Critical Steps for Initiating a Branded Mobile Strategy

So, you’re convinced of your need for a mobile marketing strategy. The question naturally arises: "What does a successful mobile campaign require?" What must be included and prioritized? Do you need a mobile website? How do you engage with smartphone-toting customers in your stores to increase your sales and engagement? These five steps are the answers to your questions. The following article discusses critical steps on your path to deciding how to initiate and manage a successful mobile campaign.

Mobile marketing has made an “off the charts” impact on how people behave in a retail situation. The medium is not truly the message and consumer mobile engagement studies prove it. The arrival of the smartphone has introduced a new medium for commerce. Forever altered is the way people come to and navigate through stores. Controlling and influencing how consumers navigate represents a ground breaking opportunity for retailers in 2012-13. A recent survey by Deloitte showed that consumers using smartphones in stores purchase more when retailers supply their own branded app interface. So, you’re sold on the need for a mobile marketing campaign. Let's look at some suggested Best Practices.

1. Launch a Branded Mobile Optimized Website 

Companies must launch a branded mobile website and not simply take their existing website and make it mobile friendly. When people come to a mobile site, they have a very different set of reasons than when they surf and find your company site on-line. That being the case, brands need to be very sensitive to what those mobile needs are and respond to them. 

Why did a consumer “in this location” go to our mobile site? When that question is answered in each instance, what they receive must meet that expectation or a brand will experience a high “bounce rate”. “Mobile web for the masses and responsive mobile apps for loyal consumers is what matters. Your mobile website will be the landing page for the general public’s general inquiries. Your consumer will consistently visit your mobile site in order to find a deal, a coupon, a bargain and store information. If they feel they have received what they wanted, they will want to share it. So giving them a FaceBook and Twitter option within their immediate line of site is an excellent choice. Being able to contact a representative, and make and make quick purchase with a bargain is essential. Today in 2012, smartphones are a users’ first resource when in need of relevant information while they are on the go. Your brand's mobile website must meet and exceeds these needs.

25% of consumers engage in online shopping only via mobile. 

And since 57% of consumers will not recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site, your mobile website must harness all technologies in a way that is easy to navigate, is visually appealing, and provides information relevant to each consumer.

2. Launch a Mobile Site with Geofenced SMS Calls to Action

Once you’ve successfully created your mobile site as a destination, you can begin to highlight offers and coupon deals which customers cannot otherwise find. Hyperlocalized SMS offers and calls to action from “Smart Posters” and “Smart Decals” on signage in your retail store that allow your mobile site to be used in-store and for marketing purposes is an important consideration. At the same time, a location-enabled geofencing strategy which segments your store foot print and makes unique offers to consumers from different sections of the store based on product displays and where they are will allow customers to receive information that is personalized, time-sensitive, and relevant. And since push notifications can be sent to opted-in customers inside or outside of your stores, they are an ideal way to drive traffic yo your store and then to engage with customers.

3. Launch an In-Store Marketing Campaigns with Smart Posters.

Your in-store marketing campaign must include “Smart” in-store signage that drives traffic to your mobile optimized website and/or makes unique SMS offers which get an opt-in response in exchanged for providing a coupon or other bargained value. When appropriate or relevant to the consumer experience, interactive offers that enhance the engagement between your consumer and your brand are a high priority.
 

For example, your “Smart Posters” and “Smart Decals” are a perfect medium for UPC barcode, QR code scanning as a means to deliver the coupon and harvest an email or phone number tied to that specific store. Since only 55% of the consumer retail base have smartphone, and 100% have an SMS text enabled cell phone, SMS “opt-in” offers at the same time represent an excellent complement to reach a 100% market share. In addition to making couponed and discount offers, 55%+ of your customers now can a QR code to watch a video demonstrating a product’s special features or scan a UPC barcode to purchase a blouse if their size is out of stock.

It should be emphasized that consumer education is critical. In order for an in-store marketing campaign to be successful, retail organizations should develop a strategy for educating their sales associates on how the mobile SMS Campaign and mobile websites are to be used so that they are able to answer all questions. If appropriate, retailers should also consider providing their sales associates with smartphones or tablets as a demo to the store experience of each consumer. This allows them to engage consumers, increase their dwell time in-store, actually demo products, provide additional information, and even use NFC technology to check-out.

4. Launch an Omni-Channel Marketing Campaign

All customers today are connected consumers. Each now moves seamlessly from one retail channel to the next and they easily juggle multiple channels at once. To stay connected and relevant, to your customers, your marketing strategy must be omni-channel. This means a strategy which provides a seamless approach to the consumer experience through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile internet devices, computers, bricks-and-mortar, television, catalog, and so on. This mandates that your your brand messaging is consistent on all levels, allowing your customer to shift from your mobile apps to an in-store experience seamlessly. 

Pushing your mobile website and mobile application in traditional media, online, mobile, and social media is a must to organically grow your loyal customer base. A word to the wise is also in order. Test, retest and retest on as many devices as possible. Be certain your entire mobile process is streamlined, efficient, and without mistakes.  Be sure to educate the consumer on the products, make sure QR codes are easy to scan on multiple devices. Triple check to ensure mobile coupons are readable and scan-able on all smart mobile phones and devices. Make certain all relevant employees are knowledgeable with your Mobile Campaign and how consumers use it.

5. Monitor Mobile & In-Store Analytics At the Same Time.

For the first time in history, we now have an affordable opportunity to gather analytics on how consumers shop in stores and to use that data to influence buying behavior in real-time. When enabling certain location-based marketing tools, geofences strategies are able to provide information such as how long someone stayed in your store, whether they visited your competitor’s store, and if they scanned codes or searched for products while in your store. These segmented analytics give valuable information about how customers use your products and provide real-time analytics for the first time.

Once your brand discovers consumer-specific buying patterns and preferences, your should be certain to market to your consumers in a personalized fashion. Not only is this relevant, it also takes much of the retail speculation of “preferred products” out of every equation. If a customer prefers shopping in stores to on-line, sending them a push notifications informing them of a sale reserved only for loyal shoppers has yielded “off the chart” results. If a customer tends to read product ratings and reviews, considering sending a product review on an item similar to the ones they’ve been searching for online or on a mobile device.