How to build a mobile marketing strategy

In 2006, the first mass-produced touchscreen smartphone was about a year away and few people were talking about mobile transactions. Activities that are firmly rooted in our present lives were almost science fiction then.

Now, ever-present smartphones and tablets are universal. We can buy anything from them – clothing, food, hotel stays and just about any goods or services you can think of from just about anywhere on the planet. And, we’ve already moved on to the Internet of Things and what’s likely to come next – the closer integration of devices and people.

How are marketers benefitting from this evolution of commerce? Rapidly advancing technology paired with plummeting digital storage costs are enabling the collection of vast amounts of customer data and adoption of analytics software to make better informed decisions. Businesses can use analytics stay just far enough ahead of these new technologies to provide a better experience for their customers.

Recently, Brian Vellmure, of Initium LLC/Innovantage and John Balla, of SAS, discussed trends in mobile adoption and how it is affecting user engagement and commerce.

"This isn’t about mobile; it’s ultimately about people,” Vellmure said. “Your customers, regardless of industry or service or product, want two things from vendors. They want vendors to help them accomplish what they’re trying to do, better, faster and cheaper. And/or customers want vendors to help them feel good or get some kind of positive emotional experience from engaging with the organization, whether it’s a product, service or entertainment.”

Make sure your mobile marketing follows the best path

Vellmure provided the questions a business needs to answer to create a dynamic, flexible mobile strategy:

• Who are your customers? It’s important to start with the basics and keep this understanding at the center of your mobile strategy.
• What are your customers trying to accomplish?
• What are your customer touchpoints?
• What part does mobile play in your customers’ interaction and experience with you?
• How do you expect customers’ use of mobile to change and evolve over the next 12 to 18 months?
• How are people in general using mobile to achieve their goals? How are your customers doing the same?
• How can you use mobile to learn more about customers?
• How can you use mobile to learn more about what they’re trying to accomplish?
• How can you use mobile to provide greater value in the context of their journey?
• How can you use mobile to reduce friction to allow customers to achieve their goals better, cheaper and faster?
• What additional utility can you offer customers? Consider information exchange in addition to revenue.
• Is it possible to predict what customers and prospects will want next and offer it to them?

Are you done once you’ve determined your organization’s best answers to these questions? Of course not.

“This is a journey,” Balla said. “What happened over the last eight years was dramatic. What will occur over the next three or four or five years will be equally dramatic – if not more so. Our job as marketers, hoping to orchestrate engagement and improve the value we create with our customers, is to get better every day.”