Understanding Mobile Marketing: Everything you ever wanted to know

Interview with Alexander Gregori, an internationally published author on mobile marketing, speaker, blogger and co-owner of myMobWorld, MobileMarketingWinner$ and ThinkingMobile.

1.  In your book: “Everything you ever wanted to know about Mobile Marketing, but didn’t know who to ask” you give several good definitions of Mobile Marketing, but what does it mean to me as a small business owner?
We often find that the prefix “mobile” scares many marketers off. This is also true for owners of small businesses. In reality however, mobile is quite a simple communication tool and because it is relatively cheap compared to e.g. television, radio and even print ads in community newspapers, it is ideal for small businesses. In a way everybody is equal in mobile. That means it doesn’t matter whether you are a large corporation or the laundry around the corner – both can benefit equally from mobile marketing.

2.  When I want to integrate Mobile Marketing with my overall marketing plan, what do I need to start a Mobile Marketing campaign?

The first question you need to answer, is “what are the objectives of my marketing plan”.

You will be surprised how many businesses, big and small, race into an advertising campaign without clear objectives. Once you defined the objectives it becomes very easy to choose the right mobile tools. We strongly advocate the 1,2,3 approach:

• 1, get a permanent mobile presence such as a mobisite,
• 2, sign up for a bulk SMS service and
• 3, use mobile vouchers.

These basic tools are enough to start-up your own mobile campaign.

3.  Does my business really need a Mobile website and how do I drive traffic to it?

We believe that you should have a permanent mobile presence that can be accessed by potentially the largest amount of people. Only a mobisite can do that for you. Google recently disclosed that 30% of their search in South Africa comes from mobile, except on weekends. Then it’s 60%!

If you don’t have a mobisite you lose business, it’s as simple as that.

For traffic, the easiest way to drive people to your mobisite is with a keyword and short code. You simply ask people to SMS the keyword to your short code and they receive a return SMS with your mobisite hyperlink. When they click on the hyperlink they automatically land on your mobisite. This is much easier than to ask people to type your mobisite URL in their mobile browser.

4.  How will mobile marketing help my business to make money? Give me an example of how it would work.

All advertising and marketing has one simple goal: generate leads that translate into sales.

However, we all know that in reality you need to be in front of your audience more than once to get them to act and we all like to buy from a trusted source, i.e. someone we have a good relationship with. Mobile can help you to achieve exactly that because it is so immediate and personal.

EXAMPLES:

1)      You own a restaurant and advertise an “eat as much as you can” Sunday lunch in your community paper. With the mobile tools described above you can ask people to sign up for your mobile club to receive the special. The benefit is that you actually start a relationship with the people who sign up instead of just getting anonymous people into your restaurant who benefit from your offer.

Then you can build on that and it makes the investment for your ad so much more valuable because you can follow up with your now existing customers. It’s always cheaper to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. Mobile allows you to do just that in the most direct and personal way.

2)      Let’s say you stand in front of the wine counter at a supermarket and are looking for a wine that goes with the dinner you want to prepare. How would you feel about the winery that offers you a selection of wines for a specific recipe or vice versa suggests recipes for a particular wine? Well, with mobile this is a simple exercise. Offer a keyword to short code with automated answers (over simplified: “SMS ‘fish’ to ‘12345’” response “Chardonnay”).

This can also help you to build a database of customers and because you become their trusted source of information when and where they need it you can also send them additional information, e.g. with vouchers for a special offer or a promotion.

5.  Can I do a Mobile Marketing campaign on my own, or do I need specialised help?

The “technical” side of a mobile campaign is very simple, such as I described in the 1,2,3 approach above and to get that in place you can simply visit http://mymobworld.com and sign up for the services online.

The creative side is a bit more complicated because this depends on your objectives, your target market, the product you are selling and so on. No one knows your customers better than you do, but it usually makes sense to speak to a mobile strategist to get it right because in the end this will save you a lot of money.

6.  Which resources do you recommend?

There are always two approaches: DIY or employ an expert.

Always remember that mobile is different from traditional media, even online, and most “experts” don’t have a clue.  If you employ someone to do mobile for you, you are well advised to do some research first to find out who the real experts are. As a rule of thumb you should stay away from developers because they will always sell you what they have and not necessarily what you need, even if their solution is technically brilliant.

Traditional agencies are also often ill equipped to handle mobile to your advantage because their money lies in selling you above the line campaigns. Online agencies are exactly that: online, NOT mobile. 

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• Speak to a mobile strategist first
• Read: Mobile Marketing Winner$ handbook
• Book for the upcoming 2nd Annual Thinking Mobile Conference & Exhibition brought to you by SABC Mobile on 14 and 15 April 2011 at the IDC in Johannesburg.
• For your own Mobisite, try Mobile Marketing Winner$ Mobile Starter Kit
• Join the Mobile Marketing Winner$ LinkedIn group

Alexander Gregori is an internationally published author on mobile marketing, speaker, blogger and co-owner of myMobWorld, MobileMarketingWinner$ and ThinkingMobile..

Reach him at alex@mymobworld.com.