The Explosion of Mobile is Transforming Marketing

Mobile devices are changing the way we stay connected, entertain ourselves, create memories, find places, perform our jobs, learn about the world and buy things. We are no longer simply consumers of media, we are the media. The way we live, work and interact will never be the same. Social media and mobile device proliferation will disrupt several industries – it will create wealth and destroy wealth. Let’s examine some of the numbers to better grasp the significance of the transformation.

Global mobile growth has been phenomenal:

Consumers are now spending more time daily on smartphones than print publications & newspapers combined

• Mobile phone usage has surged with over five billion in use globally (over 900 million in China alone).

• There are three times as many mobile phones in the world as there are computers.

• Combined tablet and smartphone shipments have surpassed those of desktops and notebooks.

• According to the United Nations, more people in India have access to mobile phones than toilets.

• There are now 105 countries in the world with more than 100 mobile device subscriptions for every 100 people; some countries have even surpassed 200 subscriptions.

• About 25 years ago, over half of the world’s population had never made a single telephone call – today the global penetration rate of mobile subscriptions is 86 percent of the planet.

• And the growth is unlikely to subside. By 2015 there will be 20 times more content, 20 times more cloud subscribers, 15 times more apps and 4 times more mobile transactions compared to four years earlier.

• By 2016 there will be 2.5 billion smartphones in the world, growing by more than one billion per year.  

Smartphones are Transforming our Personal Lives

Our growing attachment to mobile devices is remarkable. Consumers are now spending more time daily on smartphones than print publications and newspapers combined. For many, smartphones are becoming their lifeline to the world. A recent UK study revealed that over one-third of adults and 60 percent of teens admit to being highly addicted to their smartphones. Mothers appear to be especially enamored with their smartphones; 21 percent use them in the bathroom and 12 percent even admit to using them during sex!

Smartphones are Transforming Marketing

Smartphones are transforming marketing, especially in the consumer marketplace. Mobile can be a powerful marketing channel to truly build one-on-one relationships through targeted messages delivering the right offer to the right customer at the right place and the right time. These words aren’t just platitudes; I really mean the right offer  (through precise analytics) to the right customer  (through laser targeting) at the right place and time  (through Wi-Fi or GPS location tracking). Reach customers as they walk past your business, make an online mobile search query, or even while they scan a product – in one of your competitors’ stores!

It’s exciting to see the growth of mobile as a vital tool, not only for communications, information and entertainment, but for commerce transactions as well. Smartphone growth is having a significant impact on commerce transactions across several industries. For example, the travel industry has already experienced a significant impact from mobile usage. More than half of smartphone owners access travel content and almost 20 percent are already booking air travel and hotel reservations. Forty percent of Walgreen’s online prescription refills are now coming from mobile devices. In banking, one-third of retail banks’ digital budgets are now devoted to mobile.

Marketers are not Delivering Measureable Results

Leveraging Mobile Social Media  strategies can be a powerful way to deliver business results. But a recent study proclaims that 73 percent of CEOs feel that marketers lack business credibility and are not able to demonstrate their ability to generate measurable top-line growth or achieve other business and marketing objectives. It’s important that marketers not rush onto the mobile social media bandwagon before taking a holistic view of what is possible, prioritizing based on business objectives and then executing tactics that demonstrate clear measurable results.

Position Yourself for Mobile Marketing Success

The hype surrounding mobile marketing is exceeding the achievement of real business results. Marketers are already discovering several reasons why mobile technology, mobile marketing campaigns and associated processes do not work as smoothly as envisioned.  By focusing on solutions that reach our target market and drive clear measureable results, we should end up reaching a plateau of mobile marketing success. The key is not overpromising results today until the shortcomings of various mobile marketing approaches are revealed, and then building your strategy one success at a time.

Eliminate Mobile Marketing Myopia

To flourish in this new mobile world, we must first eliminate mobile marketing myopia .  This is an affliction for many first-time marketers dipping their toes into mobile waters. Mobile marketing neophytes often hastily focus singularly on how this new environment can be used for generating sales. But if the much broader development, sales and support cycles are considered, then many other corporate objectives could be achieved through your mobile business strategies. It’s time for marketers to leverage the power of mobile social media to thrive – delivering successful marketing tactics as well as inspiring entirely new business model innovations.

Eliminating Mobile Marketing Myopia and focusing on the bigger picture could help organizations generate a larger ROI. Consider focusing on broader goals such as product or service development, branding, moving prospects through the sales cycle and/or providing customer support. For example, big box craft retailer Michaels launched a mobile app that meets a number of objectives:

• Drive store traffic – Mobile coupons, weekly flyers, store locator and store events

• Move people through the sales cycle – Demonstration videos to inspire customers with ideas

• Cross-sell – Show related items

• Social media marketing – Sharing via Facebook and Twitter, and

• Customer service – Mobile barcode scanning to enable customers to create shopping lists.

Notice that conducting mobile commerce transactions does not appear on this list, but Michaels is achieving a number of other key business objectives with its mobile marketing strategy.

Mobile as the Basis for Entirely new Business Models

Smartphones are transforming marketing, especially in the consumer marketplace

Tesco has built Home plus makeshift QR code stores in Korean subways by placing back-lit posters on the wall that look identical to its retail store shelves. There’s only two differences. Firstly, these are simply virtual product shelves with no physical products. And secondly, each product has an image of a Quick Response Code (QR Code). By scanning these special codes with a smartphone, customers place products in their virtual shopping carts and then complete a mobile commerce transaction. The process is completed when the grocery order is delivered to the customer’s home later that day; no physical store visit is needed.

Tesco’s objectives were clear – increase the number of registered users for its grocery delivery service and increase sales. The results were significant. Over 10,000 people in Korea visited the Home plus makeshift QR code stores and ordered groceries using their smartphones, all while waiting for a subway. Registered members for the service increased 76 percent and online sales increased 130 percent, making Home plus the number one online grocer in Korea. This is just one example of mobile technologies are transforming entire business models.