Four things brands need to do in mobile
In the overwhelming world of mobile, there are four things brands can do to help them get to grips with it, writes Jon Hook.
It’s great to see brands investing heavily in mobile. What’s even more encouraging is hearing brands talk about building not a mobile or digital strategy, but a “consumer strategy”.
However, a major hurdle is the steep technical learning curve marketers face to rejuvenate or indeed replace their incumbent desktop technology, which simply can’t keep pace with consumers and is not fit for purpose in a mobile world.
That’s without even mentioning the need to understand the multiple acronyms and buzzwords that mobile practitioners like to fling at each other. All this is combined with a real lack of consistency when it comes to the methodology and measurement used in mobile.
At the same time, there are so many voices telling you where to start, what to do and which technologies to employ that it can all seem slightly overwhelming.
For those brands still wondering where to begin, the easiest way to overcome the “it’s too complex to even start” barrier is to focus on clear tasks that will help you improve the way you use mobile.
Here are four clear steps that brands can take now to start building a mobile strategy that works:
1. Redefine premium
For too long, the old mentality of print/desktop media buying has slowed down investment on mobile. What people define as premium within print or desktop, does not translate to mobile. Mobile “premium” should be defined by data, specifically the data brands are passed back (or should be passed back) by publishers.
At an absolute minimum this should be the device ID of a user, which currently not all publishers pass back to the agency/brand. Other beneficial data points to layer on are the GPS or location (lat/long).
Once a brand has this information, they will quickly see that the traditional “premium” buys they have become very comfortable with in other media types do not necessarily translate into mobile. For example, you may find the CIO of an investment bank spends more time in mobile games than he/she does in a vertical trade title.
2. Apply app analytics to build meaningful in-store experiences
Brands are starting to realise that while data can optimise their mobile media buys, in app analytics can also be applied to deliver more meaningful retail experiences for customers.
For example, if you can see the key services that customers in a particular location are using your app for, then you have information that can also be applied to your physical stores. Pete Markey, CMO at the Post Office in the UK, recently revealed how the organisation is designing the customer experience at its Kennington Park Post Office in London around customer footfall using analytics to understand what customers are coming in-store for.
3. Deliver revenue not just footfall
Sure we all like winning awards. It’s great that our video went viral and got viewed by millions of people. But talk to CROs, CMOs and CEO’s and as much as they want their brand to be loved, they also want their shareholders and board members to love them just as much.
Brands are now starting to optimise their mobile media campaigns directly to revenue metrics using KPIs such as average basket size or first order value. Retailers, for example, can now point directly to net new and incremental revenue that mobile drove in their stores.
Show me a simple methodology that tells a brand exactly how much sales their TV advert drove. I doubt there’s one out there.
4. Create memorable “mobile moments”
If I asked you to name your favourite TV campaign, I bet you could remember relatively quickly. Now think of your favourite mobile campaign – struggling? To solve for this, there is now an entire catalogue of creative rich media executions on mobile to draw from and some very strong platforms that brands can use to create them such as Celtra.
At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, brands will have seen the latest offerings from the likes of HTC and Sony with the respective Oculus Rift alternatives as well as the “wearable” launches from Huawei, Pebble, HTC and many others.
The question brands should ask themselves is how do we use mobile technology to create living mobile moments that are not tied to a specific piece of hardware? How can marketers bring their brand to life in a stadium, on a watch, or in a car?
Brands end goal can longer be simply delivering rich media ad units on mobile devices. Consumers want and deserve meaningful content and services. Brands need to learn to get out of the way consumers unless they can add value and make themselves relevant on mobile.
Jon Hook is vice president of advertising at mobile app development company Phunware.