Published by IM-Mobile
Written by Brian Prows
A year ago Bryce Marshall, who is Director of Strategic Services with Knotice, a direct digital marketing firm, appeared on IM-Mobile. During our discussion, we did a role play about a fictitious furniture chain in the Midwest struggling with mobile and digital marketing challenges. Bryce impressed me with his strategic thinking. So I invited him back to talk about mobile marketing trends.
As you’ll hear in the interview, Bryce doesn’t mince words about marketers, advertisers and mobile marketing.
In a recent article, Bryce wrote: “The consumer is mobile. This is a reality. In 12 to 18 months, the mobile landscape will be forever changed. The ‘wait and see’ and ‘toe-dip’ approaches will land your brand squarely in the consumers’ rear-view mirror. At a minimum, a brand’s mobile strategy and budgets should be aligned to create mobile-friendly experiences across key digital touch points and critical business services.” Marketers who avoid mobile do so at their peril.
Bryce didn’t speak so forcefully last year about ignoring mobile. But he now unabashedly speaks to clients and writes articles about the importance of the mobile channel for brands, marketers and advertisers. He calls for a diversified approach but clearly makes the case for considering mobile marketing as the consumer landscape changes. Brands that want to lead in their space must realize that consumers are going mobile and ditching PC’s. “Test and learn” cycles are limited.
Android, for example, a year ago had a low smartphone market share. Now, just this week, in fact, Google’s operating system commands a whopping 25%, just beneath Nokia. Microsoft has made another attempt to become a mobile player with its Windows Mobile 7 OS, While Palm/HP may still resurrect webOS. A year from now, instead of three major smartphone players, we may have five. No one knows.
Morgan Stanley’s well-read mobile Internet study, he points out, clearly shows high consumer adoption of smartphones and mobile Web access. Rich media advertising offers some very compelling strategies to engage consumers with excellent creative for the right types of brands and consumers.
“Mobile is the bridge between channels,” connecting online and retail experiences. Brands may be losing sales and customers, waiting on that bridge, who want an m-commerce engagement instead of buying at retail.
On the continuing battle of “apps vs. mobile Web,” Bryce recommends the Web until the higher costs of app development deliver higher ROI. Until then, mobile marketers should optimize their mobile websites to improve consumer experiences. He cautions brands and marketers about “app envy” and strongly suggests they first consider the power and cost efficiency of the mobile Web.
“Applications are the whispers of an exciting future world where everything is small and easy. But it is clear that the stickiness applications have in the minds of consumers and marketers alike is manufactured (smartly). We have been trained to abandon hard-wired habits for learned ones, but only temporarily. The mobile Web, for everything it will deliver in the next 12-24 and months and beyond, is the key to everything mobile.”
2D Tagging Canon Printer Campaign
Knotice worked with the ink-jet division of Canon U.S.A., adopting the Microsoft tag format, to launch an in-store consumer POS campaign. Mobile users downloaded software to their phones to easily access Canon microsites providing information about printer features.
Like Amazon, Canon also included customer reviews and ratings of its products–both good and bad–to help consumers buy the right printer. The campaign helped both consumers who had researched printer models before visiting a retail store as well as casual buyers.
Measuring campaign results, however, was challenging although not a campaign requirement. Marketing management could assess number of tags scanned geographically, as well as Web user behavior once online.
Canon management found the data useful. Per Bryce, “Effective mobile marketing is based on the concept of providing consumers with the right content at the right moment…Canon is not only enhancing the shopping experience for consumers, they are pioneering an innovative and scalable mobile strategy that successfully blends the best aspects of the online and offline shopping experiences.”
Mobile Marketing Trends
eMarketer predicts mobile ad spend of $1.5B by 2013 while ABI Research forecasts 40% annual growth. But, as Marshall points out, considering how quickly mobile technology and consumer demand is growing, it’s challenging to look into the future.
He does believe, however, that mobile handset growth will be a major factor. Currently, the market is dominated by Apple iOS, BlackBerry and Android smartphones; but Microsoft could become a fourth player with its newly-released Windows Mobile 7 phones, while HP/Palm has a chance with webOS. The impact of Android-based tablet computers is another factor.
Learn more about mobile marketing from an expert in the field by listening to the podcast.
Knotice
Knotice maximizes ROI of direct digital marketing through process automation, increased relevance and improved performance. Working with clients throughout North America, Knotice guides marketers toward efficient, effective application of highly-targeted marketing communications over today’s primary digital channels. Founded in 2003, Knotice is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.
Bryce Marshall
Bryce Marshall is the Director of Strategic Services at Knotice. An expert marketing strategist, Marshall creates powerful and profitable online marketing strategies for a wide range of companies from growing eCommerce firms to massive Fortune 200 companies. Marshall is especially skilled at creating multi-channel strategies for a wide range of companies.
Marshall believes in and practices the principles of direct digital marketing — relevant, digital marketing communications that are addressable to a specific individual with an email address, a mobile phone number, or a Web browser cookie.
In addition to his skills as an expert direct digital marketing strategist, Marshall is a recognized mobile marketing expert with an established voice in the industry. He has provided insights to mobile marketing professionals from around the globe.
Marshall has been featured in several leading marketing publications including MarketingProfs and CRMBuyer. He is a sought after writer, having written on a variety of topics including direct digital marketing, mobile marketing, mobile strategy, and online message relevance. He is also a featured blogger on Knotice’s successful and highly regarded business blog, “The Lunch Pail. ” Marshall is an active member of the American Marketing Association (AMA).