Mobile Marketing Introduction

Traditional marketing materials include but are not limited to TV commercials, radio commercials and print advertising such as newspaper and magazine ads. We literally went big in advertising with billboards and sports field signage. What does mobile marketing have that these traditional marketing ads do not?

Personalization. Mobile devices are typically not shared, so any data derived from the digital journey one takes can be used to provide ads not randomly but tailored to the consumer’s wants and needs. Out of all the billboards you see on your way home from work, how many have ever been something that you actually looked into once you got home? Traditional marketing is basically throwing darts at a board and hoping one will stick where mobile marketing can reach more targeted groups.

Convenience: Mobile advertisement provides a seamless experience from initial interest to access to the product. If you see an ad on your device you can often tap right into the ad for more information and ordering in mere moments. Many people even have a digital wallet and can make payment without ever needing anything but their mobile device. Digital advertising is the ultimate product placement strategy. It works just like seeing something in a check out line you forgot to pick up in the supermarket , but with even less friction.

You may be asking yourself but what about brick and mortar stores with a physical location? What mobile marketing strategies can these type of shops invest in?

Promotions. Mobile applications are a great way to advise the consumer about what sales are taking place in a store. This can also be advertised more traditionally in a radio commercial but can the store cover the array of sales items in 60 seconds? It’s unlikely.
When I was young I remember the shiny colorful ad section of the Sunday newspaper. Now all of that information is provided free in the app for the store. Jo-Ann Fabrics for example has moved the weekly ad to digital format and I can easily pull up the sales.

Coupons. No more searching and clipping coupons only to forget them at home. Now apps are able to house these coupons on a device you never leave the house without anyway. This is a way businesses can keep their apps relevant and maintain consumers regular utilization of the app. The same can be said for loyalty programs. Instead of a punch card the app can keep track of purchases and issue consumer rewards all in one place.

While this all seems great from the marketing point of view there are certainly pain points with mobile marketing. Personalization for example. While this reduces advertising saturation and overwhelm, privacy is a major concern. It is uncomfortable to have your every move online tracked or have your mobile device “Listen” to you. Consumer sentiment in the way data is gathered is an important part of mobile marketing strategy. My suggestion for this is to be incredibly transparent about what data is being gathered and how it is being used. As a marketing researcher I have learned that people feel much better about even answering a survey question if they know why the data is being gathered and if it is being shared.

With application downloads for specific stores comes push notifications. There must be a balance of these type of notifications, to be informative and relevant but not so frequent that the consumer begins to disregard them. Repetition can begin positive and then become negative over a period of time, which is called “Two Factor Theory” which was coined by professor Daniel Berlyne.

“During the first phase, called wear-in, repetition of an ad allows consumers to become familiar with the brand. In this phase, repetition can overcome consumer reluctance to purchase a new product or brand. As the repetition continues, consumers become used to the brand and may enter a second phase, called wear-out. In the wear-out phase, consumers become tired of hearing about the brand and continued repetition of ads can cause consumers to stop buying the product or brand.”

As you can see in the chart below, we would want to include the number of acceptable push notifications in a week or a day for the target market and be mindful of including that information in the marketing strategy. The app for your business cannot drive traffic if the push notifications cause your customer to uninstall your app.