Considering The Mobile Channel? Success Is Spelled With 4R's

Get It Right The First Time

By David Miranda

Marketing still has its 4 P's - people, price, promotion, place - first communicated to future marketing gurus in Marketing 101. Marketers have done well by the 4P's which have been easily applied in developing marketing strategy and tactical executions. As the marketing mix has expanded from the "usual suspects" TV, radio, print, direct mail and public relations to the Internet and its unique offspring, marketers have adapted and adopted new solutions into the mix.

Now there is a new kid in town - mobile, with over 220 million users strong just in the U.S. In boardrooms across the country, smart brands are seeking ways to exploit its ubiquity and huge potential. A first critical step is understanding that mobile is a unique channel with unique characteristics and rules of engagement.

Simply stated, mobile has its 4 R's - recognition, relevance, reward, and relationship - the four supporting pillars of mobile success.

• Recognition refers to the explicit understanding that respects a consumer right to privacy and control of the mobile interaction. Mobile marketing mandates that consumers opt-in to programs.


• Relevance refers to the need to provide consumers with content that is appropriate to their personal lifestyle and interests. Mobile consumers will quickly opt out of programs that have little or no value.


• Reward refers to providing incentives for consumer participation which can be in the form of points, discounts, etc.


• Relationship refers to the notion that if consumers are convinced that the first 3 R's are satisfied, they are more likely to commit to a mobile relationship with the brand.
  

Recognition, relevance, reward, and relationship - a good platform for successful mobile marketing.

Smart Marketing = The "Some" And Its Parts

To Get To The Many, Influence Some

By David Miranda

For years marketing has embraced the power of mass marketing - one to many - the shotgun approach. It is indeed powerful, cost-efficient, but difficult to measure at the cash register. Mass marketing media vehicles like the major networks, terrestial radio, major newspapers, and national magazines have seen audiences erode over the years as the media landscape has exploded with many and varied media choices. The Internet, cable, mobile, satellite radio, DVR's, iPod's, and video games have enabled consumers to personalize their own media consumption - what they want, when they want, where they want. Mass marketing also assumes some level of audience homogenity in the marketplace.

Marketers also added one-to-one marketing to the mix, e.g. direct mail or search marketing using sophisticated mining techniques to identify desired consumers and communicate with them via direct mail or the internet. The reasoning is less waste, customized solicitations, and more measurable results albeit more expensive and like mass marketing, considerable waste.

But neither mass marketing nor 1 to 1 really addresses the changes we are seeing in the American marketplace. The old demographics don't work anymore, and, therefore, marketing targeted at consumers needs to adjust accordingly.

Here are some recently reported stats:

• For the first time ever, there was a higher percentage of unmarried couples than married leading our nation's 111.1 million households [50.3 vs. 49.7]


• In 2005, the nation's minority population totaled 98 million, or 33 percent, of the country's total population


• There are over 150 million women online and they are now outpacing men in terms of internet, email and computer usage.

Just looking at individuals (1 to 1) or the mass market would miss what these stats are revealing. Households are dominated by unmarried couples. A third of the population are minorities and women outpace their male counterparts as internet, email, and computer users. Knowing this would a marketer approve an advertising campaign that portrayed the average American family as a Causcasian male and female with the husband hunched over the computer? Diversity can only be successfully marketed to if marketers understand the consumer mosaic that now exists in the marketplace.

Marketing now is understanding the need to embrace O2S2M or One 2 Some 2 Many. In other words, it is the Some that influences the Many in the marketplace. It's the "Mikey likes it" phenomenon except on steriods. The Some are the Influentials, those individuals who in their own business and social networking groups deem something good, bad, or indifferently. They represent the key drivers of word-of-mouth - the holy grail of marketing. In this age of networked communication via the Internet (email, blogs, chat rooms, social networking sites) and, most recently, the mobile channel, they wield even greater power in their speed and ability to virally influence their peers.

It is imperative for marketers to seek out, identify and court these opinion leaders. They have the ability to make or break any marketing initiative.

You don't have to go big to get big in this new marketplace. You have to woo "Some".