What used to be a neat concept for the future has quickly become a reality – nearly every successful marketing campaign currently circulating and being planned has (or at least is considering) a mobile component. This represents a huge shift in advertisers and brands focusing on where their customers are spending their attention and capital, and encourages the idea that mobile has, and will become even more, a huge paradigm shift in the thought behind advertising. David Ogilvy, once called “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry,” has been quoted as saying that television was the most monumental shift in advertising that he had ever seen. We saw a subsequent shift with the introduction of the internet, but mobile is placing itself to be an even more influential monument of change in advertising due simply to the interconnectivity and direct access it offers between brand and consumer. But this huge shift doesn’t come without trial and error, hit and miss. As Rimma Kats lightly puts it in her post on the Mobile Marketer:
"Many times companies miss the mark by not taking the necessary precautions to ensure their campaign is executed successfully.
In order to alleviate some of the growing pains that come along with a move to mobile, we’ve summarized some of her main points below.
Know your customer, and plan accordingly.
Creating a mobile campaign that doesn’t work for your customers is game-ending. When in doubt, if consumer research isn’t available for your customer base, stick to what works, and what is tried and true.
Keep it simple
Mobile advertising campaigns are often much smaller than a typical campaign. With less space to work with, a “busy” mobile campaign can be even more detrimental than a “busy” print campaign. Sometimes, less is more, and in mobile you have to stick to what you can work with. Shortening words in SMS campaigns, and using simpler banner ads has proven to be effective in the seemingly claustrophobic mobile advertising world.
Create simple and clear calls to action
Making sure that the message you are trying to get across is clear and understandable is absolutely key to mobile success. The idea is to present a consumer with a simple call to action that is clear, and easily directive for what they should do next.
Don’t do mobile just for mobile’s sake
Often times no campaign is better than a campaign that was created just to take a part of the mobile pie. A poorly executed mobile campaign will lead to your consumers having a bad taste in their mouth, rather than increasing brand loyalty and saturation (some of the most important reasons to use the mobile channel).
Don’t use a QR code to send a user to a website that isn’t optimized for mobile
I can’t say just how many times we’ve seen this. It is embarrassing for a brand, and extremely frustrating for a consumer, and points clearly that the business was doing mobile just for mobile’s sake. Be clear, be concise, and be intentional.
Though we’ve only covered some of the key topics in this post, you can read Kats’ full list of do’s and don’ts here. With the strength of mobile growing, and the use of more and more multi-screen campaigns to influence purchases, participation, and consumer opinion, there’s no doubt that mobile is here to stay. The only question left to answer is how your business will adapt to the new heavy hitter in the advertising world. While we are clear supporters of anything mobile, one of the most effective and far reaching mobile strategies is the use of text message marketing to connect with your customers, and to drive sales and revenue at times that you need it most. To learn more about what a mobile marketing campaign could do for you, give us a call today.