How Smart is Your (Mobile) Digital Strategy?
I read this afternoon that more than 40% of Canadians that have cell phones actually carry smartphones in their pockets.
That's 8 million people in Canada.
Impressive.
So ... if you're just starting to get into digital marketing, is upwards to 40% of your digital strategy focused on mobile tools or applications that are designed specifically for smartphones?
If you're not sure where to start, here's a list of activities:
Select Mobile Content Usage September 2011 Total Canada Mobile Subscribers and Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ Source: comScore MobiLens | ||
Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers | Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | |
Total Mobile Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Sent text message | 67.4 | 88.1 |
Used downloaded application | 40.9 | 84.2 |
Accessed news and information | 39.5 | 79.3 |
Used browser | 36.9 | 74.8 |
Used email (work or personal) | 32.7 | 69.3 |
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog | 29.2 | 60.7 |
Played games | 28.0 | 53.2 |
Accessed weather | 27.5 | 60.2 |
Accessed search | 24.2 | 51.2 |
Listened to music on mobile phone | 20.8 | 40.7 |
Accessed maps | 20.1 | 44.4 |
Accessed sports information | 14.8 | 31.5 |
Accessed entertainment news | 14.2 | 29.5 |
Accessed bank accounts | 13.5 | 28.8 |
Scanned QR/bar code with mobile phone | 8.1 | 18.1 |
Again, wow.
Games, weather, apps, texting, news, email, maps, locations, reviews and music are all just a few colours of the full palette of opportunities with mobile marketing, so again, I ask the question: what specific strategies are you working on to ensure that these 8 million people find you while they're doing the 'Blackberry prayer' (ie. the walk and text coddling that you see with most digerati)?
Digital & Mobile Tactics for Getting Found ... on SmartPhones
If you're not sure about how to address this audience, here are a few quick recommendations:
- Google Places: make sure your Google Places account is claimed, up to date and ready for mobile interaction.
- Mobile version of your site: Is your site mobile ready? I got busted by a friend who pointed out that a mobile directory didn't have its own mobile site. Even the Bottree site has its moments, but it's something that's worth investigating if you're a retailer with even one location.
- Reviews: use any local engine (including Places) to ensure that as information is aggregated into an average of stars and comments, you're there shouting out from someone's Samsung or Sony.
- Click-to-call: if you're doing a Google AdWords campaign, be sure to allow click-to-call tracking. It's a buck per click and it's worth every penny because the call is tracked for you and custom mobile stats are recorded with both AdWords and Analytics.
- QR Codes: to what extent are you using QR codes or other formats to let users quickly find out more about your product or service? Don't forget that a quick snap can validate a print ad or other media format with a click.
- Custom Local Sites: don't shy away from GroupOn, FourSquare or other local deal engines, as they help mobilize traffic for your service as people are in the mood to buy your goods. Think impulse.
- SMS Codes: while not as popular as they once were, they are still used by those who want to avoid the bandwidth charges associated with maps and browsing and are great ways to address that whopping 88% number listed above.
- A Good App: Don't build an app that just repositions your brand. Post something in the app universe that's actually got a use to it. If you're a food retailer, how about something that gives me coupons of the day that I can scan at the point-of-sale (POS) or recipe ideas related to specific produce?
A lot of these are pretty basic, don't cost a lot and just need a little time to set up. If you're not sure how to go about any of the above, contact me. I'll be happy to get you pointed in the right direction.
For those of you who have done something with mobile, what are some other tactics that you've used for your campaigns that have worked (or not) when it comes to mobile?
What are some technical limitations behind the implementation or success of any campaign?
Please share your thoughts below.
Conclusion: Mobile is a Must
If anyone that you speak with talks about banner buys and filling little tiny boxes on even smaller screens, tell them to go somewhere else.
Mobile marketing is here and you have to be ready to communicate instantly with people that are going to be shopping, researching and finding you, mostly on impulse.
This new age of new age marketing is going to force a lot of marketers to rethink their strategy even before it's begun.
It's OK though: because of the rate of change, most people are on the same page!