Take a look around any party, office or public event and you’ll see someone texting on their smartphone or checking Facebook on their tablet. It’s undeniable that mobile devices have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Adults actually now spend more time on mobile media than they do on newspapers and magazines combined, and some experts are predicting mobile Internet usage will overtake desktop browsing this year.
On a practical level, this means that if you’re not incorporating mobile into your integrated marketing strategies, you are missing a huge opportunity to connect with customers on the devices they use the most. Or to put it more bluntly: you’re leaving money on the table.
Too many brands take a “we’ll do it if we have budget” approach to mobile integration, even those who’ve embraced social media. But, leaving mobile out of the mix makes for an incomplete picture. Data from digital analytics firm comScore shows that more than 80 percent of time spent on mobile media is actually spent using apps. Businesses who fail to optimize the mobile browsing experience or introduce mobile apps for their customers are relinquishing a significant portion of their potential market.
Even if an app isn’t the right thing for your business, the lack of a mobile-friendly website can have a bigger impact on your audience than you think. People switch between desktop computers and laptops to tablets and mobile devices throughout the day. Whether they’re checking their phones between meetings or using their tablets on a plane, your customers have made mobile devices an essential part of their media consumption. Your campaign strategy must include delivering a consistent brand message no matter how and where those customers find you.
To unleash a powerful mobile experience, you’ll want to start with a good digital publishing platform that collects interest and attribute data – then use these tips, tricks and best practices to deepen customer engagement.
1. Synchronize Multi-Channel Campaigns For A Seamless User Experience
Creating a holistic, multi-channel campaign that reaches customers at multiple touchpoints is key to your success. But the look and feel must be synchronized and consistent across all channels. For social, online and mobile content, this is definitely where a good digital publishing platform makes a significant impact.
2. Make Sure Digital Assets Translate Well To Smartphones And Tablets
Let’s say you’ve designed a beautiful campaign microsite. Everything is perfectly in its place. It all looks so wonderful — on a desktop computer. You figure, well, it’ll look the same on a tablet or mobile, just smaller. That’s ok, right?
No, it’s not. Think of it this way: you probably don’t enjoy pinch zooming websites because you can’t actually see any of the content — and your customers won’t, either.
Elements like navigation, headlines and graphics all have their own rules when it comes to offering a compelling mobile experience. Brands that overlook this aspect are announcing they don’t care or don’t understand how their customers want to interact with them — and those customers will move on to the competitor that does.
3. Advertise Mobile Apps On Your Social Media & Make Them Downloadable
If you have a mobile app, don’t forget to promote it through your social media platforms. Social, more than any other medium, is where people truly engage with brands and expect to find out their latest news.
Come up with different ways you can promote your app. Just a straight call to download is boring; instead identify the customers looking for something they can easily find through your app, then find out where they spend time online. That’s where you want to reach out with clever promotions tailored to your audiences.
4. Make Sure Apps Reflect Brand Strategy
As with all your assets, online or off, your mobile app should fit into your overall brand strategy and continue the seamless brand experience.
Creating an app as a one-off idea simply because you think you should have one doesn’t work. Your app must leverage your existing brand capital and carry forward the message and objectives of your other assets. The key here is the same as with any other asset: creating actual value for customers.
5. Prioritize Functionality For Mobile Assets
All of your mobile assets, from mobile- and tablet-friendly websites to apps, should cater to the mobile user experiences and prioritize the most important features. If you’re not familiar with your customers’ mobile wishlist, these features are usually at the top: easy viewing, product reviews, mechanisms for providing feedback and quick ordering.
Also important: don’t forget to include options for sharing to social networks. Remember, customers who access your site or app on their mobile device are probably pretty connected to social media as well. By providing options for social sharing, you’re creating an army of unofficial marketers.
Convenient and useful, mobile devices are the perfect tool in our fast-paced world. Today’s leads and customers show every sign of accelerating their mobile dependence in the future, so go ahead and integrate mobile marketing with your campaigns across other platforms and media.
Then get ready as customers deepen their brand engagement with you—and pass the word on to their friends.
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