As mobile continues to emerge as an increasingly important marketing channel, marketers are facing a new set of challenges and opportunities in the struggle to find the most effective means for engaging consumers on their mobile phones.
To date, mobile marketing has been regarded as a stand-alone channel, lacking integration with other key marketing initiatives. As a result, companies typically approach mobile as a series of independent initiatives such as "a text campaign," "a mobile website" or "an app."
Instead, mobile needs to be viewed as an additive component of every marketing program. Mobile has the unique ability to drive interaction and brand engagement from traditional advertising activities and to connect consumers with the brand, offers, and promotions with a unique sense of individual attention.
We have evolved since the days when traditional marketing and advertising urged consumers to pick up their phone and "Call Now!" Today, phones are not simply a communications tool but an interactive marketing channel that can be used to elicit a response, engage the consumer, and deliver results.
It's time to start thinking about mobile marketing as a component of the overall marketing mix and as an overlay for all types of marketing and advertising. In the same way that "online" has evolved to become "digital," and is now an integrated part of virtually every marketing campaign, it's time for marketers to stop thinking about mobile marketing as a stand-alone activity. Mobile capabilities enable advertisers to interact with consumers like never before and can be integrated seamlessly into existing traditional and digital tactics to increase brand awareness, engagement, and return on investment.
Below, we review the variety of ways marketers can now implement mobile tactics into their ongoing campaigns, including short codes, 2D barcodes, mobile web experiences, and Mobile Dial Codes, as well as the implications of including mobile in your marketing campaigns and tips for doing so successfully.
Breathe new life into print, radio, TV, and billboard ads
Traditionally, advertising channels have included print, radio, television, and outdoor ads as a method to raise brand awareness and create demand for a product -- both of which are difficult to measure reliably. Advertisements were meant to catch someone's eye and stay ingrained in their memory to recall at a later date when the purchase can be made.
But what if we could take those traditional forms of advertising to a new level and move beyond the one-dimensional characteristics of the past to bring an element of interactivity to consumers? With mobile, this becomes a reality. Mobile can be a part of any traditional advertising campaign; it's interactive, it's personal, and it delivers a seamless engagement point between a brand and a consumer.
By including a mobile call-to-action in your one-dimensional advertisement, the mobile phone becomes an engagement platform and turns a traditional ad into a whole new way to interact with a consumer and draw them in, while also providing a reliable means for measuring the response to the advertisement. As most consumers regularly keep their mobile phone nearby, mobile is the perfect way to make a print, radio, or TV campaign memorable, engaging, and measurable.
One of the more widely recognized examples of integrating mobile into print advertising is the integration of a 2D barcode into advertisements in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The inclusion of this barcode converted the traditional advertisement into an interactive and engaging experience for the consumers, while ensuring the marketers can easily see and measure the ROI of the campaign by how many people actually responded to the advertisement.
Another recognized mobile campaign integrated into traditional advertising was the use of a short code in the American Red Cross' efforts to raise money for the Haitian earthquake victims. The TV commercials had a clear call-to-action (Text Haiti to 90999 to donate $10), it was on heavy rotation on all the prime networks, and it was extremely successful, raising more than $30 million for relief efforts.
Mobile Dial Codes are also a great call-to-action for direct marketing activities such as sweepstakes and contests, where the simple response can drive immediate enrollment and lead generation. For example the StarStar Code**INK provides consumers with a quick and easy way for them to try and win free printer ink, and provides the marketer with a ready-made database of prospects.
This integration also extends the life of a TV commercial from the 30 to 60 seconds it might be viewed on-air into an indefinite, ongoing experience because the consumer can respond to the call-to-action at their convenience over a period of minutes or hours. This means consumers don't have to get up from their couch, or go to their PC -- they can simply engage from their phone wherever they are. This means a simple TV commercial, with its hook and mobile call-to-action (SMS or Mobile Dial Code), has effectively engaged the consumer.
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