The following is a guest contributed post by Bruce Swann, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Adobe Campaign.
The Apple Watch recently propelled Apple to the biggest quarter ever for a company. As if we didn’t need the additional proof that mobile devices and other wearable technology were taking a stranglehold on the marketing world.
Ask anyone in marketing these days and they’ll tell you that mobile is critical for engaging with customers, increasing conversions, and growing revenue. The stats are incontrovertible; mobile has, essentially, taken over:
- More emails are opened on a mobile devices than PCs
- More mobile browsing than PCs, including apps, games, and social media.
Mobile is, ultimately, more than just a channel that people use to connect with information. It’s a device, or 3rd screen, where content is consumed and engaged with, where people connect with brands and where purchases are made. In that, their value is immeasurable.
It is wise, then, for marketers to consider how to best use this medium to connect with their audiences.
Answering the Big Questions in Mobile
To truly connect with our mobile audiences, we must find out more information, using a data-driven approach, to inform our decisions. Once we have done so, we can use those beautiful analytics to our advantage, beginning by answering some of the most basic, yet often-overlooked, questions.
Who? What? When? Where? Why? And how?
Mobile technology is both the how and the where (as in “anywhere”). But what about the rest?
CONNECTION
What types of devices are available and what are the different ways can you connect to potential customers through them. What are customers’ preferences and why?
CONTEXT
Why do audiences like to connect the way they do? Where do they go, what do they do, when they do it (days, times and locations), etc. Their motivation is the most important aspect that drives their search for the right content.
CADENCE
Timing is everything. Choose wisely when and with what frequency to interact with potential customers or simply get lost in the noise of other marketers simply trying to yell louder the same type of message. If you know when they liked to be engaged with (and when they like to be left alone), you are informed in how to do so.
Getting Started
When we know the questions to those answers, we begin to understand the identity of our who (that is, our ideal audience). Knowing whom we desire to connect with can help us deliver the most compelling content through personalized messages with only the most relevant information.
The result of this process can deliver the most effective campaigns that initiate expedited sales, increased conversion rates, and more loyal customer engagement.
And with time, as we measure the effectiveness of our strategies, we’ll be able to continually hone our strategies to greater and greater effectiveness.
Though it can be a challenge to use mobile messaging well, I believe that you and I, by using connection, context, and cadence, can be in control of our companies’ fates. Now, it’s your turn to prove it.
