Winning Trends In Mobile Marketing

Winning Trends In Mobile Marketing

For the second year in a row, the Mobile Marketing Association and Kantar Millward Brown have compiled data on mobile marketing trends as well as laid out what it takes to create a winning mobile campaign in their Global Mobile Trends Report.

The report shows winning mobile marketing trends as well as helps marketers understand what makes a campaign successful and why some campaigns fall short.

They took the Smarties Award winners and compared them to those that were shortlisted as finalists to see what set the winners apart. The following information is a summary taken from Global Mobile Trends Report and may be key to your success in mobile marketing.

Winning trends

Increase brand relevance

If you want to improve brand relevance, focus more than ever on the customer. The key is to understand what the pain point of your client and identify with the customer at their level. To increase visibility, be innovative and creative for a unique the user experience, that stands out from your competitors.

A good example of a company creating more brand relevance is Dove. Their research shows that “women and girls (with curly hair) universally struggle with their curls at some stage in life and that traditional standards of beauty can perpetuate issues of self-confidence.”

Dove created the #LOVEYOURCURLS campaign that had everything from an emoji keyboard to Twitter Hashtags. The campaign gave women of all ages a place to go and not only vent about their hair but get tips on managing it as well. That kind of immersive experience is what you should be looking at creating for your brand.

Push emotional connections and solve problems

Most successful campaigns have identified how to address a consumer need, whether it be emotional or otherwise. You should look to add depth to any and all of your mobile campaigns, as this is what draws people in and gets them to choose you over other companies.

Look to enable mobile searches as well as video viewing to get people talking about what you have to offer.

Mobile marketing does not have the limitations that it once did or that people still think it does. Allow yourself to be creative and take a look at what is working for others.

Choose visually compelling formats for ads

Having the most visually compelling ads is one of the most important aspects of your business. The 360-degree video has taken things to a whole new level, allowing you to show the view in every direction and bring the viewer into the scene. This type of immersive experience can be very effective.

Dunkin Donuts used this mostly untapped method of advertising to break into an even bigger audience by teasing the launch of their mobile ordering app. By creating 360 videos, they received more than 7 million views on Facebook alone. Now that Twitter and Snapchat have introduced these kinds of ad formats, you truly have unlimited audience potential.

Design apps with their engagement ecosystem

Through quality mobile apps and websites, you can create your engagement ecosystem. There is no way around the fact that mobile websites and apps are one of the fundamental components of high mobile presence.

Using these creatively will reach new consumers as well as engaging existing clients in new ways, keeping them coming. Sure, these are not as exciting as new VR technologies, but they do offer consistent engagement, and that is what you want.

As an example of how mobile apps can be game changers, take a look at what the Miami Heat did with their new mobile app that allowed people to purchase tickets and even buy from concessions from their mobile device.

Turn mobile marketing into a cornerstone of your business

Some of the best campaigns come from a mobile-first perspective. You can then add channels as a way to give consumers a new and unique perspective on your brand.

One of the most creative campaigns in the last year came from Nike and their Spark Brilliance campaign. They had a solid 360 locker room speech and added to it by launching the campaign on television during halftime. To top it all off, they also had an in-store component in which they gave away Google Cardboard VR headsets to those who bought national team jerseys.

Drive change and social impact

While most businesses don’t focus on their social impact, it can improve the power of your campaigns tremendously. The portable nature of mobile marketing means you have even more access to change than your any other traditional marketing option.

An excellent example of an organization focusing on social change is Stray Notification ‘Disque Denuncia’. They saw a problem in their communities with stray bullets and illegal firearms in Brazil. They use geo-location technology on mobile devices anonymously report caches of weapons which resulted in the number of hotline tips skyrocketing by 250%.

Areas to focus on:

Drive trials using chatbots and virtual screen demos

For the winners of 2016 Smarties awards, campaign goals have shifted from solely honing in on sales. Now they are focusing on equity and engagement as the first steps to making the eventual sales. Many people still don’t focus on driving trial, though the numbers are increasing. Allowing potential customers to become comfortable and see the value in doing business with you and your service or product is before you do business is an idea worth the investment.

Set clear goals for customer engagement

Take some time to think about what customer engagement means to you. Is it simply having people pay more attention to your business? Is it a behavior or a like or share? Set clear goals and sub-goals for your business and be sure to deliver creative, quality ads that not just draw people in, but that get them talking as well.

Encourage user-generated content

User generated content is a powerful way to not only amplify your media presence but to deepen engagement as well. Share, support

Five ways to succeed in mobile marketing

1) Focus- Focus on ROI and stop thinking about mobile as an add-on. It is a channel of its own that will drive your ROI.

2) Lead- The best campaigns lead with mobile and pull in other channels.

3) Identify- Think about your creative core as well as the values and purpose of the brand. Understanding your business and customer needs give you a better idea of how to create a deeper connection with consumers.

4) Build- It is imperative that you build a personal connection with your audience. Be sure to use powerful, compelling visuals and immersive formats.

5) Amplify- Use well-targeted and well-placed media to boost the effectiveness of your mobile campaigns. Share across platforms and always think mobile.

Use this information to add to the impact and creativity of all your mobile campaigns.