion mobile devices sold annually, mobile is on track to become one of the hottest media channels in the world. Always on and always close to hand, the mobile platform provides brands with the unique ability to connect with consumers like never before. And, over the last few years, the awareness of mobile marketing has grown enormously as companies have realized the significant benefits of using the channel to reach customers and get their message across, whether it is a marketing program or a specific advertisement.

To date the most high profile case for mobile marketing was the Obama for America campaign in 2008. The campaign ran the most technologically sophisticated promotion in history, with Nielsen Mobile reporting that Obama’s text message announcement of Joe Biden as his running mate, “The single largest mobile event in the US”.

The use of mobile marketing and advertising was a substantial component of how the campaign reached out to the constituency, particularly during the latter sections. All the technical support was provided through Distributive Networks, a mobile marketing platform that helped build up the opt-in list and, using previous expertise, engage voters, encourage volunteers and get out the news of the vote on Election Day. “We set up a short code for them, set up different keywords and encouraged people to text in their zip codes so we could make sure we were sending relevant actions to them,” explains Kevin Betram, CEO of Distributive Networks.

Although John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and the Republican National Committee all launched mobile marketing campaigns during the 2008 election, it was the Obama campaign that quickly grasped how to leverage the key characteristics of the mobile strategy into the primary and general election. “Obama for America was a dream client as far as willing to try new technologies and techniques,” explains Betram.

Reaching voters across demographics, interacting with them in a personal way and providing updated and real-time information that was tailored to individual users, spurred supporters to attend events, contribute funds and offer their services. The unique attributes of mobile marketing were leveraged to create a rewarding and engaging relationship between Obama for America and the voters.

“When people are passionate about a brand, which is fundamentally what a candidate is, they are willing to be ambassadors for that brand,” says Betram. “We were really impressed by the way that people reacted to the mobile marketing promotion, and impressed by how immediate the effects were – we would send a text message to a particular state about volunteers and suddenly 400 would show up. It was really exciting to see the immediacy of this communication tool.”

Growing fast
As mobile marketing continues to grow it becomes obvious that the platform is a key tool for the marketing sector moving forward. However, there are some challenges that need to be overcome before we see adoption across the board. “One of the disappointments is that handsets in the US aren’t as advanced as they are in other parts of the world,” says Betram with regard to the Obama campaign. “We had to avoid doing things like video and location-based services, audio was pretty limited and although the WAP site was useful, it was perhaps too plain and simple. So we had to work around the limitations of technology and focus primarily on text messaging.”

But, with handsets quickly evolving it is plain to see that the technology will not remain a barrier to uptake for long, indeed emerging technology will bring yet new ways to reach the consumer. The iPhone, for example, has opened up many new opportunities, along with the new Blackberry products and Google’s Android handset. “These phones are opening up and people are starting to realize the potential of this – they aren’t just phones any more, but a small handheld computer,” enthuses Betram.

Nevertheless while we see improvements to the technology there may be another challenge for the sector – the current global economic crisis. Betram believes that the current economic environment is likely to slow the adoption of mobile marketing, mainly due to shrinking marketing budgets. “It’s unfortunate because mobile marketing is probably the most effective way to drive traffic to a store or website, because it is a call to action that can support other media efforts, relatively cheaply,” explains Betram. “You have a billboard and that’s good for a branding exercise and you will probably have your domain on there, but people aren’t lugging their laptop for the most part when they see a billboard. If you have a short code, people are much more likely to get in touch.”

Mike Wehrs, President of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), on the other hand argues that economic uncertainty has become an incredible opportunity for those using mobile marketing strategies. “It has become an extremely attractive place, and has many financial advantages. Mobile marketing has this dynamic in it that addresses a device that sits in an individual’s pocket or purse, allowing a message to be delivered in the context of that person’s life. It’s immediate and relevant,” he explains.
 
Moving forward
Whether or not the economic downturn plays a part in the adoption of mobile marketing, it is clear that it is best used in conjunction with other media channels, including broadcast and print. This is mainly because each channel has unique characteristics associated with what it can do, and in combination these techniques add up to broader and more thorough coverage of the potential consumer. In mobile, for example, there is the ability to use location-related information and so it becomes possible to tailor a specific message to a customer.

“What’s key in a company’s marketing team is including mobile in the planning process from the outset. So, keeping in mind that when you’re designing a billboard or print campaign that there is enough space for a ‘call for action’ that can be done via mobile, or similarly that it’s included in a television ad. And that you think about how to integrate promotions, contests, coupons or giveaways into your specific brand and integrating that into all of the other efforts so that people can act immediately,” advises Betram.
 
And, in order for people to react immediately it is important to have a way for them to do that. “Obviously the Obama campaign was pretty high profile, and people realized how effective was, which means it will be seen more and more, especially as people get fatigued over email and it becomes less and less effective,” says Betram. “It’s only a matter of time before people embrace mobile marketing and realize how amazingly effective it is.”

Mobile’s unique strengths
There are four channels of mobile messaging that distinguish it from other media:
1. Ubiquity: Mobile messaging is affordable for end users, and penetration in the US is 84 percent and still climbing; nearly everyone has and uses a mobile phone on a daily basis.
2. Interactivity: Mobile messaging allows for interactive two-way communication, providing instant gratification and enabling personal relationship building.
3. Immediacy: Mobile messages have the highest chance of reaching a recipient wherever they are, and within moments of being sent. On average, incoming text messages are read within 15 minutes of receipt.
4. Impact: Mobile communication spur recipients to act, whether to purchase a product, make a donation, attend an event, share information with a friend, or any other call to action. Text message reminders have been found to increase the likelihood of an individual voting by 4.2 percentage points.

Mobile coupons
Online or mobile coupons are replacing traditional print coupons, as they are more cost-effective and more environmentally friendly. The targeted opt-in messaging has steadily been gaining traction, which has been highlighted by the current recession feeding the use of money-saving tools, in fact Marketing Daily reported that 24 percent of all mobile users have responded to a mobile coupon or offer in the past 12 months.