transcript
- 1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Future of Mobile Content &
Commerce p.11 by Noah Elkin, Senior Analyst, eMarketer The Nail for
Social Medias Hammer p.48 Inverview with Mickey Alam Khan, Editor
in Chief, Mobile Marketer How Mobile Marketing Can Fuel Buzz and
Engagement for Entertainment Brands p.63 Inverview with Valerie
Brown, Director of Consumer Marketing, Bravo Mobile Innovation:
What the U.S. Can Learn from Japan p.77 by Naoki Muramatsu, VP,
Digital Business Development, Dentsu Holdings USA FOREWORD P.3
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS P.5 OVERVIEW P.7 PLANNING IN MOBILE MARKETING P.15
SEARCH P.20 SMS MARKETING P.27 ADVERTISING P.32 SOCIAL MARKETING
P.43 APPLICATIONS P.51 COMMERCE SHOPPING P.67 PARTING thoughts P.80
GLOSSARY P.84 CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLES
- 2. 3blog.360i.com twitter: @360i s this the Year of Mobile? For
over a decade this proclamation has turned out to be premature,
giving marketers ample reason to be skeptical. The difference
looking forward to 2011 is that this is the first time that
consumer behavior and mobile platforms have reached sufficient
scale for mobile to move beyond an emerging media tactic for
mainstream marketers. Mobile is finally experiencing its tipping
point as one of the critical components of the digital marketing
landscape, much like search marketing experienced in the early
2000s and social marketing during the past few years. Nielsen
reports that within a year, smartphone adoption will exceed the
adoption of simpler, feature phones. Were coming to a point where
the majority of phones and consumers will have Internet
connectivity wherever they go. Mobile is perhaps one of the most
exciting and revolutionary forms of media to flourish over the last
decade, as it builds exponentially on the groundbreaking changes
brought on by search and social. While the PC Internet is
completely divorced from the physical world, mobile breaks down
these walls and brings the power of the Internet into the real
world in real time. Imagine youre in the grocery store, and you can
easily look up a products ingredients, compare the price of
products in the aisles with those in neighboring stores, check
other customers reviews, and see how popular a product is with
other shoppers in your area. This is a vision of our
not-too-distant future. If someone has access to information
anytime and anywhere, how does that change the way consumers think
about I FOREWORD by BRYAN WIENER CEO, 360
- 3. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Foreword4 your brand and the way
you have to interact with them as a marketer? This brings both
opportunities and challenges to existing business practices much
like the Internet did. Rather than seeing this as a daunting
prospect, consider that mobile allows consumers to bring their
digital lives with them wherever they go. This also means that we
no longer have to silo our marketing efforts; the opportunity for
cross-channel integration and truly rich multiplatform brand
experiences has never been greater. The accelerated intersection of
mobile, local, social and commerce across the online and offline
worlds means things are going to change incredibly quickly. Thats
why weve put together this Playbook to provide a foundation and
framework for approaching the changes ahead. In 2009, we issued our
Social Marketing Playbook for similar reasons and it received a
tremendous response with more than 50,000 downloads to date. We
hope that this Mobile Marketing Playbook will be as valuable for
marketers looking to make sense of the current mobile landscape and
arm themselves for the innovations ahead. Specifically, the aim of
the Mobile Marketing Playbook is to help marketers: Work within a
framework for establishing a set of clear objectives for their
mobile marketing strategy Move beyond the checklist approach with a
filter for evaluating the myriad of opportunities within mobile
Think of ways to use mobile to merge online and offline strategies,
as a hub that bridges the gap Encourage a dialogue about what
matters in mobile now, and whats ahead for this new and exciting
medium As always, we welcome comments, critique, debate, and
discussion you can find us on Twitter (@360i or @bwiener), Facebook
(facebook.360i.com) or on our blog (blog.360i.com). Happy reading,
Bryan Wiener CEO, 360i
- 4. 5blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Several individuals graciously
lent their time and talents to the production of the Mobile
Marketing Playbook. Wed like to take this opportunity to thank them
for their contributions. To our featured columnists: Valerie Brown,
Eugene Chung, Noah Elkin, Mickey Alam Khan and Naoki Muramatsu
thank you all for sharing your keen insights with us and our
readers. Thanks also to the 360i team who wrote, edited, designed
and managed this Playbook: Philip Basile, David Berkowitz, Amanda
Bird, Brian Blakely, Carleejean Cook, Natan Edelsburg, Laura
Frizzell, Jim Gulsen, Lara Hejtmanek, Sarah Hofstetter, Chris
Humber, Kolin Kleveno, David Levin, Tanya Nam, Katie Perry, Brett
Sanderson, Jesse Shaver, Sarah Sikowitz, Benny Simon, Paul Stadnyk
and Chang Yu. And advanced thanks to the readers of this Playbook
who are moved to comment, share, critique, tweet, scan, blog or
generally discuss the contents herein. We encourage you to reach
out and share your thoughts directly with us anytime at
editor@360i.com, via feedback on our blog at blog.360i.com or on
Twitter @360i. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Share the Mobile Marketing
Playbook: twitter facebook del.icio.us digg email
- 5. 1 overview
- 6. 7blog.360i.com twitter: @360i 1 Your customers most likely
own and use mobile devices. Market research firm comScore reports
that as of May 2010, 234 million Americans age 13 and older are
mobile subscribers. Thats more than 90% of the U.S. population. 2
Mobile data usage keeps rising, with Americans especially fond of
texting. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of mobile subscribers text,
according to comScore, while the Pew InternetAmerican Life Project
reports teens 12 to 17 communicate each other daily with texting
more than through any other channel including talking face-to-face
or on the phone. OVERVIEW 3 Mobile Internet usage is taking off,
making it easier and imperative for marketers to connect mobile
with their digital marketing programs. eMarketer reports that there
are more than 85 million U.S. mobile Internet users, and about half
of mobile phone users will use the mobile Internet within a few
years. 4 Smartphone penetration is increasing to the point where
brand marketers can deliver rich experiences through pocket-sized
devices. Nielsen reports that within a year, smartphone adoption
will roughly match adoption of feature phones (the more basic,
functional phones with limited web and app capabilities). TEN
REASONS MOBILE MARKETING MATTERS RIGHT NOW Theres so much buzz
about mobile marketing that its easy to dismiss it, or to check off
a few mobile tactics and say youre doing enough with mobile. Here
are the top ten reasons why mobile matters right now. They
illustrate why marketers need a comprehensive mobile roadmap as
part of their integrated communications plan to take full advantage
of the exciting opportunities ahead.
- 7. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Overview8 5 Smartphone competition
is expanding the audience that can access rich content. Mobile ad
network AdMob noted U.S. ad impressions on Googles Android
operating system reached 46% of the total in March, compared to 39%
for the iPhone operating system, marking the first time Android
surpassed the iPhone. Also consider Myxer, which has served 34
million consumers 1.3 billion downloads of free mobile content.
Skewing toward a younger audience, it has seen a disproportionate
share of downloads and traffic coming from BlackBerry devices.
BlackBerry has proved especially popular with this demographic in
large part thanks to the interest in BlackBerry Messenger (BBM),
its instant messenger service. 6 Mobile is designed to be the most
integrated marketing medium the world has ever known. Along with
the integration of the various channels within mobile, to be most
effective mobile should integrate with as many other kinds of media
as are included in a campaign or program, including online, TV,
radio, print and out of home. Mobile devices are always on and
accessed everywhere, and the portability alone makes mobile unlike
any other form of media. Mobile marketing has near limitless
potential to contribute to and build on other marketing programs.
Feature Phones U.S. Smartphone PenetrationProjections Q2 08 Q3 08
Q4 08 Q1 09 Q2 09 Q3 09 Q4 09 Q1 10 Q2 10 Q3 10 Q4 10 Q1 11 Q2 11
Q3 11 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Smartphones
(Projections) Source: Nielsen
- 8. 9blog.360i.com twitter: @360i 7 Mobile is great for branding
thanks to several factors: deep engagement, minimal ad clutter and
new and constantly evolving advertising experiences. Dynamic Logic
found that its mobile MarketNorms across various brand metrics
consistently surpassed online norms. 8 Mobile marketing matters in
any vertical, with any goal. A consumer packaged goods marketer can
use mobile display and video ads for branding, SMS for couponing
and applications for consideration. Retailers can similarly use
mobile in different ways, whether theyre trying to drive consumers
to the store or launch a new product line. InsightExpress further
quantified some of these effects, showing strong performance across
brand metrics for marketers in six vertical industries. 9 Mobile
marketing is more than just a single marketing channel. Consider
online marketing, where search, video and social media are all very
different disciplines. The same is true of mobile, and these
various forms tend to intersect. Coupons can be delivered via text
messages that link to mobile barcodes. Mobile display ads often
promote applications. Mobile social marketing programs can include
video and mobile search, and tend to run in conjunction with a
range of other promotions. Aided Brand Awareness Advertising
Awareness Message Association Brand Favorability Purchase Intent
25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% PercentImpacted Delta() Mobile Online Source:
Dynamic Logic MarketNorms for Online, last 3 years through Q4/2009,
N=2,461 campaigns, n=3,713,053 respondents; Adinex for Mobile Norms
through Q4/2009, N=74 Campaigns, n=69,524 respondents Delta
()=Exposed-Control Mobile vs. Online
- 9. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Overview10 0 The twenty-first
century is the century of mobile. The year of mobile phrase is
played out, but it has been true for some time now. The
International Telecommunication Union wrote in its 1999 Annual
Report, If 1999 was the year of the Internet, it was also the year
of mobile cellular. Since then, there have been several milestones
as the number of text messages sent annually rises well into the
trillions and mobile ad spending nears the billion-dollar mark. The
past few years of innovation have brought the iPhone with its
continual improvements, pervasive Android devices and mobile social
services that have consumed much of the bandwidth of the mobile
Web. The milestones will keep coming at a breathtaking pace.
Unaided Awareness Aided Awareness Mobile Ad Awareness Brand
Favorability Purchase Intent 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Mobile Index Against
Online November 2007- December 2009 CPG Entertainment Travel
Technology Automotive Retail Source: Insight Express Campaign
Effectiveness Brand Metrics by Vertical
- 10. 11blog.360i.com twitter: @360i emember when ringtones were
all the rage? No one thought twice about dropping $3 to get 15
seconds of a song because it was a quick and easy way to
personalize your phone. Indeed, through 2007, revenues piled up for
music publishers and wireless carriers alike thanks to the rush to
personalization, peaking at more than $700 million, according to
SNL Kagan. Much of this purchasing activity took place on deck the
categorized links that came bundled with web-enabled phones.
Carrier decks offered benefits to users and marketers alike. First,
they enabled marketers to place content and applications with easy
reach, meaning users did not have to engage in long (and, at the
time, expensive) browsing sessions to find music, games, news or
weather. Second, purchases conveniently went right on users phone
bills, putting access to that content ecosystem within a few
clicks. But carrier decks were walled gardens by another name, and
ultimately that translated into constraints for the end user. The
launch of the iPhone in June 2007 made those constraints more
apparent. Although it was by no means the first web-enabled phone,
the iPhone broke new ground as a content-consumption device. The
built-in Safari browser brought a desktop-like experience to
mobile, unlocking a world of media experiences that previously had
been imperfectly realized at best. Integration with first the
iTunes Store and subsequently the App Store gave consumers new
options for accessing music, games and video on their mobile
devices, and new modes for marketers to engage their audience with
branded applications. R THE FUTURE OF MOBILE CONTENT COMMERCE by
NOAH ELKIN SENIOR ANALYST EMARKETER
- 11. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Overview12 Apples model of tight
integration between hardware, software and services has helped to
ignite the mobile value chain, spurring adoption of devices with
dramatically improved feature sets. At the end of Q1 2010, Nielsen
found that just under 25% of the U.S. mobile subscriber population
had a smartphone. That number is forecast to rise to 49% by Q3
2011, as device manufacturers and wireless carriers increase their
marketing push to graduate users to higher-value devices and data
plans. The success of Apples iPad, and the anticipated launch of
other tablet-style form factors, will further consolidate media
consumption on mobile devices. Increased smartphone ownership is
driving growth in mobile Internet usage. According to eMarketer
projections, 142.1 million mobile users, representing The success
of Apples iPad, and the anticipated launch of other tablet- style
form factors, will further consolidate media consumption on mobile
devices.
- 12. 13blog.360i.com twitter: @360i 54% of the U.S. mobile user
population, will access the web from their mobile devices in 2014,
up from 85.5 million in 2010. Content consumption will likewise
increase at a rapid pace. By 2014, eMarketer predicts that U.S.
mobile gamers, music listeners and video viewers will number 94.9
million, 52.2 million and 56.7 million, respectively. Moreover,
what these mobile content consumers buy and how they buy it is also
evolving, driven in part by advances in mobile devices and networks
and in part because of broader secular developments in digital
content. For example, mobile users are talking less than ever
before and using more data-centric functions such as texting and
social networks to communicate. The decline in voice calling has
hurt ringtone sales. At the same time, the combination of
increasingly ubiquitous broadband access and the steady migration
of content to the cloud means that mobile consumers are moving more
in the direction of accessing content rather than owning it,
emulating a trend begun on the desktop with software and services.
Paid and ad-supported streaming services such as Pandora, YouTube
and Hulu offer access to vast content libraries that would be far
costlier to replicate through purchases. This shift heralds the
rise of subscription and pay-per- use payment plans and boosts the
potential of ad- supported and hybrid monetization models. Bottom
line: Consumers will continue to pay for content on mobile devices.
But whom they pay, what they pay for and how they pay for it are
starting to evolve as quickly as the devices on which they consume
it.
- 13. 2 PlANNING IN MOBILE MARKETING
- 14. 15blog.360i.com twitter: @360i 1 What are your goals for
mobile marketing? Are your goals centered more around branding or
direct response marketing? Do you need massive reach for the mobile
program to be effective? What does the end result look like if the
mobile program is successful? What kind of commitment will you make
upfront in terms of the staffing and budget allocated? Do you have
the time to fully optimize the program? Are you seeking massive
scale for impressions, clicks, engagement or app downloads within a
brief campaign flight? Planning in Mobile MARKETING Answering these
questions at the onset will help ensure mobile fulfills its
potential as part of your marketing plan. 2 How is your audience
using mobile? Beyond talking, what are consumers doing with their
mobile devices? Which handsets and operating systems are they most
likely to use? Are they likely to text, take pictures, search, play
games, use social media, read news, look for local businesses, surf
the web, download apps, scan barcodes or participate in other
activities? With what other media, including traditional media,
does your target audience engage? Its critical to CREATING AN
INTEGRATED MOBILE MARKETING PROGRAM When planning a mobile
marketing program, questions will arise as to which channels,
tactics and vendors are most appropriate to incorporate. Marketers
can embark on a mobile plan by answering four questions that lead
to a much broader number of decisions involved in figuring out how
to make the most out of mobile. These questions together comprise
the Mobile Marketing Strategic Lens. What are your GOALS for mobile
marketing? How can you use your ARSENAL in mobile? How is your
AUDIENCE using mobile? Does it follow mobile marketing BEST
PRACTICES?
- 15. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Planning in Mobile Marketing16
understand your audience and how they are utilizing mobile when
creating your plan. 3 How can you use your arsenal in mobile? What
assets do you have that might make sense to incorporate? Do you
have stores or other channel partners? Do you have apps or a
mobile-friendly website? What other digital branded experiences do
you have, perhaps across social networks? Mobile bridges digital
and physical worlds, so consider tangible, real-world assets:
products, out- of-home or print ads, retail stores and live events.
4 Does it follow mobile marketing best practices? Does the program
adhere to how consumers are using mobile media? Does it use the
functionality of mobile devices? Does the experience translate well
both to the smaller screen size and then the broader real-world
landscape where consumers use their mobile devices? What kind of
value does it provide to the consumer information on a new product
or service, entertainment, or a discount on merchandise, among many
other options? Marketers who have read 360is Social Marketing
Playbook may notice some similarities between the lens above and
the Social Marketing Strategic Lens, which is also discussed in the
section on Mobile Social Marketing (see page 43). The tenets of
both are similar, but each lens is designed to address the specific
demands of its respective marketing discipline. Using research and
insights to uncover opportunities in mobile Forrester Research
called 2010 the year that every firm needs a mobile strategy.
Understanding the current mobile landscape, relevant consumer
trends, and what competitors are doing will help you avoid wasted
dollars and increase the impact your program has on the target
audience. Consumer insights As consumers increasingly rely on their
mobile devices, understanding audiences motivations in mobile and
aligning strategies to these new and changing behaviors will result
in the most effective programs. Specifically, this means defining
the mobile persona of your target. With limited screen real estate
to leverage, having a deep understanding of your customers mobile
usage and motivations will allow you to offer true value exchange
that will delight - rather than distract - your audiences. The
types of intelligence that will help paint a picture of your
consumers mobile persona include: The size and composition of your
mobile audience: -- How many consumers can you reach within your
target demographic? -- What are trends for how your target audience
indexes with mobile usage? Operating system and handset usage: --
Does your target use iPhone, BlackBerry or Android devices? -- How
are adoption rates trending for each?
- 16. 17blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Usage insights -
understanding how your consumers use their devices: -- Which
mixture of SMS, e-mail, mobile web, applications and other mobile
channels do they use? -- When are consumers engaging with mobile?
What days and dayparts show the most activity? -- How much time do
consumers spend using their mobile devices? -- What are their go-to
mobile sites and applications? -- How prevalent is search usage? --
How likely are they to use geolocation services? -- How likely are
they to play games? -- Do your consumers complete transactions via
mobile devices? How do they shop? -- Do they extend their
multimedia consumption (music, video, etc.) to mobile? Activity
Index Composition of Target Text Message Sent/Received 120 73%
Picture Mail Sent/Received 128 43% Access Internet 121 29% Download
Application 111 14% Download Game 110 11% Watched Any Video 112 7%
Internet Purchase 103 6% Understanding Mobile Usage Moms over-index
heavily for sending and receiving picture mail and gaming, but the
most popular non-voice use of mobile for this segment is texting.
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings @Plan Blackberry, 46% Apple, 25%
Android, 12% Windows Mobile, 9% Palm, 6% Symbian, 2% The most
common device for females 25-34 is the Blackberry, followed by
Apples iPhone. Source: comScore MobiLens Mobile Activity for Moms
Online Relative Share of Operating Systems for Females 25-34 with
HHI 75K+ (June 2010 3 month average)
- 17. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Planning in Mobile Marketing18 is
evolving, new marketing models are being developed, and devices are
quickly acquiring new features and functionality. When planning a
mobile program, look at the most recent data, but also try to
discern trends at least six months ahead to see whats coming.
Events such as a new iPhone release, offers from different mobile
providers, new entrants in the tablet market and fast Android
growth can be taken into account when developing a forward-looking
mobile program. Testing new opportunities now can lead to a sizable
advantage in the longer term. Conclusion The near ubiquity of
mobile has made it necessary for any brand that regularly interacts
with consumers to consider a mobile marketing strategy. But mobile
marketing doesnt have to be a mystery. Taking the time to
investigate the landscape, examine consumer interactions with their
devices and monitor competitive moves will reduce the unknowns and
provide a solid base on which to launch, test and optimize an
effective mobile program. Resources for gathering syndicated
research include comScore, Nielsen//NetRatings, the Mobile
Marketing Association and Forrester Research. Competitive
intelligence Given the nascent nature of mobile marketing tools and
techniques, it can be very beneficial to study what other marketers
are doing. Theres no need to limit yourself to direct competitors
either. It may be just as valuable to learn from others in the
category as well as from other industries to see how various
marketers are reaching their audiences via mobile channels.
Syndicated tools such as comScore offer detailed perspectives on
what other marketers are doing in mobile. These tools often include
information on brands and industries that are the most active in
mobile, with overviews of the creative theyre running and what
publishers they partner with. Staying ahead of the curve Research,
especially in an emerging arena such as mobile, is not a one-time
endeavor. The market
- 18. 3 MOBILE SEARCH
- 19. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Search20 Mobile paid
search According to the Kelsey Groups Mobile Market View Report,
nearly 60% of all activities on mobile devices are search-related,
making search one of the best ways to reach consumers in mobile.
Before tackling a mobile search plan, its critical to understand
how mobile paid search differs from its traditional web-based
counterpart: There is less competition within mobile search, but
there are also fewer ads per page across both feature phones and
smartphones. Calls to action and user experience can vary based on
objective. For instance, click-to-call and click- to-map dont need
to point to a mobile site. Shorter search queries means there are
greater demands for relevancy and understanding intent. The
constantly accessible devices lead to greater immediacy with
consumers needs. Shorter creative means marketers must get their
point across faster. Mobile search is evolving in several different
ways: Mobile search is especially useful for local queries. Whether
they include local modifiers (such as a city name or zip code),
consumers looking for JCPenney on their mobile phone will expect to
find one in their area. The Kelsey Group reported that about one in
three mobile searches has local intent. As mobile devices have
become more sophisticated and easier to use, mobile search has
become the starting point for consumers on the go. Its often a good
entry point for marketers just getting started with mobile
campaigns, and it only becomes more important for marketers with a
fully developed mobile presence. Build on an online search program
by understanding the best ways to use mobile paid search and search
engine optimization. Mobile sEARCH KEY FACT Google mobile search
volume is up 500% in past 2 years GOALS IT ACHIEVES Sales, purchase
consideration, drive to store, content download BEST INTEGRATION
POINTS Applications, mobile shopping
- 20. 21blog.360i.com twitter: @360i No matter how much better
mobile phone keyboards get, mobile users will keep their queries
shorter when they can. Optimization in natural and paid search
around higher volume keywords will be especially competitive. Voice
search is making an impact, and all the major search engines
incorporate it. A range of other companies have developed offerings
here, including Jingle Networks FREE-411 directory assistance,
Naturally Speakings Dragon Search application and Apples Siri.
Expect renewed innovation in this area during the next two to three
years. SMS search is still relevant for feature phones, where users
text a query such as for business listings or stock quotes and then
receive results. Given that theres a brief delay between the query
and response, these queries will diminish as smartphones dominate
the market. On Google Android-powered devices, a search button is
built into the phones hardware, making it possible to conduct
searches instantly no matter what the consumer does within the
mobile experience. Mobile search listings can in turn appear during
a wide range of activities beyond Activities Conducted on Mobile
Devices (as a % of mobile users) 0 5 10 15 20 Searched Internet for
local products/services Obtained info about movies/entertainment
Obtained info about restaurants/bars Searched Internet for products
outside local area Purchased physical item that needed to be
shipped Used coupon from mobile phone Source: Kelsey Mobile Market
View for 2009
- 21. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Search22 searching from a
mobile engine, such as when searching for driving directions or
using various applications. The results pages themselves will
continue to evolve to showcase more mobile-specific content. For
instance, in June, Google added application links to its mobile
search results, with links to download apps directly from Apples
App Store or Googles Android Market. For select marketers, heres
when to include mobile search as part of your marketing mix:
Retail/QSR marketers For marketers trying to drive in-store traffic
and sales, mobile search is a great starting point. According to
Googles Retail Advertising Blog, 54% of users who researched online
but bought offline used their mobile device to conduct their
search. Travel marketers Travel companies can leverage mobile
search to capitalize on the popularity of travel to provide
information such as flight searches and transactions such as
booking of airline tickets. Entertainment marketers Entertainment
companies can promote movie listings, theater locations, TV tune-in
reminders, album releases, concerts and other live events. Consumer
packaged goods marketers Within mobile search, marketers can
enhance their search listings to include special information and
offers such as coupons to incentivize users. (Learn more about
coupons on page 69.) A search for local hair salons shows how
marketers can use coupons to enhance their mobile location
listing.
- 22. 23blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Mobile paid search best
practices 1 Group mobile campaigns separately. They tend to perform
differently from online search campaigns, and youll often want to
adjust the rules accordingly. 2 Broaden your scope. Mobile search
volume tends to be significantly lower than online search for most
keywords, so to achieve the best reach youll want to target queries
more broadly, include more high-volume queries and possibly include
additional keywords. 3 Go local. If geotargeting matters at all for
you with online search, its going to be vital for mobile. 4
Incorporate mobile functionality into the creative. Click-to-call
was somewhat useful online, but its poised to play a pronounced
role in mobile search. Anytime a consumer would benefit by talking
to a person, from a booking agent to someone at a local store,
click-to-call can potentially improve conversion rates. 5 Target
immediate needs. Mobile Marketer reported that 70% of mobile search
users complete their task after one hour, compared to 30% on the
PC. Make sure copy and landing pages are useful for consumers
looking to meet their needs right at that moment. Microsofts Doug
McMillen told Mobile Marketer, As a marketer you need to be there
when a user needs you most. Theres a huge payoff in terms of
emotional connection with a brand if youre right there at the top
of the listings and help the user accomplish their task easily when
theyre highly motivated to connect with you. Mobile search engine
optimization Search engine optimization (SEO) has evolved
significantly over the last two years, extending beyond commonplace
activities such as title and META tag optimization to include
diverse methods that keep pace with the changing search landscape.
Mobile search builds on the basic techniques, though it involves
many new considerations to capitalize on mobile devices design and
functionality. Optimizing a mobile website, regardless of the
markup language, still centers around the core tactics one applies
to traditional HTML websites. Core optimization techniques such as
title tag creation, proper use of META tags, sufficient keyword
density in copy, the proper use of HTML page headings, and link
development remain vital for greater natural search visibility.
With core onsite factors in mind, brands should focus on efforts
that impact smartphones and the next generation of mobile users.
When managing multiple versions of a website through one content
management system, many of the on- site SEO best practices
incorporated into a traditional website can be ported to the mobile
version. However, due to the prevalence of dynamic content types
such as maps or mobile applications, there are several
- 23. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Search24 SEO
considerations that are specifically applicable to mobile search.
Mobile SEO considerations With smartphones and other mobile devices
maintaining full browser capabilities (with JavaScript), brands
should look to optimize mobile sites for the future. XHTML Basic
1.1, XHTML MP 1.2 and HTML5 are good choices for new mobile site
development. Utilize browser/user agent detection methods to
redirect mobile users to the appropriate mobile version of your
website. How fast a website loads can impact how well your site
ranks. Web browsing speeds can in turn impact click-through and
abandonment rates on mobile devices. Providing users with a
simplified mobile version (WAP, XHTML, etc.), which limits the use
of large images and other elements that slow page load, can greatly
improve user interaction and time spent on site. Searching for
local information such as business locations and directions is one
of the most popular mobile activities. Local directory submissions
are critical for brands to maintain accurate listings within map
applications such as Google Maps. As mobile naturally aligns with a
searchers location, more emphasis will be prioritized on
geotargeted landing page development and customization. Traditional
SEO on-site best practices are still applicable. The proverbial
spine of your web page is the title tag. Instead of long
120-character titles, consider focusing on the primary three
keywords and limit your mobile site titles to 50 to 70 characters
in length. Build dedicated landing pages for mobile applications
that auto-detect browsers and devices and can automatically load
the appropriate application storefront. This will make it easier
for a user to download and install the app. It can even prove to be
beneficial for non-mobile users. Evaluate where social media
content is influencing the mobile audience and develop a
participation and value exchange strategy to gain more real-time
exposure or links. If your website utilizes a significant amount of
rich Internet applications or suffers from congestion of
information, consider building a mobile version that simplifies
navigation and provides access to the most recent content. Looking
to the future with HTML5 As more brands adopt HTML5, new markup
definitions and features will allow for simplified site management
and may lead to the extinction of mobile markup languages such as
WAP. While theyre several years away from becoming mainstream,
HTML5 and CSS3 (cascading style sheets) can allow webmasters to
create and manage one website that performs efficiently on mobile
and traditional desktop devices.
- 24. 25blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Less Framework, an
HTML5-powered CSS framework for building smart website layouts for
varying screen widths, is one way to build a flexible multi-column
website that intelligently collapses into a single column for small
screen devices such as smartphones. As we collectively move closer
to an HTML5-rich world, mobile and desktop experiences will become
less fragmented and the application of SEO will become much more
efficient as the lines dissolve. More on HTML5 is found later in
this Playbook on page 61. Conclusion Marketers with experience in
paid search and SEO can maintain their competitive advantage by
constantly applying the latest mobile search best practices.
Waiting until mobile search mirrors the scale of online search
could make it harder to catch up later. Traditional Site Mobile
Version MTVs traditional site includes navigation and content that
prove difficult to use in a mobile browser (if the mobile browser
defaults to the original website). The mobile version of MTV.com,
which loads automatically in most mobile browsers, streamlines
navigation and optimizes content across all channels.
- 25. 4 SMSMARKETING
- 26. 27blog.360i.com twitter: @360i For marketers, SMS marketing
has the lowest barrier to entry. Once the messaging platform is in
place, there is no creative development needed beyond copywriting.
Anyone whos encountered a teenager in the past few years wont be
surprised that texting is especially popular with younger
consumers. The Pew InternetAmerican Life Project reports that
American teens Even with all of the bells and whistles on
headline-grabbing smartphones, SMS (or text messaging) still reigns
as the most popular mobile activity. Its the most universal
functionality, given that SMS is available on almost every mobile
phone, from lower-end feature phones to the priciest smartphones.
comScore reports 65% of mobile subscribers send text messages,
compared to about 30% using the browser and downloading apps. SMS
MARKETING KEY FACT Texting is more than twice as popular as mobile
browsing or app usage GOALS IT ACHIEVES Deal alerts, event
reminders, persistent CRM to develop relationships BEST INTEGRATION
POINTS In-store, out-of-home, TV, radio 3 Month Avg. Ending Apr.
2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Jan. 2010 Total U.S. Age 13+ Share (%)
of U.S. Mobile Subscribers Jan. 2010 Apr. 2010 Point Change Total
Mobile Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A Send text message to another
phone 63.5% 64.6% 1.1 Used browser 28.6% 31.1% 2.5 Used downloaded
apps 26.7% 29.8% 3.1 Mobile Content Usage Source: comScore
MobiLens
- 27. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK SMS Marketing28 12-17 contact
peers daily via texting (54%) more than any other communication
channel, including calling on mobile phones (38%), talking
face-to-face (33%) and interacting via email (11%). Its hardly just
for teens though. An April 2010 study by Merkle found that 63% of
U.S. adults 30-39 text, as do 49% of adults 40-49. Additionally,
26% of U.S. adults have opted in to receive commercial messages on
their mobile phones with an average of three companies sending them
mobile messages monthly. How SMS fits in with marketing plans There
are several ways that brands can utilize SMS as part of their
marketing mix. Below are some approaches to consider. Building an
SMS list for further communication Branded shortcodes: A marketer
registers a five- or six-digit number, or shortcode, which often
relates to its brand as its spelled out on the keypad, such as
262966 for AMAZON. Consumers can send a text message to that number
to opt in to updates or engage with the marketer. Marketers benefit
from owning their brand name, but its relatively costly and a
lengthier setup process compared to other forms of SMS marketing.
Shared shortcodes: Marketers can also run campaigns on shared
codes. For instance, Facebook enables marketers to have consumers
become a fan of their page by texting like and the page name to
32665 (FBOOK). Its one shortcode that can be used with millions of
pages, as each page has its own unique name. Facebook has tried out
offering physical decals for marketers to place in their store
windows (see image below), and marketers can use the same messaging
in other channels, such as email. With either form of shortcode
use, the biggest advantage is the integration potential. SMS
callouts can appear in: out-of-home marketing, point of sale
locations, TV, radio, print, online display, email and social
marketing. In that sense, shortcodes are the most adaptable forms
of mobile media, and of any form of media. SMS contest entries:
Brands can offer users the option to text in exchange for a contest
entry. Universal Home Entertainment ran an SMS remarketing campaign
for the launch of their DVD Bring It On: Fight to the Finish.
Website visitors were encouraged to text BringItOn to enter to win
a prize pack. In doing so, Universal was also able to collect
opt-ins for an SMS reminder when the DVD went on sale. This is a
great example of how brands can drive SMS opt-ins through another
form of advertising (TV, Print, OOH or digital). Facebook offers a
common shortcode (32665, or FBOOK) that any marketer can use to
promote their Facebook page.
- 28. 29blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Utilizing an existing SMS
platform as a way to reach your target consumer SMS Advertising:
Marketers can append their messages to content that consumers
subscribe to via SMS (e.g. news alerts, sports scores, horoscopes,
etc). The ads can be used for a range of purposes, from building up
the marketers own SMS opt-in list to driving traffic or engagement.
Marketers can also buy ad space from mobile search providers such
as ChaCha, a service that allows users to text questions in to
242242 (ChaCha) and receive answers back via SMS. The questions are
categorized (e.g. travel, entertainment, local geographies) and
brands can append their message to the answer the user receives to
their question. This type of program can work for any brand looking
to align with specific content (e.g. health insurance marketers
targeting health questions, or a theatrical new release targeting
entertainment questions). Marketers can use SMS to align their
brand with an activity that appeals to their target audience. In
late 2009, State Farm sponsored a SMS-driven game at a University
of Kansas football game. Fans were encouraged to text in to show
their school allegiance. State Farm was able to follow up with
participants later via mobile. When considering SMS, marketers
should limit the focus of their programs to content that aligns
with their target consumers mobile behavior. Myxer promoted
Universal Home Entertainments Bring It On: Fight to the Finish with
SMS-based prizes. Ads appended to SMS alerts allow consumers to opt
in to marketing promotions and content Image source: 4INFO
- 29. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK SMS Marketing30 Marketing options
for text message content Even with the limited character space,
marketers have many options for the content they distribute and
promote via SMS: Text content, such as product information,
informative tips, polls or trivia questions Links going to a mobile
website Links to maps, such as for store locators Click-to-call
links, leading consumers to retail stores or call centers
Multimedia, such as images, videos or ringtones Coupons, from codes
that can be entered by the consumer or cashier, or a link to a
barcode that can be scanned SMS marketing best practices 1 Stay
relevant When targeting content with any SMS publisher, ensure that
your message belongs there. 2 Ask permission Always obtain consent
in the form of an opt-in before messaging to users. SMS messages
can cost money, so its important that the recipients know what
theyve signed up for and understand the implications. 3 Offer
something of value The last thing users want is spam on their
phones. Offer something they care about in exchange for permission
to reach out to them (e.g., a coupon code or a link to exclusive
content). 4 Use it for time sensitive events Interested users will
appreciate the reminder. Conclusion SMS provides a turnkey way for
marketers to tie together a variety of programs. On its own, SMS
may not create a large impact, but when used in conjunction with
other types of media, creative and content, it can create a path
through which users can become more deeply engaged with your brand.
SMS can work well for time-sensitive promotions, such as in this
American Idol tune-in reminder Image source: iPhonematters.com
State Farm encouraged fans to text in to show their college
football allegiance. Image source: Mobile Marketer
- 30. 5 MOBILE ADVERTISING
- 31. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Advertising32 This chapter
will provide an overview of mobile advertising opportunities,
explore how each media tactic compares to its desktop counterpart,
offer frameworks for evaluating when to include each in your plan
and review overall best practices. Finally there will be an
overview of what can be measured to gauge success based on the
goals of your campaign. Targeting options Mobile marketing offers
various ways to help advertisers find their audience. As with
online, you can reach users based on location, demographic
information, content and publisher (app or WAP), but you can also
target particular devices and carriers. Here are some targeting
methods that you can employ across many forms of mobile
advertising: Geolocation Marketers can locate users in several
ways, such as through GPS or wireless tower signals, check- ins at
local businesses through social applications, and by using ZIP
codes or localities entered in search or weather queries. Carrier
Marketers can specify which mobile providers they would like to
target. Handset/Operating System Marketers can select if they want
to target users of the iPhone or select BlackBerry devices, or
users of the Android operating system. Demographic By tapping into
non-personally identifiable information provided by the carriers,
marketers can The mobile medium has the potential to bring to life
the power of digital advertising and unleash a renaissance of
creativity and innovation. Within mobile there are opportunities
for display, rich media, video and in-game, plus constant
advancements as new players and devices emerge.Like the rest of the
online media world, the process of deciding which tactics make the
most sense should tie back to campaign objectives and an
understanding of the target audience, as discussed in Planning in
Mobile Marketing on page 15. MOBILE ADVERTISING KEY FACT U.S.
mobile display ad spending will top $1.2 billion by 2015 (ABI
Research) GOALS IT ACHIEVES Branding, engagement, content download,
mobile web traffic BEST INTEGRATION POINTS Online display, apps,
video
- 32. 33blog.360i.com twitter: @360i select if they want to
target men or women in a certain age range. Contextual Marketers
can display ads next to relevant content within the app or site.
Behavioral Behavioral targeting is still in its infancy due to
limitations on tracking users from app-to-app and app-to-WAP.
However, companies like Millennial Media offer solutions that can
track users movements from WAP-to-WAP. Millennial MYDAS Audience
utilizes user profiles, opt-in survey data and publisher-provided
meta-data to create audience segments. Furthermore, it is widely
speculated that eventually marketers will be able to tap into
iTunes-rendered user behaviors and run an iAd campaign to target
users. Despite these advances, mobile browsing behaviors differ
from online, and currently there is no way to track or target users
from online to mobile or vice versa. Publisher-created targeting
Publishers often offer their own custom targeting vehicles, and for
mobile its no different. For example, Pandora launched its own iPad
app that enables marketers to target ads by gender, age, location,
type of music and time of day. Similar to full-screen rich media
units such as iAd and Greystripes Immersion Ads, when a user clicks
on an ad within the iPad app, the ad will open a new page without
interrupting the streaming music. Some of the initial sponsors
include Starbucks, Lexus and Budweiser. Mobile display Mobile
display encompasses any type of banner advertising that takes place
on mobile websites or within applications. According to ABI
Research, spending on mobile display is expected to grow from $313
million today to $1.2 billion by 2015, fueled by the growth of U.S.
adult Internet usage. Buying mobile display Mobile display can be
priced on CPM (cost per thousand impressions), CPC
(cost-per-click), or, in some cases, cost per engagement (CPE) or
cost-per-download (CPD). Like buying traditional online media,
brands should consider which type of pricing will help them
accomplish their goals. CPM buying guaranteed impressions: CPM
media is good for branding campaigns where its important to achieve
a specific impression level and/or run on specific sites. CPC
buying clicks: CPC media works for marketers who want to guarantee
traffic to their mobile landing page, but who may not be as
concerned with where their advertisements run. CPE or CPD buying ad
engagement or downloads of a mobile app: Similar to CPC
advertising, CPE or CPD ensures that a mobile program will deliver
the exact action that a marketer is seeking. This type of pricing
is good for brands that have invested in interactive creative and
want their target audience to interact with their brand within the
unit. It also works for marketers who have mobile apps and are
interested in driving downloads.
- 33. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Advertising34 The majority
of mobile inventory is currently sold through mobile ad networks.
Similar to the early days of online display advertising, networks
provide a way for publishers to sell inventory on their mobile
sites without dedicating a sales force to it. As mobile inventory
and advertiser interest in the medium increases, however, more
publishers may opt to sell it on their own. Mobile ad networks
provide reach and scale to marketers looking to buy within the
channel. Because the channel is still new, there arent standard
creative specs or sizes. Mobile ad networks help marketers navigate
the landscape and serve as a one-stop shop. As with any ad network,
the trade-off for marketers is less control over where the ads run,
but marketers can mitigate this by excluding sites or specific
content that isnt appropriate for their brand. There are a handful
of publishers such as The New York Times, CNN, Weatherbug and
Photobucket that are able to sell mobile inventory on their own.
This works for marketers looking to round out an existing offline
or online buy with that publisher, or for marketers who have custom
offerings. It is difficult to scale with publisher-direct buys
because inventory levels are still relatively low. Mobile banners
Mobile banners can be targeted across various channels and
categories of mobile sites and applications. In addition, marketers
can also target mobile banners against behavioral and demographic
attributes. One of the major benefits of mobile banners is that
campaigns can be built around the post-click experience of the
banner and do not need to drive the user to a mobile site. A major
challenge facing mobile banner advertising is the lack of standards
across the various ad sizes. Mobile banners come in a range of
sizes to support a range of goals and handsets. Image source: AdMob
Smartphone Banner Ad Text AdSmartphone Text + Tile Ad Banner
Ad
- 34. 35blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Marketers are often required
to develop ad sizes for a number of devices ranging in size from
120x20 pixels all the way up to 300x50 pixels. Additionally,
third-party tracking technologies are still a work in progress.
Marketers must often resolve discrepancies that arise between
mobile publishers and third-party reported numbers. Does this mean
marketers should stay away from mobile banners? Definitely not.
While mobile banners may require more upfront work, they can still
be used to meet campaign objectives such as awareness, traffic and
engagement. Mobile banner advertising best practices 1 Take into
account the various operating systems and devices when developing
ad sizes, as mobile banners are usually not purchased based on ad
size. 2 If planning for smartphones, think about the post-click
experience. 3 Take into account how you want to measure campaign
success, as mobile metrics can differ from traditional online
metrics (see the section on Measurement later in this chapter for
more). 4 Think about where you want your mobile banners to show up,
such as on mobile webpages or within applications. Mobile video
According to Nielsens Three Screen Report, more than 20 million
users watched a mobile video in Q1 2010, which represents an
increase of more than 50% year-over-year. eMarketer projects mobile
video revenues will climb from $436 million in 2009 to $1.34
billion in 2014. Mobile video opportunities include pre-, mid- and
post-rolls that consist of 10 to 15-second video ads that can run
prior to, during or after video content, as well as full-page video
interstitials that take over the entire screen prior to content.
Marketers can also create custom video companion ads or customized
video channels to promote their brand. Click-to-video ad: Users can
click on multiple links from a video ad to take various actions.
Source: Rhythm NewMedia
- 35. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Advertising36 Best
practices for mobile video 1 Ensure that the aspect ratio for the
video is correct, as it will differ from the web and varies across
mobile devices. 2 Make sure the video will work on a small screen;
dark and fast moving images wont look great on a mobile device. 3
Keep video ads short. Most mobile users prefer shorter snippets of
content, and slower mobile connection speeds can sometimes cause
uncomfortable delays in video load times. 4 Similar to the
post-click experience, think about what the post-viewing experience
should be. 5 Dont use online benchmarks. Instead, create new ones
for mobile, as the user experience will vary. Certain publishers
and networks will have benchmarks for various verticals. Mobile
in-game ads According to MobClix, a mobile ad exchange, more than
40,000 mobile game applications have been released in the past
year. As of summer 2010, MobClix reported that more than 300 game
apps are added each day. Similar to PC or console-based video game
advertising, brands utilizing mobile in-game advertising have the
opportunity to reach a rapt audience before or during a transition
in gameplay. Carousel ad: On a custom landing page, consumers can
scroll through multiple video ads or clips. Source: AdMob MMS video
ad: Marketers can send video ads via multimedia messaging service.
Source: Mogreet, via mocoNews
- 36. 37blog.360i.com twitter: @360i The sequence above is an
example of an advertising campaign on Greystripes mobile network.
While playing a game, at a break before the user moves on to the
next level, he or she sees an ad for a movie. The ad itself is a
game, but the user has the option to skip it. Many advertisers have
seen great success with mobile gaming. Its important, however, to
think about your audience and if they engage with gaming on or off
the mobile phone. Best practices for mobile in-game ads 1 Determine
if your target audience is likely to engage with an ad more if it
runs in a game. Such ads can work best for marketers who have had
success with other gaming programs. 2 Temper your investment until
youre sure your target audience will engage in gaming. Most in-game
advertising is sold on a CPM basis, and branded games usually
require a development cost. 3 Understand the audience of the game
before choosing to advertise on a specific game. Gaming audiences
differ dramatically, as a casual gamer will likely be very
different from someone who plays a first-person shooter action
game. 4 Provide value through entertainment or interactions that
appeal to your audience. Its not just about getting your message
out there, but rather providing an experience that makes the
distraction from the game worth it. 1 2 3 4 5 Game reaches a
natural transition point (example: end of level) Ad is displayed Ad
menu is displayed User selects ad action Selecting Done returns
user to game where they left off Ads within games can be games
themselves Source: Greystripe
- 37. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Advertising38 app or site
in order to reveal more information. The expanded portion of the ad
can contain anything from a static banner to a form to a microsite.
Prestitials and interstitials are full screen ads (a 300x250 ad
unit is standard for iPhone/iPod Touch and Android) that are
displayed on an app or sites welcome page or in transition to
another section of an app or site. Full-screen engagement ads are a
form of rich media engagements that allow marketers to create an
immersive environment. -- iAd keeps users within an application
instead of redirecting them to a page in their browser. This
enables users to explore the ad and interact with it, and even
purchase products. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages
to choosing iAd as of summer 2010. Marketers should check to see if
Apple has addressed any of the Mobile gaming will continue to
become more popular as smartphone penetration increases. If done
right, mobile in-game advertising can be as entertaining as the
game itself. The key is to create the right experience for your
audience one that entertains and leaves the player with a positive
feeling about your brand. Mobile rich media Just like with online
advertising, mobile rich media ads offer a visually stimulating way
for users to engage with a brand. There are various ways to capture
a users attention with these ads: Expandable ads are banners that
load as standard-sized ad units, and then when the user scrolls
over them, they expand over the content of the Expandable ad: Best
Buy Source: Greystripe Prestitial ad: Step Up 3D Image source:
Photobucket
- 38. 39blog.360i.com twitter: @360i downsides when considering
iAd, as this could change at any time. Pros: iAd allows marketers
to get in front of users as they engage with apps they frequently
use. Apples selling point is that iAd offers interactivity plus
emotion. People not only interact with the ad units but also feel
emotionally connected while doing so. Apple helps developers make
money with a 60% revenue share; this enables them to offer apps for
low prices or even for free. Cons: In order to run an iAd campaign,
there is a large monetary commitment up front. At first, these
units may have high bounce rates from people clicking just to play
around and experience the ads but not actually have any interest in
the brand or the campaign. On the flipside, this could benefit some
advertisers who are running a brand awareness campaign and seek to
capture early adopters. Apple is solely selling, developing and
hosting iAd. As a result, you cannot develop your own iAd in- house
or use your creative agency. Greystripes Full Screen Immersion Ads
(formerly iFlash Custom Ads) are an alternative to iAd and offer a
similar experience that involves rich media animation,
interactivity, and click actions without leaving the actual
application. Greystripes technology allows them to take
pre-existing rich media ad units built in Flash and transcode them
into HTML5 format that is readable on iPhone and iPod Touch. Beyond
iAd and Greystripe, other ad networks such as AdMob, Millennial
Media, and Medialets can deliver immersive creative experiences
within applications. Marketers should consider a number of factors
when evaluating such networks, including reach, audience
demographics, creative offerings, targeting capabilities,
transparency of placements, development time required and the
responsiveness of account personnel. Measuring mobile advertising
campaigns Depending on the objective of your campaign, you
Interstitial ad: 90210 Image source: Jumptap
- 39. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Advertising40 will want to
consider how to best measure success. For instance, a branding
campaign may involve measuring awareness or lift, impression
volume, or engagement. Direct response campaigns, meanwhile, may
measure clicks, conversions, calls received or coupon redemption.
Brand metrics Brand awareness and lift can be measured using
marketing research companies such as Insight Express, Dynamic Logic
or comScore to conduct studies. These studies typically require a
specific budget and multiple ad units in order to reach a
significant impression level. Marketers can apply what they learn
from these studies to optimize creative concepts and messaging.
Impressions are generally recorded in aggregate. However, it is
important to consider unique impression data in order to accurately
determine the true reach of a campaign. Engagement reflects how
users interact with a marketers ad unit or messaging. Interactions
can include mouse-overs, clicks, video plays, and drop-off rates,
and time spent playing a game. Direct response metrics Clicks are a
meaningful measurement metric if site or app traffic is the main
marketing objective. In order to gauge the value of the clicks,
marketers should consider the bounce rate, which represents the
percentage of initial visitors to a site who bounced away rather
than interacting with the site. Conversions are determined by the
goal of each campaign and help marketers evaluate the effectiveness
of their advertising spend. Marketers can measure impact by looking
at the conversion rate, which represents the percentage of initial
visitors (clicks) to a site or app who converted by taking a
pre-determined action. iAd promises to grab consumers attention
with immersive creative experiences Image source: Erica
Ogg/CNET
- 40. 41blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Click-to-call ads contain a
telephone number that, when clicked, populates the phones dialpad
with the number. If properly set up, marketers can track how many
calls were received, the duration of the calls, and if the desired
action was taken. Couponing offers a convenient way to target
promotions to a medium that is always on and can act as a
redemption tool. Marketers can track coupon redemption and see
revenue generated by each individual code to capture granular ROI.
Phones enable users to consolidate customized discounts in a single
place, so it is up to retailers to trace use of coupons to prevent
multiple redemptions and also track redemption rates. (See more on
couponing in the section on Mobile Shopping, page 69.) Tracking
mobile advertising Although marketers can track clicks and
impressions using third-party ad servers such as DART, tracking
conversions via third-party tags remains a challenge. Therefore, as
these ad servers focus on building out tracking and reporting
capabilities, the burden of providing the analytical data rests
mainly on the publishers. If tracking application downloads through
the iTunes store, the developer needs to install a code snippet
that enables the publisher to record conversions. Since
discrepancies often exist among ad servers, we recommend using
third-party ad server click trackers and standard tags to compare
click and impression data. Third-party tracking capabilities should
evolve quickly to meet the pressing advertiser demand. Conclusion
Advertising models for mobile have evolved to be very similar to
desktop advertising models, yet its important to consider how
people use their mobile devices compared to how they use their
desktop or laptop computers, and how mobile campaigns should differ
in light of this. A mobile device is unique to an individual,
whereas a computer may be shared at home. A mobile device is also a
must-have utility that is rarely left behind, unlike computers that
get turned off or put away. Understanding the nature of how a
mobile phone fits into someones life allows marketers to devise
strategies that make the most of this channel.
- 41. 6 MOBILE SOCIAL MARKETING
- 42. 43blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Preparing for mobile socials
challenges Marketers who start learning what works with mobile
social media can wind up well ahead of their peers and provide
added value for consumers in the process. On the other hand, there
are plenty of hurdles with mobile social marketing: Mobile and
social are two areas that often dont have clear ownership within
marketers organizations. Theres a higher learning curve in both
mobile marketing and social media as neither offers clear-cut
application of the media buying skills that marketers have honed in
other media. Metrics are still a work in progress, as are the
business models of many vendors in the space. Budgets are often too
small to gauge the real impact of a campaign, and the process can
turn off some who want immediate results on a large scale.
Marketers, agencies, publishers, technology providers and others
will need to overcome these challenges to keep pace with the
consumers and where they are increasingly spending their time.
Mobile social media by the numbers comScores April 2010 data
reveals that social networking is the fastest growing mobile
content category, whether accessed by mobile applications or
browsers. There were 15 million U.S. mobile users ages 13+ engaged
with social networking via applications, up 240% over the previous
year, and 30 million users engaged with social networking via
mobile browsers, up 90%. Facebook reports that more than 150
million active users access the network through their mobile
devices. Users MOBILE SOCIAL MARKETING KEY FACT More than 150
million people access Facebook from mobile devices each month GOALS
IT ACHIEVES Branding, engagement, drive to store BEST INTEGRATION
POINTS Online social media, digital word of mouth, email, loyalty
programs Mobile social media, any form of social media accessed
through mobile devices, has much in common with online social
media: the power of building relationships with consumers, the
large and rapidly growing user base and the potential to
incorporate sharing and community functionality into every form of
content. Mobile presents new opportunities, as these untethered
mobile devices are designed for communication the raison dtre of
social media and can harness the power of location.
- 43. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Social Marketing44
accessing its mobile services are more than twice as active on
Facebook as non-mobile users. Ground Truth, a mobile metrics firm,
reported that in April 2010, 60% of the time U.S. mobile
subscribers spent on mobile Internet usage was on social networking
sites. Categories of mobile social media Mobile social media
comprises a broad field, but here are some of the key forms it
takes: Mobile extensions of online social networks: The largest
social network, Facebook, not surprisingly has the most mobile
users, as well. MySpace and other social networks have mobile
extensions, such as optimized sites or apps, and many are
ad-supported. One can expect that in the coming years, U.S. social
networks will follow the same course as Mixi, a leading network in
Japan, which now has three-quarters of its users accessing the
service from mobile devices. Mobile-central social networks:
MocoSpace, Mig33 and Peperonity are three social networks that
launched on mobile devices and attract most of their users there.
They tend to attract feature phone users and may specialize in
reaching certain target audiences, such as MocoSpace with 70% of
its 12 million members comprised of Hispanics and African
Americans. Location-based check-in services: Users check in to
physical locations primarily through mobile applications. See the
the following section for more details. Social gaming: Many mobile
gaming applications are either built entirely on social
functionality or rely heavily on social features. For instance,
Words With Friends by developer Newtoy is an asynchronous form of
Scrabble; its part of a With Friends series that has recorded more
than 6.5 million downloads. Gaming company Ngmoco has developed a
number of mobile social games where users derive in-game benefits
by cooperating with each other. Mobile web-based sharing: Any
mobile-optimized webpage can include various calls to action to
share content and offers with friends. Gaming has helped propel
mobile social media, thanks in part to hit apps such as Words with
Friends.
- 44. 45blog.360i.com twitter: @360i App-based sharing: Many
applications utilize Facebook Connect to make it easy to share
updates or photos directly through the social network. Apps will
often allow users to find and invite their friends through
Facebook, Twitter and other networks. Location-based check-in
services An emerging field within mobile social media is location-
based check-in services, where consumers use mobile devices to say
where they are, often to earn virtual rewards such as badges and
virtual goods. The crowded field of these services includes
Foursquare, Gowalla, MyTown, Whrrl, Buzzd, Loopt, Brightkite,
SCVNGR and most recently, Facebook Places. Google and Yelp have
also incorporated check-ins into their mobile applications.
CauseWorld has turned these actions into acts of kindness with a
philanthropic hook, and FoodSpotting lets consumers upload photos
of what theyre eating wherever they go. Most of these services dont
have the scale to attract marketers looking for mass reach, but
many have growing and dedicated audiences with disproportionate
numbers of digital influencers, and there are opportunities to
reach consumers with the right psychographics and demographics for
certain brands. Here are a few examples of how theyre being used:
TV network Bravo offers branded badges on Foursquare for those who
engage in activities mirroring the characters on their reality
shows. Checking into a New York City restaurant, one might earn the
martini glass badge that says, Way to drink, eat, shop and spa like
a Real Housewife! MyTown is more of a game than a utility. Players
can buy locations and collect rent as they upgrade. For example, HM
offers branded virtual goods to players who check in at their
stores. These goods provide large point boosts in the game to help
players level up. Advertising Age reported, During the campaign, HM
was the most searched location within the game, 700,000 users
checked in to its retail stores, and 8 million saw its virtual
goods. CauseWorld encourages consumers to scan select Kraft
products in stores to earn karma points that can be donated to
charity. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) partnered with Gowalla
to extend its Hit It Big promotion. When users check in with
Gowalla at various IHG properties, they may win prizes such as
double air miles or gift cards at national retailers. Loopt
launched its companion app Loopt Star to reward consumers loyalty
for checking in to local businesses. Promotions include Gap
offering 25% discounts for consumers checking in twice to one of
its stores, and Universal Music giving five free songs to people
checking in at any bar with two friends. Loopt emphasizes the power
to get consumers into stores with its cost-per-visit model, similar
to Whrrls pay-per-visit approach. Brightkite ran a promotion with
Starbucks that used augmented reality to locate grocery stores
- 45. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Social Marketing46 that
sell the companys VIA products. When finding a store selling VIA,
the products logo could be tapped for more information and
mulitmedia content, including videos. Now is a good time for
marketers to experiment with location-based social promotions, as
there are opportunities to build fun, creative promotions that meet
a brands objectives. Marketers should find a balance between
spending their consumer dollars on reaching a mass audience with
digital, as well as experimenting with smaller bets that can pay
off in a big way to reach influencers who can help spread the brand
message organically. Influence, not just scale, matters. Developing
a mobile social marketing strategy When planning a mobile social
marketing program, marketers dont have to reinvent how they go
about developingastrategyordeterminingwhetheropportunities make
sense. There are four criteria in particular you can use, as
described in 360is Social Marketing Playbook, which comprise the
Social Marketing Strategic Lens. These operate in parallel with the
Mobile Marketing Strategic Lens discussed on page 15. Does it use
your social media arsenal? Which assets do you have that could
resonate well across mobile social media (digital content, physical
or Bravo rewards real housewives with Foursquare badges. HMs real
products offer virtual rewards in MyTown.
- 46. 47blog.360i.com twitter: @360i virtual goods, celebrity
spokespeople, etc.)? Does it follow best practices for social media
and specifically mobile social media? Does it fit in with how
consumers are using mobile social services and technologies? Does
it take advantage of the functionality of mobile devices (voice,
location, SMS, camera, the iPhones accelerometer, etc.)? Does it
provide a value exchange between the consumer and the marketer? Or
to put it simply, whats in it for the consumer? Do consumers gain
information, exclusive access, social currency or physical goods?
Why will they care? Does it meet your marketing objectives? What
are you looking to accomplish, and how does this play a role in it?
Answering all of these questions will help ensure the program is a
success, and just as important, it will help avoid some common
pitfalls. Conclusion Social media is driving much of the growth of
mobile media, just as it has fueled much of the growth in online
pageviews and content. New sites and applications seem to sprout
daily, while business models of existing players continually evolve
to meet marketers needs. Marketers should continue to turn to the
strategic lens to evaluate opportunities, as it can increase the
chances of success for any social marketing program, mobile or
otherwise. Does it leverage your arsenal? Does it follow the rules
of the road? Does it provide a value exchange? Does it meet your
objectives? 360is Social Marketing Strategic Lens
- 47. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Social Marketing48 THE
NAIL FOR SOCIAL MEDIAS HAMMER INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY ALAM KHAN
EDITOR IN CHIEF, MOBILE MARKETER ickey Alam Khan is the Editor in
Chief of Mobile Marketer, the leading publisher of news, analysis
and opinions on mobile marketing, media and commerce with the goal
to help marketers understand how the mobile channel can be used
alone or in conjunction with other channels for branding, as well
as for customer acquisition and retention. Following he weighs in
on mobile social media, and how marketers can approach their
customers in the mobile social landscape. M What characteristics of
mobile devices lend themselves well to social media? The
anytime-anywhere-always-on nature of mobile phones lends itself
well to social media, which is all about connectivity and openness.
The phone is with the user at all times, and is especially used for
social and personal occasions if its not a company device. So
mobiles the perfect nail to social medias hammer. How much of
mobile social media involves extensions of online social media
(e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) versus offerings unique to mobile
devices? I think online social media services such as Facebook and
Twitter rule mobile social media simply because of brand awareness
and ease of use. Of course, there are strong social media brands
such as MocoSpace,
- 48. 49blog.360i.com twitter: @360i ...Marketers must try to be
friendly via social media, but not friends. Let consumers feel that
they are part of the brand-building experience. Gowalla,
Flirtomatic and Foursquare that are mobile phenomena. Facebook and
Twitter are easier to use on mobile devices since the handset
constraints require simple design and cut to the chase. How they
can monetize social media on mobile devices is another story. Why
should marketers care about mobile social media? Buzz thrills or
kills. In this day and age when mobile consumers set the tone for
communications, it is key for marketers to understand how to manage
their reputation on social media sites and services. Anything that
smacks of marketing overkill will slow the enthusiasm for the
brand. Indeed, marketers must try to be friendly via social media,
but not friends. Let consumers feel that they are part of the
brand-building experience. Let them feel they can personalize the
relationship to the brand. Also, I dont think we should think of
online social media and mobile social media. Theyre one its the
Internet on different devices, but its still interactive. People
have relationships with brands regardless of channel. What
challenges can marketers expect, and are there any ways to mitigate
those challenges? Marketers can expect consumers to be in even more
control of what marketing and communications they prefer. Newer
mobile devices and better sites and applications will raise
expectations of the quality of messages delivered, authenticity of
experience, value delivered and privacy offered. To avoid any
social media mishaps, marketers must understand that social media
is first and foremost a medium for consumers to communicate with
each other and shoot the breeze. Any marketing interruption has to
be a whisper, not a yell.
- 49. 7 MOBILE APPLICATIONS
- 50. 51blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Mobile app usage trends One
of the biggest drivers of app usage is smartphone penetration.
Nielsen reports that by Q3 2011, roughly half of U.S. mobile
subscribers will use smartphones, and smartphone market share will
only increase from there. comScore reports that U.S. mobile
subscribers are about as likely to have used a mobile browser as
they are to have downloaded apps, with both activities growing fast
quarter over quarter. Apples leadership here is uncontested. More
than 5 billion apps have been downloaded across Apple mobile
devices as of June 2010, and over 225,000 apps are currently
available. The second largest app market, GetJar, is an independent
provider offering apps across various platforms; it has recorded
more than 1 billion downloads. How marketers can use mobile apps
Marketers have three primary options for reaching consumers through
mobile applications: Advertise: Ad networks such as AdMob, Quattro
Wireless, Millennial Media, Medialets, Greystripe, Celtra and
countless others can run ads within applications. Its also possible
to run custom promotions directly with many app publishers and
developers. Major publishers such as top news and weather apps may
offer app ads bundled into a broader cross-channel deal. Ad formats
include text, video, polls, lead generation forms, click-to- call,
store locators and games. Integrate: Marketers can work with select
app publishers and developers to create custom, integrated
experiences that are far more involved MOBILE APPLICATIONS KEY FACT
More than 5 billion apps have been downloaded from the iTunes Store
GOALS IT ACHIEVES Engagement, branding, customer retention BEST
INTEGRATION POINTS Search, display, in-store, digital word of mouth
Applications have become an enduring form of mobile media, thanks
in large part to the ease of buying apps from Apples App Store and
the increased usage of apps on Google Android handsets. The growing
popularity of apps creates new challenges for marketers, as
consumers attention is split between apps and the mobile web.
Marketers will have to prioritize and make tough decisions when
allocating finite resources.
- 51. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Applications52 than ad
buys. Several such examples are included in the Mobile Social
Marketing chapter. Some apps even reject standard ad units and will
only run custom promotions. These are of course harder to develop
and scale than running a mobile banner across thousands of apps,
but the impact can be considerable, as marketers may find deeper
ways to connect with their target audiences. Build: Building
applications is an option for marketers, and the examples below
show how apps have successfully been developed to fit in with a
marketers overarching goals. There are several challenges though:
-- Most popular apps are for gaming and entertainment, which may be
a fit for certain entertainment and CPG brands but is often not in
line with objectives for other marketers. -- Marketers will need to
allocate sufficient budget to build the app and promote it. Without
a strong commitment to promotion, the app may never gain enough
visibility to break through the tens or hundreds of thousands of
other apps. Marketers should also consider what channels they have
available for promoting the app, from email to in-store to branded
social profiles. -- App development requires an ongoing commitment.
The best apps, branded or unbranded, go through constant iterations
as they improve based on consumer input, internal ideas and changes
in the technological capabilities of mobile operating systems and
handsets. Updates also encourage consumers who may have moved on to
other apps to return and give it another shot. This kind of
commitment takes strong leadership and buy-in to muster the time
and budget required to keep it going, especially if the app takes
time to gain traction. How marketers are using branded apps
Marketers have already deployed thousands of custom- built apps.
The application examples provided here are for the iPhone, since
marketers tend to follow the lead of both consumers and developers
in starting with the most app-friendly platform, but marketers have
also found success creating apps for Android, BlackBerry and other
operating systems. Kraft Krafts iFood Assistant, one of the first
and still most popular branded mobile apps, helps grocery shoppers
decide what to buy and offers recipe ideas for home cooks. The most
entertaining content, cooking videos, still serves a very
functional purpose, and consumers are willing to pay $0.99 for the
privilege money they can potentially earn back by reviewing the
budget wise suggestions within the app. Krafts dedication to
fulfilling home cooks needs has made the iFood Assistant a
perennial top seller.
- 52. 53blog.360i.com twitter: @360i TiffanyCo Consumers shopping
for products with higher price points than a typical grocery list
can also find relevant apps. TiffanyCo created an app that lets
marriage- minded consumers browse engagement rings and schedule
expert consultations via phone or in-store. The app includes a
tool, shown below, that lets users place a ring on the screen to
determine what size it is. What about the iPad? The iPad is on
track to be one of the fastest selling mobile devices ever, if not
the fastest. In short, it matters. Yet its not a mobile device in
the traditional sense. Its more of a stationary device, used in
situations where one is sitting in one place, whether its at home,
at work, at a coffee shop, or on the train. Silicon Alley Insider
analyzed the top 50 apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch and compared
them to the top iPad apps. Games and utilities were popular for
both groups, but iPad users also showed strong interest in content
and productivity apps. iPad users are more inclined to lean back
and consume content or lean forward and get to work. The iPad may
in time resemble the iPhone more, presumably with a front-mounted
camera in a future edition to enable video chat and other app
interactions. But it will never be as portable as a device someone
can stick in their pocket. Click-to-call wont matter at all, and
location wont matter as much. For a marketer targeting an audience
thats using the iPad or sees how the iPad fits into ways to achieve
marketing objectives, the options of advertising, integrating and
building remain relevant. Additionally, publishers and marketers
will continue to mine the possibilities for using the iPad to
distribute digital content and adapt traditional media such as
books, magazines and feature-length videos. The device is the best
format to date for adapting the aesthetics and intuitive format of
traditional content, while providing enhancements such as
interactivity and portability.Tiffanys little blue (and white) app
helps consumers shop for gifts in little blue boxes. Utilities
Games Utilities Games Productivity Content Top 50 Apps by Category
iPhone/iPod Touch Includes top 25 paid and top 25 free apps for
each device Category determined by SAI, not by iTunes
categorization Source: Sillicon Alley Insider iPad
- 53. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Applications54 Evaluating
mobile platforms for developing apps The mobile landscape is
fragmented into an alphabet soup of competing technologies,
platforms and standards. Should you build for the iPhone, Android
and BlackBerry, or should you concentrate on just one platform?
Should you support both the iPhone and iPad? What about the
different versions of Android? There isnt one, simple answer and
there wont be anytime soon. The key to developing a successful
mobile app or website is to select the devices and technologies
that make the most sense for your brand and consumers. Theres no
question that iPhone and Android apps get the most buzz. Theyre
sexy, slick and run on the latest, most powerful devices backed by
technology titans Apple and Google. However, there is a gap between
the number of apps available for these growing platforms and the
number of people who actually own the devices. In the chart below,
at first glance, it may seem that Java, Flash Light and Symbian are
the natural choices Mobile Devices vs. Apps Available Device
Installed Base (est. Q2 2010, in millions) Number of Apps Available
in App Stores (Q2 2010) 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0
50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 Symbian iPhone (iOS) Android
Java ME BlackBerry Flash Lite Windows Phone Source: VisionMobile,
licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Any use or
remix of this work must retain this notice.
- 54. 55blog.360i.com twitter: @360i for app development with
their large install base. However, its worth noting several points
about this data: Older platforms (such as BlackBerry and Windows
Phone) lacked app stores until very recently, which accounts for
the low number of available apps. It took the Java ME platform
(which represents the majority of flip phones) more than 7 years to
build its library of 45,000 apps, while the iPhone took just 2
years. Development activity on Java ME platform has slowed
significantly as consumers turn their attention to smartphones.
Some platforms are easier to develop for than others. iPhone OS and
Android are developer-centric platforms, while developing for the
BlackBerry or Windows Phone is much more complicated. Developers
are definitely paying more attention to the newer platforms. More
importantly, iPhone and Android users are much more likely to
download and use apps than users of all other platforms. This makes
these two platforms (and, to a lesser extent, the BlackBerry) the
current platforms of choice. The difference between mobile websites
and apps A mobile website is much the same as a regular website.
Both are viewed inside a browser, but mobile websites are built to
run on the smaller screens of mobile devices. There are two ways to
approach mobile websites. First, it could be a mobile version of
your existing website. This typically provides the same content and
close to the same functionality available on your existing website.
The primary difference is that the content and functionality is
optimized to display in a mobile browser. This is something all
companies should consider doing. The fact is that mobile browsing
is growing by leaps and bounds, and providing a mobile- optimized
experience is fast becoming a requirement. The second type of
mobile website is more like an app in that it provides specific
functionality. For example, a car insurance company may have a
mobile website that allows users to begin the insurance quote
process, but does not provide every other service available on the
companys website. A mobile app is an actual program thats installed
on a mobile device the same way Microsoft Word is installed on your
computer. Mobile App Mobile Website
- 55. MOBILE MARKETING PLAYBOOK Mobile Applications56 Mobile App
Mobile Website Required Platform Must be developed for each
platform individually (such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android) Runs on
all mobile devices with a browser (though there can be different
requirements for different browsers) Development Costs Can be more
expensive if developing for multiple platforms Often less expensive
if limited to standard mobile browsers Barrier to Entry Apps must
be downloaded and installed on a device before use Like regular
websites, users need only link to the mobile website to use it
Marketing A well-defined strategy is required to break into the top
apps lists on app stores Marketing options for mobile websites are
similar to those for regular websites: SEO, traditional media,
blogs, Twitter and other social media. Additionally, mobile
websites can be impacted by viral links. ApprovalsDistribution With
a few exceptions, apps must be approved before they can be
distributed via an app store. Mobile websites have no external
approvals, but also have no highly trafficked distribution channels
Market Size Limited to the number of users on the selected
platform(s) Any mobile device with a web browser Usage of Native
Device Capabilities Able to use all device capabilities (such as
the GPS, camera, voice, Bluetooth, RFID, address book and calendar)
It is possible to use features like GPS, offline data storage and
video from within mobile websites using the latest mobile browsers,
which support HTML5. Access from the web to some native
capabilities of mobile devices is still limited due to security and
privacy concerns (e.g., access to address book or calendar)
Upgrades More effort is required to release app upgrades due to app
store approval processes; therefore, making quick, small changes
can be challenging Upgrades are simpler to release due to lack of
external approval process There are some important differences that
should be understood when making a decision on whether to build a
mobile app or website, as shown in the table below, adapted from
DudaMobile:
- 56. 57blog.360i.com twitter: @360i Methodology for mobile app
and website development Its critical to have a process for
evaluating whether a mobile app or website is best for you. The
questions below dovetail with the Mobile Marketing Strategic Lens
(see Planning in Mobile Marketing, page 15) but go into far more
detail for this scenario. 1 Define the value proposition For every
successful mobile website and app, there are thousands that arent
used or languish in app stores. Make sure that your mobile website
or app has the potential to rise to the top by validating the
concept. Is it useful to consumers? Are there existing apps or
mobile websites that do the same thing? If so, what are your
differentiators? How will it benefit your brand and business? 2
Determi