The following is a guest contributed post from Trish Mikita, Vice President of Digital Media Strategy for AccuWeather.
According to Adobe Digital Index (ADI), global media consumption rates on mobile are similar to TV and Internet, yet it sees fewer than 10 percent of advertising spend. With the mobile commerce market in the U.S. set to grow more than 25 percent by 2019 and consumption rates only increasing, the future is ripe for companies innovating and investing in a winning mobile strategy.
Mobile has already redefined consumer experiences in many aspects of daily life, as well as creating a range of new business opportunities and services. As technology and the broader mobile and digital ecosystems continue to evolve, the impact will be felt ever wider. So how can you better understand the wants, needs and priorities of your target audience to provide a best-in-class mobile experience that improves consumer lives and also drives loyalty, revenue and exposure for your brand? I recommend these 5 “C”s, applied every day at AccuWeather, which has helped us become the #1 mobile weather provider in the world:
- Content. For consumers, the most important thing is to get accurate information – trusted, unique content is the currency of mobile advertising. Content marketing is dominating the digital marketing space, but despite its widespread use, the majority of companies struggle with the effectiveness of their content strategy. Prove to consumers your content is indispensable and give them a reason to come back for more. One example is the rise of mobile video, which is in high demand because people love visual storytelling.
- Context. With consumers connected at all times it is necessary to provide a personal, tailored mobile experience to breakthrough with your audience. Mobile is your brand’s first point of contact in many cases and needs to address the context of a mobile user. As brands track individual consumer behavior in real-time, they can use it to tailor the experience for that specific person as well as behaviors on a mass scale. Thinking globally and acting locally – to a revolutionary new level of pinpointed 1:1 personalization and relevancy – demonstrates to users that you understand and care about them. Placing great content into context for users is critical to winning in mobile and positively impacting people’s lives.
- Consumable. The average person’s attention span has fallen from twelve seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds in 2015. To provide a consumable mobile experience given our shorter attention spans, your content must be “snackable” – meaning it’s fast, intuitive, and easy to understand. For example, short form videos are easily consumable, giving them priority in a competitive mobile video environment. At AccuWeather, we’ve seen the results of this trend with video views up over 300 percent year-to-date. And time spent with video continues to grow significantly – eMarketer projects that more than 20 percent of our day will be spent with this medium in 2017.
- Community. One-way communication limits your engagement and loyalty with consumers. As marketers, we need to enable and encourage users to join the conversation and become part of the experience through their active participation and contributions. Mobile enables more personal interactions between brands and people than ever before and gives consumers a platform to voice their opinions in real-time. Building an active community around your brand by fostering two-way engagement will grow consumers into ambassadors for your brand.
- Connectivity. It’s no surprise that we all live a connected life – spanning digital devices and relationships throughout each day. In AccuWeather’s mobile user study, we identified digital interactions and activity preferences to better understand our users. Understanding the digital user journey of your audience can be a helpful tool. From waking up, when a user may watch TV or check their phone; to work which holds different digital interactions and needs; to the daily evening commute and then time spent at home – these all present different opportunities to connect with consumers. Understanding your target audience’s digital user journey will help inform how to best communicate with them.
Now is the perfect time to experiment and understand how best to engage with your audience, as all consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on their mobile devices. Great content placed in the right context that is easily consumable will build your community and help connect consumers’ lives to your brand. It all starts with a winning mobile strategy.
