ACTIVATING YOUR MARKETING MIX WITH MOBILE: Five Lessons for Increasing Engagement, Sales, and Loyalty

Transcription

1 ACTIVATING YOUR MARKETING MIX WITH MOBILE: Five Lessons for Increasing Engagement, Sales, and Loyalty

2 ASK ANY CMO and they will tell you the same thing: we need more leads, prospects and customers, and we need to drive sales up while driving costs down. In addition, we want loyal consumers who will influence others. Consumers have gone social, and we must follow them! CMOs of retail brands are some of the savviest marketers we know. They ve perfected the art of effectively reaching consumers with print, TV, radio, , direct mail, promotion, sponsorships and the Web. Yet for many, mobile still sits on the fringe of their marketing mix and budget. If a line item in the budget at all, mobile is likely a sub-category within the digital bucket. Results are immediate and impressive, yet the irony is that the most measurable and accountable mediums are the most scrutinized for ROI. Most marketers that are investing in mobile do so with trepidation, while at the same time continuing to invest greater amounts in direct mail, print, or radio which provide only aggregate knowledge (as opposed to direct) of an influence on brand recognition or sales lift. I KNOW HALF OF MY MONEY IS WASTED ON ADVERTISING I JUST DON T KNOW WHICH HALF. John Wanamaker As advertising pioneer John Wanamaker once famously said, I know half of my money is wasted on advertising I just don t know which half. By adding a mobile call to action across traditional channels, you are one step closer to figuring out your best use of media spend. Wanamaker is considered by some to be the father of modern advertising and a pioneer in marketing. Imagine what he would say if he saw the capabilities of today s mobile consumer intersecting with today s mobile marketer. In this short E-book (lots of bold type and graphics), we show you that if you put mobile in the center of traditional channels, you can activate all your assets to get more leverage out of every dollar you spend. Stated less overtly, mobile is a horizontal across all channels as opposed to its own vertical. 2 Vibes, 2011

3 LESSON #1 DON T DEPLOY MOBILE IN A SILO Activity does not equal results. When you think about adding mobile, don t approach it as a stand-alone advertising channel look beyond buying banner ad impressions from mobile ad networks. Similarly, just having an iphone app may check the mobile box internally, but how is that integrating into your overall marketing strategy? We believe that one of the most effective ways to deploy mobile is by layering it across your existing advertising channels. You are spending those dollars anyway; adding a mobile call to action gives you something to measure immediately. It makes traditional media more accountable. ADD A MOBILE CALL TO ACTION ACROSS ALL ADVERTISING CHANNELS Whether you drive consumers to join a mobile loyalty or reward program (text JOIN to 12345), or offer a discount (text SAVE to 12345), don t miss an opportunity to add a mobile call to action in all of your traditional media buys. That includes TV, radio, print ads, sales receipts, billboards and banner ads. Every advertising channel can be activated with a mobile call to action. FOR PLACEMENT ONLY Waiting on broadcast TV CTA from Tania You ll know instantly which medium or message is getting a better response, and your advertising dollars will become more accountable. Mobile provides you the ability to test different campaigns by using a different keyword to activate each ad. Over time, you can shift dollars to the channels and campaigns getting better results - optimizing your marketing spend as you go. That s a powerful benefit of adding mobile to your marketing mix. 3 Vibes, 2011

4 ADD A QR CODE TO ACTIVATE A PRINT AD OR SPONSORSHIP Like its name, a quick response code is a great way to get a quick response from consumers. You see them everywhere these days, but it s a little too early to say that QR codes are ready for every brand. For one thing, they only work with smartphones that have downloaded a QR reader app. At the moment there is no industry standard for QR reader apps, so it s often hit or miss whether a consumer gets information or gets frustrated. QR codes are worth testing, but for the time being text is still king. 70% of consumers still do not have smartphones with readers capable scanning QR codes. The good news is the handset lineups at each carrier are predominantly smartphones, and we ll be approaching 50% smart phone penetration by the end of Still, it s amazing that most of the American public has yet to buy a smart phone. If you are reading this E-book, odds are you have a smart phone. But, not all target markets are as sophisticated as the marketers interested in giving this E-book a read! SMARTPHONE ADOPTION RATE In Millions Smartphone Featured Phone Total Subscribers OFFER MOBILE COUPONS A mobile coupon, with a unique offer and a quick expiration date, is another way to activate traditional channels. Consumers can be prompted to enter their mobile number on a form from a banner ad, a website or by texting in a keyword to receive a unique coupon code. With the right offer, mobile coupon campaigns can easily go viral. We advocate retaining healthy margins on your incentive so that increased redemption can be celebrated instead of a concern. Use a unique coupon code per respondent to track unique consumer purchases. This data can help you build customer profiles and behavioral analytics that add value to your overall CRM strategy. 4 Vibes, 2011

5 CONNECT YOUR MOBILE WEBSITE, YOUR APPS AND YOUR MESSAGING STRATEGIES By this we mean make sure all mobile touch points interact with each other to drive greater results. Most brands today have different partners helping execute the different channels within mobile. Align your strategies across partners with a central point of communication if possible. DRIVE CONSUMERS TO DOWNLOAD YOUR MOBILE APP There are more than 450,000 apps in the Apple itunes App Store alone. Unless your app is lucky enough to be featured in the App Store, discovery is a big problem. A mobile campaign can cut through this clutter. For instance, a text can go out to your mobile database, saying that based on the consumers previous interaction with the brand, they might be interested in a particular app. Embedded in the text is a shortened URL that can provide a one-click download of the app. BUILD A MOBILE WEBSITE FOR YOUR BRAND BUILD A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE WITH TEXT, APP AND MOBILE WEB Make sure that your mobile strategy is integrated across all of your mobile touch points. For instance, you can drive discovery of an app through your mobile Web strategy and by texting back and forth with your most loyal customers. Likewise, your app should drive people to sign up for your mobile loyalty program, push notifications and text alerts. And, your mobile website should be dedicated to promoting these other activities. FOR BEST RESULTS, DON T DEPLOY MOBILE IN A SILO OR A VACUUM. Half a billion people accessed the Internet via mobile devices in Usage is expected to double within five years as mobile overtakes the PC as the most popular way to get on the Web, according to comscore. Brands need a mobile Web strategy. One of the most important items is to optimize your site for all handsets. A mobile website will have to load quickly and contain only the type of information you would want to access via your phone or tablet. Don t fall into the trap of repurposing your website content and trying to cram it into your mobile site. By optimizing for mobile browsing, you ll win the loyalty of consumers on the go. SMS APP WEB 5 Vibes, 2011

6 LESSON #2 WINNING LOYALTY IS BOTH ART & SCIENCE At the heart of a mobile strategy is your ability as a marketer to get someone to give you his or her time and willingness to interact. A mobile phone is a consumer s most personal possession. 91% of Americans keep their cell phone within three feet of them 24/7 and a third say they would rather be without their wallet than their phone. THE POWER OF THE FIRST IMPRESSION PERMISSION BASED CLICK THRU RATE CONVERSION RATE/ RESPONSE RATE SMS 14.06% 8.22% 6.64% 1.73% Direct Mail N/A 3.42% Mobile Display 23.07% 5.05% Online Display 0.76% 4.43% Direct Mail N/A 1.38% When a person sends his or her first message to a brand, it is like they are raising their hand and saying, I m interested. The worst thing for a brand to do is to scare them off with either bad content or poorly timed messages. For example, if someone sends your brand a message and you don t reply, the person is left hanging. He or she doesn t know what s going on and they are likely to be less connected and therefore less loyal. If instead your brand goes the other way, and over communicates, sending four messages in response to the one that was sent, that s a bad brand experience as well. The person is likely to opt out. The text messaging dynamic is a lot like starting a relationship; you have to nurture it from the beginning. If you wait too long to send a second message, instead of feeling like you re hearing from a trusted brand, the recipient might not even remember opting in, and think the brand is spamming them. The result another reason to opt out. Mismanaged and mistimed messaging is all about the creative and strategic meeting point of providing value. As a brand, you have to think about the value exchange between you and the consumer. If the value exchange isn t obvious fleeting consumers have no good reason to remain interested. Like a relationship, the tolerance for mistakes at the beginning are extremely low. 6 Vibes, 2011

7 THERE IS AN ART AND A SCIENCE TO WINNING A CONSUMER S LOYALTY. As a brand, you have to have the foresight and the strategy around when to send messages and what kind of messages to send. TEXT MESSAGE OPEN RATES ARE ABOVE At the beginning, the opt-out rate actually increases due to consumers having a heightened judgement in the early days of interaction. All interaction is still on trial with the consumer. After a period of time or a certain number of interactions, there is an inflection point where you ve earned the consumer s trust and earned the right to communicate with them. The consumer is getting useful information, so the opt-out rate starts coming down. Once you build a trusting relationship, it s a powerful connection. Remember that text message open rates are above 90% and are typically read within 4 minutes. This is a stark comparison to the typical response rates from and banner ads. Perhaps smaller databases, but certainly more intimate. AND ARE TYPICALLY READ WITHIN 4 MINUTES 1 00% AFTER YEARS OF ANALYZING THOUSANDS OF CAMPAIGNS, WE VE DEVELOPED THE VIBES LOYALTY CURVE EASILY SPOOKED STARTING TO VALUE CHANCE OF OPT OUT BE CAREFUL LEARN LEARN LEARN LOYAL FOLLOWING CREATE VALUE 0% TIME AND EXPOSURE 7 Vibes, 2011

8 LESSON #3 ONLY USE MOBILE WHEN TIME, LOCATION AND INTERACTION MATTER INTERACTION TIME Now we are ready to talk tactics. What makes an effective mobile program? We believe it s all about time, location and interaction. Mobile is an effective medium when your brand has something interesting or important to say that is relevant to a consumer based on specific characteristics. If a program is not mobile appropriate have the discipline to use another medium. USE MOBILE WHEN TIME IS IMPORTANT If you have a message that you need someone to get RIGHT NOW, you should send it via mobile. And by right now we don t mean it would be okay if they got it 3 hours from now, we mean they need to get it in the next 15 minutes or the value of that information begins to decrease. For example: A text message notifying an end user that an airline ticket is at the lowest price it s been in the last 3 weeks. A message telling the end user about an impromptu sale to fill seats on a slow evening, drive inventory, or notifying someone that their produc or order is ready for pickup that the pair of jeans she wants will be on sale for the next 3 hours. Alerts; sports scores as they happen; weather in the morning; banking when your balance is low. USE MOBILE WHEN LOCATION IS IMPORTANT Before sending out a text, you need to think about where the end user will be when they receive it. In the car? At home? In the office? At the mall? What time are you sending the message, and where are they at that time of day? We ll cover some basic best practices for pushing out messages in lesson #4. Alternatively, if the consumer is initiating the conversation (pull as opposed to push), why not incorporate location-specific data into the interaction. For example, if you are a retailer and you want to reward people shopping in your store with a special offer, try using location based messaging. Put up a wall promo, banner or point of sale display that says, If you want today s deals, text DEALS to That way, anyone interested in getting these deals can opt in instantly. LOCATION THE PERFECT MOBILE CAMPAIGN USES AT LEAST ONE OF THESE VARIABLES, BUT USUALLY ALL THREE. If you use store specific keywords you ll know exactly where he or she is they re in your store. In fact, because you know where the call to action is, you ll know they re about 25 feet from the front door looking at the end cap of aisle 4. This type of instant location data capture is possible with QR codes as well. If someone scans a QR code to get product information, you know where they are in the store at that moment. That s pretty precise location data. A retailer can test out different locations with different keywords or QR codes to see if a certain location within the store performs better now. That s valuable information for retailers! USE MOBILE WHEN INTERACTION IS IMPORTANT Building off of our location example above, your customer has initiated a conversation with an inquiry; perhaps it s a good time to deliver them an incentive and win their loyalty by rewarding their interest and willingness to engage in a digital dialogue. When the brand initiates the conversation with an alert, just the fact that the end user you re sending a message to can reply to you is what makes mobile an active medium. Stimulate the dialogue and provide value to the consumer. What would make them smile? Many brands have never before had the ability to know that a consumer has their product in their hand at that moment. On-pack initiated interaction could be pre-purchase research or price comparisons. Post-purchase consumers may be interested in engaging further think about the code under the cap the consumer just opened their drink. Think about the keyword inside the wrapper the consumer just opened their snack. The fact that you can always reply to what the end consumer sends makes mobile unique. 8 Vibes, 2011

9 LESSON #4 ENGAGE, DON T INTERRUPT A mobile campaign has to be unique and make the recipient feel special. If it doesn t engage, it runs the risk of interrupting and alienating the end user. Here s what you shouldn t do. Don t send the same offer you just sent via via text as well. That s not special. Remember Lesson #3. You should always give the consumer choices about how they want to hear from your brand. Do they want: Weather reports via , but school closings via text? Deals of the day via text, but weekend sales via ? Unique coupon codes via text not ? Sports alerts via text, but sports reporting from print, , radio or TV? With mobile, the medium determines the message. Give consumers different channels to hear from your brand and they ll opt in based on their preferences. Then, keep them engaged by respecting those preferences. Converse with your best customers in a manner that you would want to be communicated with mobile is powerful use it, don t abuse it. 9 Vibes, 2011

10 LESSON #5 MEASURE AND TEST YOUR MOBILE CAMPAIGN Widely accepted metrics for measuring mobile marketing are not yet available because mobile is a still developing medium. But that doesn t mean there isn t data that can be analyzed. As we ve stated, the most effective way to use mobile marketing is to overlay it across all your marketing channels. If you ve added a call to action in your traditional channels, you can measure the number of callto-action responses for a specific period of time. If you offer a mobile coupon, you can measure the redemption rate. If you launch a mobile app, you can measure the number of downloads and the ongoing engagement. If you buy mobile advertising you can measure clicks and conversions. If you re not testing, you re not learning, and if you re not learning, your brand will be left behind. A/B TESTING AND TIME TESTING Testing the efficacy of traditional media is easier now that people have the ability to instantly respond to advertisements with their phones. By putting different keywords in different types of media or even in competing media outlets, you can get instant results. Test TV against radio or print versus outdoor. For example, your call to action in the New York Times could read Text WIN to and your call to action in the Los Angeles Times could read Text ENTER to The user experience could be identical, but the data helps you measure each newspaper s value to your brand. Why let these campaigns go to market without activation and why activate without getting as much data as possible? Simple changes in your call to action allow you to test a variety of variables with a goal of improving the efficiency of your media spend in the future. CONCLUSION If you ve gotten this far, you re thinking about integrating mobile marketing into your marketing mix. Take the next step and commit to testing at least one new mobile tactic this year. Activate your traditional advertising and sponsorships with text Launch a mobile coupon campaign Test a location-based campaign Optimize your mobile website for mobile use Use mobile to drive app downloads REMEMBER OUR TOP 5 LESSONS: Don t deploy mobile in a silo Winning loyalty is both art and science 4 3. Only use mobile when time, location and interaction matter 4. Engage, don t interrupt 5. Measure and test your mobile campaign 10 Vibes, 2011

11 ABOUT VIBES Founded in 1998, Vibes is a mobile marketing and technology leader that helps some of the world s biggest brands acquire, engage and deepen relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Vibes Catapult platform enables brands, agencies and media companies to launch a wide range of mobile solutions from SMS, to MMS, QR Codes, on-screen, alerts, mobile web, mobile incentives and integration with social platforms. Using Vibes Mobile Relationship Management (MRM), companies forge immediate and long- lasting customer relationships by tapping into the uniquely personal nature of the mobile phone. The Company has delivered billions of mobile experiences on behalf of customers that include Verizon, Allstate, The Gap, Tribune, Fox, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Gannett and the Chicago Bulls. Vibes is one of only nine Tier 1 aggregators with secure, direct connections to all the major carriers. ABOUT JACK PHILBIN Jack spearheads the company s overall strategic direction and drives Vibes position as one of the premier thought leaders in the mobile marketing and wireless industry. Jack has been instrumental in building mobile marketing as a strategic marketing channel by proving its value to a range of clients, from wireless carriers, to agencies, to consumer marketers. An entrepreneur and builder, Jack has specific expertise in business development, strategic client management, and consumer marketing. Jack is a graduate of Boston College and received his MBA at Northwestern University s J.L. Kellogg School of Management. He is extremely active in the mobile marketing industry, currently serving as Vice Chair of the Mobile Marketing Association Board of Directors, as well as serving on the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus. Jack regularly addresses industry experts by moderating and speaking on panels at CTIA, MMA, CES, and AdTech. Jack was honored with the MMA s Outstanding Individual Achievement award in Under Jack s leadership, Vibes was ranked #92 on the 2007 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing US companies and has received numerous awards for their innovation. Jack serves on the Board of Directors for the National Runaway Switchboard, the Illinois Technology Association, as well as serving on the Mayor s Council of Technology Advisors for Mayor Daley in Chicago. PUBLISHED BY Vibes 300 W. Adams St. 7th Floor Chicago, IL p: Copyright 2011 No part of the contents of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Vibes.