While mobile started as a humble buzzword and trend many years ago, today it’s increasingly becoming the most used tool in the marketing toolkit, writes cofounder of finder.com.au, Fred Schebesta, in this opinion piece.
Online marketing means mobile marketing. More than two-thirds of Australian internet traffic now goes to smartphones and tablets.
According to latest PayPal mCommerce Index, 71 per cent of us make payments using our mobile devices. Whatever your campaign, if it isn’t designed with that simple reality in mind, it’s already doomed to failure.
However, it’s not enough simply to direct your teams to incorporate “responsive design” into future campaigns. That’s a necessary step, and one that is now widely recognised. But even that will barely get you in the door, and it won’t do anything to increase your chances of conversion.
There are two crucial elements of mobile campaigns which many marketers ignore. The first is that they must be as personalised as you can make them. A smartphone is a highly personal device, one that goes everywhere with us — and I really do mean everywhere.
When finder.com.au surveyed 1,000 Australians about their mobile habits earlier this year, 11 per cent confessed they had dropped their phone in the toilet.
Because the device is so personal, your marketing campaign also needs to be personal, without crossing the boundary into being creepy. A campaign that used GPS location to pitch people purely when they were sitting on the toilet might go too far.
However, that kind of campaign would at least address the other common failing of mobile marketing: not pushing the boundaries and innovating. Your target technology is a device that knows where its owner is, what the weather will be like for the next few days, and one which can respond when you speak to it.
Why limit yourself to just displaying a banner? Explore apps so that the customer is spending more time with your brand. Investigate big data mining so that you can provide a unique and personalised experience. You don’t just need marketing expertise; you need technological skills and a vivid imagination.
Remember: you’re competing with a platform where Pokémon GO is the most successful app of the moment. When someone can spend their time pursuing constantly-evolving virtual animals projected onto the real world, you’re going to need more than a bargain price to attract their attention.
And remember: it’s OK to fail, as long as you learn from the failure. Conversion is a journey, not a destination, and innovation provides you with one of the most reliable maps for that journey.
