Most marketers understand that to be truly effective, mobile campaigns can’t exist in silos.
To maximize effectiveness, mobile messaging and offers must be tightly coordinated across all communications channels, including direct mail, e-mail and social media. In practice, personalization is mandatory, not only to improve response rates, but also to avoid customer fatigue. For technology marketers, mobile presents an opportunity to develop an ever-increasing, positive customer-relationship experience and encourage loyalty.
For those new to mobile, a good first step is to use the channel to deploy service messages, like providing useful information about recently purchased products. Next, marketers can evolve to executing marketing or promotional messages, including managing personalized communications with a user community, including loyalty programs, as well as initiate cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.
Mobile can also be used as a call to action to evolve the channel even further, using the WAP push functionality. For example, WAP push messages can embed a personalized URL enabling the consumer to shift directly from the mobile channel to a Web (or WAP) site. A global electronics Neolane client is utilizing WAP push campaigns to support “fan clubs,” in which customers with special interests, such as soccer, can access relevant, targeted information about new products, services and downloads, while also gaining access to online activities such as sports-themed music, games and videos.
Mature marketers are now offering the mobile channel as a “preference” choice, which is a natural way to extend the channel as part of the marketing mix. For example, a smartphone developer can provide a Web page where users can choose which channel they would like to use to receive for specific communications, offering mobile as a choice along with e-mail, Twitter and Facebook.
This article originally ran as part of the March 1, 2010 Technique, “Mobile marketing reaches tech targets.” To read the entire feature, click here.
